PHILADELPHIA • Game 5 of the World Series was suspended because of rain in the sixth inning Monday night with the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays tied at 2 and the field already a sloppy, soggy mess.

“I can’t tell you tonight when we’ll resume,” commissioner Bud Selig said. “We’ll stay here if we have to celebrate Thanksgiving here.”

Rain was expected to continue into today, delaying the Phillies’ chance to wrap up their first championship since 1980. Philadelphia leads 3-1.

There has never been a rain-shortened game in Series history. Whenever this one resumes, it will pick up where it left off, with the Phillies about to bat in the bottom of the sixth.

“The weather tomorrow is supposed to be worse,” said Bob DuPuy, MLB’s chief operating officer.

The game is scheduled to resume at 6:30 p.m. tonight.

Carlos Pena hit a tying, two-out single in the sixth for the Rays, and the umpires called it moments later. By then, every ball and every pitch had become an adventure because of the miserable conditions.

“The infield was tough. The ball would do funny things,” Phillies second baseman Chase Utley said. “It was in bad shape. It was not playable.”

If Pena had not tied it, Selig said he would not have let the Phillies win with a game that was called after six innings.

“It’s not a way to end a World Series,” he said. “I would not have allowed a World Series to end this way.”

MLB changed its rules on suspended games in November 2006, adding a provision to resume them rather than replay them. In either case, this would have been a suspension because the visiting team tied it in the top of an inning and the home team never batted.

“It was terrible. The field wasn’t bad, but it was the worst conditions I’ve ever played in,” Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria said.

Today was supposed to be a travel day, if necessary. Instead, the teams will stay in Philadelphia and then head back to Tropicana Field if the Rays win.

About 10 minutes after the game was officially suspended, an announcement was made at Citizens Bank Park telling fans wrapped in plastic sheets they were done for the night.Because it was only lightly raining when the game started, MLB hoped it could play a full nine innings. Quickly, however, the showers turned to a steady downpour and the field became a quagmire.

Photo by