However, one early announcement last night had the game resuming no earlier than 8 tonight with a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning between the Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays.
Of course, more rain is in the forecast.
Somehow, in a city that has not enjoyed a major sports championship since 1983, this only seems fitting.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel declined comment afterward. Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell and Jayson Werth also declined comment, but the expressions on their faces said more than words could.
They were not happy that they had to play in this mess. Nobody was, especially Phillies fans, who were on the brink of celebrating their first World Series championship since 1980.
Game conditions were bad by the fourth inning. It's not a stretch to think that the Phillies wondered why the game kept going only until the Rays tied it in the sixth inning, when they scored a run off lefthander Cole Hamels.
"They were the worst-case conditions to try to pitch in," Hamels said. "It's something you don't train for. You just have to bear down and try to make the best pitches you can. . . . You just have to let Mother Nature win."
The Phillies had their best chance to win on the mound last night in Hamels.
He will not be available if play resumes tonight.
"I have all the confidence in the world in our hitters and our bullpen to go out and win it," Hamels said.
So what's next?
"How the hell are we supposed to know?" righthander Brett Myers said. "He doesn't even know."
He was referring to Selig, whose news conference was on the clubhouse TVs.
It is expected that the Phillies will use their bullpen whenever play resumes. That would allow them to pitch Myers in Game 6 at Tampa Bay, if necessary.
