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.
Hey Dave, a couple of things. You misspelled Hamels on your headline and you indicated that the game is Tuesday night at 8:37, when it's tomorrow night at 8:37. Just wanted to let you know so readers don't get confused. Great work Murph!— BrianHarrisburg- No way he would pitch on 3 days rest? Maybe emergency relief if Moyer gets in trouble early?— bigredmachinefan
- Murph, could Hamels not come back and pitch 1 more inning tomorrow night? Assuming MLB goes with the 3 days in a row, which I imagine think they will try to do, Hamels would then be stuck watching, or possibly jumping into the bullpen for an inning on his "side session" day in game 6 or 7. Is it out of the question for someone to throw one inning on 1 day rest after only a 75 pitch count last night? Does the fact that he's due up first make the whole notion a moot point?— B in DC
- I realize he's not accustomed to the whole three-days-rest thing, and Charlie and Rich didn't want to risk it in the first two rounds. That made sense, because you want a healthy Hamels for later. If it gets to a Game 7 on Friday, however, there is no later. Hamels would have to start on three days. If he can't possibly do that after throwing just 75 pitches yesterday, there's something wrong.— hunsinator
- Where is my clean underwear?— philslifefan
- No way we see Moyer as a starter the rest of the series Bigredmachinefan...it is going to be Myers then Blanton or Hamels.— joey2times
- Hey everyone. when we finish the game tomorrow, we win the World Series. who cares about [potential] game 7.— gobirds556
- I doubt MLB will give a travel day, at least they won't if all of the writers are correct and it's all about FOX tv ratings. As for Hamels throwing game 7 on three days rest, would that really be a better option than Blanton/Moyer for game 7? I think that the short rest could mess with Cole's head, and he has already thrown over 255 innings this year. I understand it's now or never, but I wonder if he'd be as effective if he was soar going into a start.— Chefmark
- this is all well and good, but it may not even get to a game 7. i still believe the phils can win whenever game 5 resumes....LET'S GO PHILS!!!!!!!!!— eoleary506
- THERE ISNT GOING TO BE A GAME 7!!!— DEREK71
- Let's win on Wednesday, which is why I say bring Hamels back for an inning if he's not hurting. Yes, the Phils had the best bullpen, but I think Durbin is on fumes. That leaves Eyre, Romero, and Madson to get thru to Lidge. I don't know enough about Eyre to trust him, though he has been good since they got him. God, I barely trust Madson and he's been great for most of the season and thru the postseason.— B in DC
- Win game 5 and skip ALL of these WHAT IF articles— LongtimeFan3
- Save some laundry philsfan, I'm finding out that other than the poor acoustics, the hi-def looks great in the bathroom....takes up a lot of space....might need to upgrade to Charmin if they don't wrap it up soon...— wvbillz
- At least FOX gets to keep their beloved new episode of "House" tonight. Wasn't that the whole point of forcing them to play last night??? Win it tomorrow and the Parade is Halloween morning (one to remember forever)!— stanbro
- "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" -- good point, Fox will run the show re: when games are played, but your analysis is off. Fox will refuse to play Game 7 on Friday -- it would be an absolute disaster for sponsors, Fox and MLB to play the game on halloween; that would be unacceptable to big tick sponsors. The take away is, because they cancelled tonight, Cole will start Game 7 on Saturday, if necessary— r-sh
