On This Date in Sports October 29, 2008: Worth The Wait

For fans of the Philadelphia Phillies, two days is worth the wait, as they beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 in the completing of the suspended World Series Game 5 at Citizen’s Bank Park, winning their second World Championship. The game had been halted with a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning due to heavy rains two days earlier, as Pedro Feliz's seventh-inning RBI single is the difference.

The Tampa Bay Rays were the darlings in the 2008 MLB season. After a decade of losing 90 or more games as the Devil Rays, the team underwent a makeover and got a new name while winning the American League East under manager Joe Maddon with a record of 97-65. After beating the Chicago White Sox in the Division Series in four games, the Rays had a showdown with the defending World Champion Boston Red Sox. Thanks to a big game from rookie David Price in relief, the Rays won the ALCS in seven games.

The World Series opened at the unsightly Tropicana Field, with its hanging catwalks often disrupting play. In Game 1, the Phillies had Cole Hamels, who won three games on the way to the Fall Classic on the mound. Tampa turned to Scott Kazmir to start the first World Series game on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Chase Utley gave the Phillies an early 2-0 lead on a home run in the first inning. The Phillies made it 3-0 with an RBI grounder by Carlos Ruiz in the fourth. The Rays got on the board with a Carl Crawford home run in the fourth. Akinori Iwamura doubled home a run in the fifth, but Tampa got no closer, losing the opener 3-2.

In Game 2, James Shields made the start for the Rays, while Brett Myers started for Philadelphia. The Rays scratched out two runs in the first. In the second, the Rays got a third run on an RBI single by B.J. Upton. In the fourth, Tampa made it 4-0 on a squeeze play by Jason Bartlett. Looking to even the series, the Rays again had David Price on the mound late. Price would give up two runs, but Tampa held on to win 4-2 to even the series.

As the series shifted to Philadelphia, the Phillies had the grizzled veteran on the mound while Matt Garza made the start for Tampa. Chase Utley drove in a run in the first for Philadelphia, while Gabe Gross tied it in the second. In the bottom of the inning, Carlos Ruiz made it 2-1 with a solo home run. In the sixth, the Phillies added to their lead with back-to-back shots by Utley and Ryan Howard. While Tampa made it a one-run game as Gross and Bartlett drove in runs. In the eighth inning, the Rays tied the game when B.J. Upton scored after a throwing error by Carlos Ruiz after stealing third. Ruiz made up for the error by driving in the winning run in the ninth as the Phillies walked off with a 5-4 win.

In Game 4, the Phillies went with Joe Blanton, while Tampa, looking to even the series, had Andy Sonnanstine on the mound. Sonnanstine walked Pat Burrell with the bases loaded in the first, while Feliz drove home a run in the third. After Carl Crawford made it 2-1 with a homer, Ryan Howard came up and put a death blow on the Rays with a three-run shot. Erik Hinske homered for Tampa in the fifth to make 5-2, but the Phillies kept swinging for the fences as Joe Blanton became the first pitcher to hit a World Series home run since Ken Holtzman in 1974 with the Oakland A’s. In the eighth, the Phillies got four more runs on two-run shots by Jayson Werth and Howard to make the final score 10-2.

With Hamels and Kazmir facing off again as the Phillies sought to win their second World Championship, rain was in the forecast most of the night on October 27th. Shane Victorino gave the Phillies an early 2-0 lead with a two-run single in the first. Evan Longoria got Tampa on the board in the fourth as the rain continued to fall. In the sixth, the Rays tied the game on an RBI by Carlos Pena. When the top of the sixth ended, the umpires called for the tarp to cover the field. The rains continued, and eventually, Commissioner Bud Selig called for a suspension of the game. It was the first suspended postseason game in baseball history.

The game would not resume the following day either, as it continued to rain. So much for that theory; it’s always sunny in Philadelphia. The game finally picked up in the bottom of the sixth, tied 2-2, with Grant Balfour on the mound for Tampa as fans with Game 5 tickets and some others reentered Citizen’s Bank Park. Geoff Jenkins started it right for the Phillies with a double. He would come into score on an RBI single by Werth to make it 3-2. In the seventh, with Ryan Madson on the mound, Rocco Baldelli tied the game again with a home run. The Phillies continued to answer as Pat Burrell doubled off J.P. Howell in the bottom of the seventh. Burrell would score to make it 4-3 on an RBI by Pedro Feliz. After J.C. Romero retired the side in order in the eighth, Brad Lidge finished the Rays, striking out Hinske to end the game.