Cards, Rangers take Game 6 rainout in stride

The Rangers, one victory away from championship glory, have waited 51 years to win a World Series.

What's one more day?

"I don't think either team will get antsy," infielder Michael Young said after Game 6 of a World Series his Rangers lead, 3-2, was postponed Wednesday due to inclement weather. "It's just a rainout. We have a ton of experience dealing with these things. It happens all the time. I think cheap jerseys people think we're going to sit in our hotel rooms and bite our nails all day. That's really not the case."

Major League Baseball announced it was pushing Game 6 back a day at 2:15 p.m. CT, and by that time, most players had already arrived at Busch Stadium.

With bad weather expected Wednesday night, clear skies lined up for Thursday and Friday and the season being finished thereafter, MLB figured it could only gain from ensuring the final game or two of this World Series would be played under pristine conditions.

"We just didn't want to take a chance," cheap soccer jerseysMLB executive vice president of baseball operations Joe Torre said.

Cardinals slugger Lance Berkman, for one, didn't agree with the logic.

"I'm not even sure why they canceled it," he said. "This is better weather than we had for Game 1, so I'm actually a little bit upset about it. ... The previous World Series that I was in [in 2005], we had Game 1 and Game 2 in Chicago and the weather was horrible. It was raining custom made jerseys and it was in the low 40s and we had no problems. We played right through that. Game 1 [of the 2011 World Series in St. Louis], I felt like the weather was worse. So I don't know. It's their call. We play when they tell us to play."

And since they were told not to, both teams held loose, voluntary workouts in the early part of Wednesday afternoon. Some players stepped outside just before rain began to fall and got some throwing in, others hit in the cages, others got some necessary treatment and some just lounged around.

Berkman's gripe aside, MLB wanted to avoid a repeat of Game 5 of the 2008 World Series between the Rays and Phillies, which was suspended after the top of the sixth. Or Game 1 of this year's American League Division Series between the Tigers and Yankees, which stopped after 1 1/2 innings and took Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia out of the equation.

"Obviously, the regular season would be different because mlb jerseys cheap you have to get a game day," Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton said. "But at this point in the year, wait as long as you have to to make sure you get the guys who need to get out there and play."

"I think if you look at it, it's really smart," Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols added. "Obviously our fans were looking forward to it, and we were looking forward to it, but ... I'm pretty sure they don't want to lose their guy and we don't want to lose our guy, sit here for five hours and have to throw the bullpen out there in the World Series. I don't think that's fair for either ballclub."

The last World Series game to be postponed before it started was Game 4 in 2006 in St. Louis, which was made up the following day. The Cardinals went on to win that Series against the Tigers in five games at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals were already all hands on deck because they're facing cheap nfl jerseys elimination. But the rainout allowed for the possibility that ace Chris Carpenter starts a potential Game 7 on three days' rest Friday -- though manager Tony La Russa hasn't publicly committed one way or another.

For the Rangers, Derek Holland will be available out of the bullpen in Thursday's Game 6, and now perhaps even their ace, C.J. Wilson, can come in for relief, too. But Ron Washington is firm on sticking with Matt Harrison as his Game 7 starter, no matter what unfolds.

If nothing else, the rainout allows players on both sides to rest some nagging ailments.

Does one benefit more than the other?

"I don't think so," Young said. "We had a day off yesterday, so everyone would've been all hands on deck either way. Everyone would've been ready, so yeah, I don't think it really favors anybody, I don't think it puts anybody at an advantage or a disadvantage."

"Any time you can get a day's rest at this point in the year, it's nice," Cardinals reliever Mitchell Boggs added. "It works the same way for them. Their guys will get an extra day of rest, too. Everybody's going to be ready to go tomorrow night."

And before then, they'll just wait.

La Russa will finally get to see "Moneyball," and most of the players will simply kick back and spend a quiet evening with their families.

"I guess I'm going to just go lay on the couch like a big fat pig and watch a movie or something," Berkman said.

As for the emotional roller coaster of getting amped up for a game and then having to settle back down?

"It's not football," Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler said. "We're not going to be running around the clubhouse smashing each other in the helmet or anything like that. Game got canceled, get ready for tomorrow. It's really not that difficult."