Game postponed again: could Hamels pitch Game 7?
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Game postponed again: could Hamels pitch Game 7?
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Just received the official word: Game 5 has been postponed again.
The tentative plan is to play the final three-and-a-half innings Wednesday night starting at 8:37 p.m. Acccording to Weather.com, there is a 30 percent chance of rain with rain and snow showers likely occuring in the morning. The high temperature is supposed to be 48 degrees. So it looks good that the Phillies and Rays will play a cold, abbreviated Game 5 tomorrow night.
Here is another interesting sub-plot:
Now, there is a possibility that Cole Hamels could be available to pitch Game 7. All it would take is Major League Baseball keeping an open travel day instead of playing Games 5, 6 and 7 consecutively. If that happens, Hamels would get four days rest before Game 7, putting him in line to start the game if it happens.
This would be the scenario:
Monday - Hamels pitches six innings in the first half of Game 5
Tuesday - Off (Rainout)
Wendesday - Off (End of Game 5)
Thursday - Off (Travel to Tampa Bay)
Friday - Off (Game 6)
Saturday - Game 7 on normal rest.
But it remains to be seen what Major League Baseball is going to do about travel between Philly and Tampa. Everyone knows how much this depends on TV, and Friday and Saturday nights aren't great television nights, so I imagine Fox would rather play Game 6 on Thursday and Game 7 on Friday if necessary. But that would also force both teams to pull a potentially late night. Let's say Game 5 goes extra innings and lasts another two hours. The game would end at 10:37 p.m. By the time all was said and done, they probably wouldn't leave on their flights until 1 a.m. at the earliest. That would put them in Tampa at 3 a.m. and in St. Petersburg and checked into their hotel no earlier than 4 a.m. They would then play an important baseball game 16 hours later.
Regardless, the Phillies will now definitely have both Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton available for Game 7.
Not only win game 5 but the way it shapes up... we have at least 4 at-bats and the Rays have just 3. Let's come out smokin' in the bottom of the 6th before their bats wake up. We have done that the past couple of games. my ole heart is skipping beats these days. Don't know if I can take much more. We so much want them to win...it is almost overpowering.— stoky- Hamels will have 4 days rest. He will be fine, but I am sure he will be celebrating by that point. Our Phils are bringing clinching tomorrow. They are giving cols his 5 post season wins, and we are partying.— MFPhils
- ignore my errors as usual :)— MFPhils
- Let's hope that the suspended game is played on Thursday night instead of tomorrow due to inclement weather. This way Hamels could start game 7 on full rest if necessary. Gillick and Manuel better speak out if the weather is crappy tomorrow night, and be suckered again.— glennboe
- It has been confirmed by MLB. Game 5 tomorrow, Game 6 Thursday, Game 7 Friday. No four days of rest for Hamels. Unless there is a major snowstorm tomorrow night!— glennboe
- Did they actually pay you to write this? There is no way Major League Baseball will agree to an open day in between Games 5 and 6. The only way Hamels will be available for Game 7 is if tomorrow's game gets rained out. Given that the forecast does not look good it is a possibility. Win tomorrow and this whole thing, including your horrific article, is moot.— Awesome
- I agree. Let's win game 5 and make everything else meaningless.— MDefl
Comment removed.- Wednesday will go down in history as the Phillies'greatest day ever!— George Stackhouse
- In what remains of the suspended game, the Phils have four at bats left, Rays have three. Phils in FIVE, baby!— Bake McBride
- great job dave! way to stay positive!!! nobody cares about game 7 because its not gonna happen— republican08
- They'll play tommorow night. Using Myers is a dumb idea. If they lose, you just took your ace out of game 5 and blew your number 2 on 2 innings in game 5. We have the best bullpen in baseball right now. Dobbs will start things off. They'll use Jenkins later to take Burrels place. If Dobbs gets on base, I'd think about putting in Iguchi who has 8 stolen bases. The Phils don't lose if they have the lead late in the game. That says it al about their bullpen. Getting the first batter up on base would be huge.— MikeP
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