I am ready to give up on baseball. I love the Philadelphia Phillies. I own a partial season subscription, and go to eight games a year, and watch nearly all the others. I had two world series tickets which I gave to my sons for game four. I love going to games and watching the team. I was so excited to see the team reach the post season and the World Series. But I have felt for a long time _ and the last few weeks have confirmed it _ that the baseball commissioner and people in charge are concerned about money first, and baseball second. How can you start a World Series game at 8:30 p.m. in late October in Philadelphia? How can that be best for baseball? I am a member of the media, but I hate it when the media (in this case, television) alters the outcome, influences the events it is supposed to cover. What is best for baseball is to play these games in good weather, during the day, when conditions are best for the players and the fans in the ballpark. What is best for the networks, for advertising revenues, is not what is best for baseball. But when you surrender your integrity, when you stop striving for excellence, and optimum conditions for the game, and try to serve the almighty dollar first, you set the stage for what happened last night in game five of the 2008 World Series. What a disaster. Did you see Jimmy Rollins try to catch the fly ball in the wind? Did you see the puddles and the slop, and the thermometer at 39 degrees? Cole Hamels deserved a chance to pitch in better conditions. The fans deserved a better climate in which to cheer, especially after paying all that money for tickets. I feel like it is hard enough to root for Philadelphia teams in the last quarter century. But these circumstances test the fidelity and patience of any fan. I hope I have the courage of my convictions. I want to say I’m through watching playoff baseball until they play autumn games on warmer afternoons, and put the game itself, and the players on the field, and the fans in attendance, as the top priority. Move playoff baseball back to daytime, or a least late afternoon. Last night’s game was postponed when the score was tied. But the game was a victory for the Rays. It broke the Phillies momentum. It forced ace Cole Hamels from the game. It broke my heart. I hope the commissioner reads this. Your obligation is to the game, and to the fans. Don’t try to squeeze games in to suit the network. I agree completey with Phil Sheridan’s column today in the Philadelphia Inquirer. He wrote: “Major League Baseball should be ashamed for allowing its most important game of the year to deteriorate into an embarrassing mess because of slavish obedience to its pimp, the Fox Television Network.” For his full column: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20081028_Phil_Sheridan__Tainted_by_television.html