World Series Game 6 Postponed

The anticipation of the first elimination game of the 2011 World Series will have to wait one more day. Game six has been pushed back to Thursday due to persistent rain in the weather forecast for tonight.

Major League Baseball made the announcement around 1:15 p.m. CT after league officials held a conference call. Pete Woodfork (Senior VP), Joe Torre (Executive VP of baseball operations), and commissioner Bud Selig were involved in the decision making process.

Rain has been falling at Busch Stadium for the better part of the day, and MLB’s internal forecasts project a 50%-60% chance of heavy rain at the time the game was scheduled to start.

With so much at stake, it’s hard to argue with the decision. Why not whip out the old cliche? It’s better to be safe than sorry.

"It was a conversation about whether you want to play in rain. I think everybody pretty much was in agreement with the fact, that because of all the forecasting … the fact that we just didn’t want to take a chance. We anticipate it’s going to rain. If it doesn’t rain, you made the decision on what you knew. If the forecast wasn’t as good for tomorrow and Friday, chances are we’d probably wait a little longer to come to a decision.~Joe Torre"

Thursday night forecasts indicate just a 10% chance of precipitation in St. Louis with temperatures possibly dropping below 40 degrees.In case of more inclement weather, game six would be pushed back to Friday at the same time.

Tonight’s rainout opens up a world of possibilities as far as starting pitching is concerned for the rest of the series, and the Cardinals may end up benefiting as a result.

Then again, it’s increasingly tough to be even the slightest bit optimistic in the wake of two excruciating losses filled with missed opportunities and reminders of summer struggles. And oh yeah, the Cardinals have their backs against the wall trailing 3-2 in the series.

With Kyle Lohse, who has been shaky at best throughout the postseason, in position to pitch a potential game seven, there is now the intriguing possibility of having ace Chris Carpenter go on three-days rest. You’d have about as much trouble getting Tony La Russa to commit to something like that as he had calling the bullpen in Texas, especially considering how the whole Carp-on-short-rest thing didn’t work out against the Phillies.

Although Ron Washington has already made it clear that Matt Harrison would get the start in a game seven situation, Derrick Holland would now be eligible to do so on full rest, which is a scary proposition for St. Louis.

Regardless of which starting pitchers would take the mound in a game seven, I think they would both have extremely short leashes. In what would be the last game of the season, an “all hands on deck” pitching strategy would be more likely if you ask me.

Enough talk about a game seven.

The Cardinals would be wise to take this extra day off and search for some of that magic that has seemingly gone missing during the World Series. Momentum is not on their side right now, and I have yet to see a total team effort on baseball’s biggest stage. Something just seems off, and it goes beyond hitting with RISP or malfunctioning bullpen calls.

Maybe mother nature is simply prolonging the Redbirds’ fantastic season for one more day…