MLB's World Series embarrasment

Bud Selig suspending yesterday's Game 5 was a huge deal. Never in history has a World Series game been suspended, nor has one been called on account of rain. Had the Rays not scored in the top of the 6th, shortly before the game was suspended, under MLB rules the Phillies would have technically had a case for them to be declared World Series winners. Bud Selig claims he would not have allowed that. But either way, it would have been a disaster, and left a bad taste in fans mouths.

This is on top of the, at best, shoddy umpiring we've seen thus far. There have been 3 blown calls(Baldelli's walk in Game 2, Moyer's tag in Game 3, and Rollins being taged out at 3rd in Game 4). All of them were big calls, and all were blown badly. This is on top of the awful strike zones being used. Last night, Scott Kazmir threw two perfect strike threes in the 5th to Pat Burrell. Too bad home play umpire Jeff Kellog called them balls 3 and 4. In the top of the 6th, the same pitch was ruled a strike for Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels.

MLB has a problem on their hands. Game 3 was a terrific game, with an exciting finish. Too bad that many East Coasters were probably in bed by the time it end, seeing as it started almost 2 hours late.

There's no excuse for these types of things. World Series games should not be starting at 8:30 on a Saturday night. Nor on a weeknight. My solutions:

1)Weekend World Series games start at 5:30 PM EST. This would allow kids to actually stay up and watch a game from start to finish. I guarantee that fans will tune in even if the game isnt in prime time.

2)Weekday World Series games start at 7 PM EST. This will put the games into prime-time, but still have them start early enough that games wont end around midnight on the east.

3)With all of the technology around for weather forecasting, why didnt it occur to anyone to move up Game 3 and Game 5's start time, to avoid the problems that occurred. You can't tell me that on Saturday morning, MLB didnt know that rain would be a problem around game time. Had they been flexible and moved the game up 2-3 hours, there wouldnt have been a problem.

4)Change the archaic rain rules. If a game has any kind of implications(playoff game, regular season game that could clinch a playoff spot), allow for it to be made up later. Don't declare a winner based on 4 and a half innings of play. That would be like the NFL determining a game at the half.

5)Make sure a)the very best umpires are calling a WS game year in and year out, and b)blown playoff calls weigh heavily against an umpire when it is time to hand out World Series assignments.

I'm sure MLB will take none of these suggestions under consideration, because for the first 3, FOX rules those decisions. But maybe with the upcoming MLB Network, baseball will be able to regain some measure of control over these things.