PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In the City of Brotherly Love and the undefeated Eagles, Justin Verlander showed the reverse of the first and playfully gave Phillies fans another kind of bird Monday — with his middle finger as he stepped off Houston’s team bus.
One more finger, of course, than you’d need to count the Astros ace’s World Series wins, 0-6 with a 6.07 ERA in eight starts.
Also the number of days Game 3 of the World Series was delayed — postponed by rain with the matchup tied 1-1, pushing the entire Fall Classic schedule back one day.
“We waited long enough that we can see on the radar what’s coming,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “We had three, actually four different weather people looking at it. Everyone was consistent about this second wave of rain.”
The rainout moved Game 3 to Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park, when the weather was supposed to be all clear and first lady Jill Biden had planned to attend Game 4. There was a smattering of boos at the ballpark when the washout was announced an hour before the scheduled first pitch on Halloween night.
Game 4 will now be played Wednesday and Game 5 is set for the scheduled travel day on Thursday night — Game 5 will compete with the NFL game that has, of all teams, the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles in Houston against the Texans.
There will be a travel day on Friday if necessary. That had been the original date of Game 6.
Game 6 has been rescheduled for Saturday and Game 7 would be Sunday. All games will start at 8:03 p.m. ET.
There has not been a World Series day game since 1987, and it appeared there was little discussion about turning Game 5 on Thursday into a late-afternoon start and keep it away from the NFL as it reigns as a ratings juggernaut. The Eagles-Texans game will stream exclusively on Amazon…