PHILADELPHIA - Game Five of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays will resume Wednesday night, Major League Baseball has announced.

First pitch is scheduled for 8:37 p.m. EDT.

Trying to win their first World Series since 1980, the Phillies will bat with the game tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning when play resumes.

The game originally was suspended Monday night and rescheduled to resume Tuesday. But heavy rain, wind and cold weather forced the game to be pushed to Wednesday.

Weather conditions again will not be ideal for baseball as the forecast calls for a 30 percent chance of scattered showers, gusty winds and temperatures in the high 30s and a wind chill below freezing.

However, mother nature likely will not temper the enthusiasm in the City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia has not won a major professional title since 1983, when the 76ers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.

The Phillies were well on their way toward ending both droughts Monday night, as Shane Victorino's two-run single gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

But after halving the deficit, Tampa Bay rallied to forge a 2-2 tie in the driving rain when Carlos Pena plated B.J. Upton with an RBI hit off Phillies lefthander Cole Hamels in the top of the
sixth inning.

Should Philadelphia have remained in the lead, the game would have gone into an indefinite delay. Commissioner Bud Selig said the Phillies would not have been awarded a rain-shortened
victory, which is what would have happened in the regular season.

Instead, the teams will need to regroup for Wednesday night.

When the game resumes, Hamels is set to lead off. The Phillies are expected to send up a pinch-hitter against Grant Balfour, who had previously relieved starter Scott Kazmir.

If the Rays extend the series to a sixth game, it will be played Thursday night at Tropican Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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