Tuesday, October 28, 2008

[WORLD SERIES MONSOON]
Phillies Fans Have Only Head Groundskeeper To Blame (And Maybe Karma)
For all the complaints (and whining) we have heard today directed at FoxTV, Bud Selig and Major League Baseball, the one group that deserves the brunt of the fans' wrath is the Phillies' ground crew.

During the bottom of the 5th inning, Chris Myers reported from the field that he had just spoken with the head groundskeeper who claimed that the ground crew had the situation under control and that the field could handle the rain.
"I just spoke with the head groundskeeper Mike Boekholder just before this inning started. He walked out, checked the field. The forecast, a tenth of an inch of rain per hour. He says this field can hold that all night...He doesn't think that this can stay all night but it should not worsen."
This is the same person that Major League Baseball and the umpires are checking with and Boekholder is telling them that the field will not be a problem. The field did not appear to become a big problem until the top of the 6th inning. In the 5th inning water was only seen collecting along the warning track in foul territory. And while one could argue that the game should have been postponed during the top of the 6th, umpires always prefer to call rain delays in between innings. A delay during an inning is always the last resort.

The head groundskeeper had the umpires and MLB believing the field would be fine in the 6th inning and once it proved not to be, the umpires were just trying to finish the inning before calling for the tarp.

And for those that think MLB refused to suspend the game earlier just so the Rays could tie the game, that only makes sense if you think they would have kept playing if the Rays do not score in the top of the 6th. Major League Baseball was never going to award a win to a team in the World Series from a rain-shortened game. The score could have been 12-2 and MLB would still make the teams finish the game at a later date. That second run for the Rays had zero bearing on when the game was suspended.

Then again, maybe Phillies fans should not be planning the victory parade...or throwing mustard packs at a 7-year old girl...or pouring beer on a 9-year old boy...or screaming at babies...or, eh. You guys get the point.

Phillies fans, we would introduce you to Mr. Karma, but we have a feeling you guys already know each other pretty well.

Nothing Is Ever &@$#ing Easy [The Fightins]
Only in Philadelphia [Beerleaguer]
Phillies/Rays World Series Game Five Will Forever Be Remembered As Raingate, Unless [The Good Phight]
Game Five Postponed At 2-2 Tie [Phillies Nation]
Philles fans prematurely planning victory parade [Ump Bump]
Rays seek a bit more security [LA Times]
World Series: Phils' fans live down to their reputation [St. Pete Times]
Rays fans complain of treatment at ballpark [Philadelphia Inquirer]
25-Year Championship Drought [Philadelphia Daily News]

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27 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

i guess Bud needed the groundskeeper to see that there was an entire yellow/green blob on the radar that would last until thursday...it has not stopped raining here

the 6th inning never should have taken place...nor should the 5th have...

im not worried about karma...still feelin pretty good...win 1 game in philly and talk to me on thursday

2:48 PM  
Blogger The Professor said...

the groundskeepers have access to the radars

2:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

everybody knows that FOX doesn't make any money unless the series goes 6 games. they were pulling for the Rays from pitch 1

3:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

FYI...its the philadelphia Inquirer...not Enquirer

3:50 PM  
Blogger The Professor said...

you mean it is not a sister-paper to the National Enquirer?

3:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not here to defend Selig, but did he really have a choice??

3:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

For all the Philly Pholks that think the game should have never started, I didn't hear them complaining after game 3 when it didn't start until 10:00

4:05 PM  
Blogger DirtbagFan said...

If you think anyone at Fox is pulling for the Rays you're out of your ever-lovin' mind

4:05 PM  
Blogger DirtbagFan said...

It's a shame that the Phillies have so many nice guys on the field and so many douche-bags in the stands

4:07 PM  
Blogger Brian Michael said...

Last time I checked the decision was commissioner's not the groundkeeper's. You are a patsy if you swallow Selig's lame attempt to spread the blame to the umpires, groundscrew and weathermen. You can't - at the same press conference - invoke your "best interests" clause then say other people made the decision.

The folks at Fox were rooting for the Rays at the start of the series, but then once the series started there was not really to root for.

4:32 PM  
Blogger The Professor said...

the hospital has a director. but I would rather the doctor decide if I need surgery or not.

EVERY boss in the world relies on experts to make decisions. I could be wrong, but I am guessing Bud has never worked on baseball field maintenance. If the head groundskeeper tells him the field will be fine, why should Bud doubt him?

4:38 PM  
Blogger DirtbagFan said...

I dislike Selig as much as the next guy, but his hands were tied on this one...
It still sounds like Phillies fans have a little panic in their voices and are grasping at straws... if I didn't know any better I'd say the Rays were the ones winning the series right now based on the way Phillie fan is acting...

4:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"You can't - at the same press conference - invoke your "best interests" clause then say other people made the decision."

actually you can if you are talking about TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.

it was the umpires and groundskeepers that decided to keep playing. It was "baseball's best interest" to suspend the game after the delay regardless of the score.

4:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

good one PtP....considering it wasnt a monsoon at the outset of game 3...you moron.....

we've waited 28 years...whats one more day???

dirtbag...unfortch, you do know better...still a 3-1 lead with advantage in the pen and at the plate...and your players inability to win at CBP because us fans are so mean and scary!

5:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

good one PtP....considering it wasnt a monsoon at the outset of game 3...you moron.....

we've waited 28 years...whats one more day???

dirtbag...unfortch, you do know better...still a 3-1 lead with advantage in the pen and at the plate...and your players inability to win at CBP because us fans are so mean and scary!

5:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

it may only be a small percentage but the Philly fans that are fucktards are a ducking embarassment to sports in general. And the really sad thing is they are really just a charciture of themselves. A bunch of idiots that care more about being assholes than about whether or not their team wins. They are all more worried about living up to their reputation.

5:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

philly smells....who told ya that??? the endless number of national publications that trash philly because its the cool thing to do?? where was the uproar in the NLCS LA when i was literally threatened with my life by the latino trash gang members?? i was at games 3 and 4 and ran into some rays fans...and they encountered no problems outside of some boos but thats gonna happen anywhere...are there a few ignorant assholes??? 100%...but those can be found EVERYWHERE

i gotta say...it smells pretty good where i am...it smells like a WS victory is about 28 hours away

o/u how many fans would be in the park last night in that situation if the trop wasnt a dome....6,000?

nah, no one cares about winning here...its only been 25 years...ive got a lot of good comebacks re: those tremendous tampa bay fans but ill bite my tongue

6:02 PM  
Blogger Crew of s/v Diva said...

If you have to complain about a third party's ruling like this, what does it say about your confidence in YOUR team?

6:08 PM  
Blogger Crew of s/v Diva said...

If you choose to complain about a third party's ruling like this, what does it say about your confidence in YOUR team???

6:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

is anybody reading the comments on those links in the first paragraph?

Gold Prof! Gold!

I am amazed. It is about 80-20 for fans that have a "bad feeling" about this game and are suddenly worried about the series. Wow. And I thought Cubs fans were bad.

7:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey anonymous...your boyfriend must be proud of you. you come trolling onto the opposing teams blog and wont even give a name. dont know how to use a computer? my guess is you werent even alive in 1993 when joe carter rocked philly's world.

seriously...if you had confidence in your team, this shouldnt matter and you would stop placing blame. great teams win, no matter what the conditions. you are just looking for excuses in case your team chokes....and you are telling a bunch of people who really dont care. get out of the library...the only plce where you can use the internet for free because you cant afford it, take yourself back to your box somewhere on the side of the jersey turnpike and leave us alone.

7:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's over!! As per usual, the weather in Philly won't clear up until some time in mid-April. By then, the Rays will have all reached puberty (c'mon, Evan! You're a big boy, Scotty!) Meanwhile, the Phils will have less luck:
1. Ryan Howard will finally explode due to overconsumption of Subway footlongs (congrats to those who had 127,688 in the pool);
2. Jayson Werth will be recruited by Freddie Prinze Jr. to do another Scooby Doo movie, and will spend the spring emoting with a CGI dog;
3. Jimmy Rollins will discover that he really does love strange mens' hands on his ass, and quit baseball for a porn career under the stage name "J-Roll"; and
4. Chase Utley and Shane Victorino will start an institute to help kids with idiotic names, helping a whole generation of Tifanees, Trigs, and Ludacrises deal with their issues.

Rays in seven.

9:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

another pussy writing a column. the best story is of the rays fan who had to lock them self in a stall because they were being harassed by Philly fans.

take your tags off your jerseys and hats and then write a column with some meaning behind it.

2:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yeah. Last winter the owners changed the colors and we had to throw away all ofnour been jrseys and caps buy new blue ones. Sorry about that, dickweed.

2:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

*green* jerseys

2:34 PM  
Blogger DirtbagFan said...

Oh, the ever-so-original "All Rays fans are bandwagoners" argument... never gets old.

3:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

here comes the next argument from philly fans

"your stadium sucks"

HAH

hey philly fans, please send all your complaints here

http://www.maxwellcreek.org/images/newsletter/4q2006/brickwall.jpg

4:04 PM  

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