Selig's "Decision"

He's made his share of gaffes, but what commissioner hasn't?

Okay, I have already seen the mountain of articles condemning Selig for yet another bad decision, but was it that bad of a decision?

First, was he wrong to not want to end the World Series in a rain-out? I think we all agree that he made the right decision here. I realize he essentially made up a rule, but there's no rule against it either. We didn't have an amendment against a third term as President until FDR actually did it. Then, they made it a rule against it. It's the same thing here. It had never happened before, and therefore, he made a decision. Now that it has happened, they can decide for the future if World Series games can end due to rain. However, I believe we all agree this part of the decision was correct.

Second, when were they supposed to end it? You can give me all the conspiracy theories you want about revenues, the Rays, and whatever else, but I genuinely believe they just wanted to finish the game. They didn't want to delay the game at all. They tried to push through the game to reach some conclusion. They stopped when they did because it had gotten too bad. Before, they had enough Quik-Dry to make things better, but after rain kept coming down, the infield looked like a swimming pool. To keep things in good condition, they would have had to stop time every two batters to put more stuff on the field. No one wanted that either.

Third, why would they tell us before the game about the game not ending because of rain? They seemed to believe that the weather was not going to be that bad. If he came out and said anything beforehand, we would've thought, "Great, I'm glad you told me, but can we please get on with the game." I don't think they thought the weather would really get bad enough. As for if it would have helped the umpires, I doubt it for the reason mentioned above. They wanted to finish the game, but eventually, it just got ridiculous.

Fourth, did anyone care to ask Selig what he would do about this scenario? I mean we can all use hindsight to blame him, but if you want to be all smart and analytical, why didn't you think of it before? Why didn't you ask him? We all expect him to be all-knowing, but he can't be. It's not a knock on him. It's just a truth. As prepared as I believe he tries to be, he can't be prepared for such an instance. In the 100+ years of the World Series, this had never happened. Never! It just happened on his watch. Ten years from now, all we'll see is Phillies win series 4-1 (or whatever it happens to be). Blame him now, but you won't care later.

Fifth, who actually called the delay last night? Not the postponement, the delay. I believe that is the umpires' decision, not Selig's. I doubt the umpire favors the Rays to continue the series. It makes sense that the umpire called for the delay, and then, Selig postponed it thereafter. How would you like it if Selig, who probably knows nothing about working a field, came down and said the field was unplayable? If someone, you know, on the field had said something, this might have been averted. However, they were willing to be obedient soldiers and fight through it. But if you want to blame someone, blame the players, coaches, and umpires for not complaining earlier. Because if they couldn't complain earlier, then they shouldn't have stopped the game earlier. And if they couldn't have stopped the game earlier, then you can't blame Selig for not stopping the game earlier due to his "Rays bias".

Sixth, why wouldn't the Rays have scored that inning anyway? I doubt Rollins would have kept Upton from getting that single. With a dry base path, Upton probably has no trouble stealing second. Carlos Peña then hit a solid single into left in which Burrell's not-so-great arm couldn't throw out Upton who had to seriously tip-toe around third base. I think they would have scored anyway. The weather didn't have much to do with that.

Honestly, I think Selig, and everyone else for that matter who cares about the game, wanted the game to end last night. He and all the other officials, including the umpires, probably all thought, "We need to finish the game. Imagine the chaos that would ensue from ending the game now. Let's just try to finish it." Now, I realize I have based none of this in fact or in personal knowledge of the facts, but as far as I'm concerned, no one else was inside anyone's head either. Give him a break. He made a tough decision.