Three hours and change before game time, my guess is they're getting this one in--but it might be delayed, or interrupted. Here's the latest from mlb.com:
Forecasts vary regarding the rest of the evening, but the picture is surely less optimistic than it was on Saturday morning. The first pitch for Game 3 is scheduled for 8:35 p.m. ET at the stadium, located south of downtown Philadelphia.
The National Weather Service's official forecast as of 2:32 p.m. ET calls for "rain and possibly a thunderstorm, mainly before 9 p.m." Weather.com lists a 100 percent chance of precipitation at 8 p.m., dropping to 90 percent at 9 p.m., 70 percent at 10 p.m. and 50 percent at 11 p.m.
I read somewhere that FOX likely would love a rainout, which effectively would swap a smaller Saturday night audience for a larger viewership Tuesday night. And it's Bud Selig's call, which would lead me to believe it'll get screwed up one way or another. But my guess is they play.
The pitching matchup is of a sort we've seen again and again this year: Jamie Moyer's assortment of slow, slower and stop against a fireballing opponent young enough to be his kid, in this case ALCS MVP Matt Garza. Given Garza's excellence against the Red Sox and Moyer's struggles in his first two playoff starts, Tampa has the edge on paper. But Garza's home/road splits offer some reason for optimism: he's 4-6 with a 4.53 ERA away from the thunderous folly of Tropicana Field. Actually, an even more dramatic split is grass vs. turf: Garza is 3-4, 5.77 on naturally occurring surfaces in 2008. Moyer's flyball tendencies have hurt him somewhat at Citzens Bank Park this year, as he's pitched to a 4.61 ERA in 16 starts with a 6-4 record compared to 10-3, 2.92 on the road. But it's at least arguable that the numbers go out the window with the 45 year-old Philly-area native readying to make his World Series debut more than 22 years after he first reached the majors.
The Phils lineup tonight, as reported elsewhere online, is Rollins/Werth/Utley/Howard/Burrell/Victorino/Feliz/Ruiz/Moyer. Chat about it all here until game time.