PHILADELPHIA — In the middle of all this World Series chaos, Joe Maddon sounded rather calm.

Bumped to a hotel in Delaware until Game 5 resumes tonight — if the weather cooperates — the Tampa Bay manager and his young team rode out the storm together.

"I referred to it as kind of like getting snowed in, if I could go back to my roots," said Maddon, raised in nearby Hazleton, Pa.

Rain put the Series on hold Monday night, with the Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays suspended in the sixth inning with the score 2-all.

More rain and possible snow showers were expected yesterday, so commissioner Bud Selig said Game 5 was tentatively set to resume at 8:37 p.m. (Eastern time) today — after Democratic president candidate Barack Obama's 30-minute ad on Fox and other networks. Major League Baseball and Fox agreed two weeks ago to push back today's first pitch — originally for Game 6 — by about 10 minutes.

"No one will delay a World Series game with an infomercial when I'm president," Republican candidate John McCain said to loud applause at a rally yesterday in Pennsylvania.

Selig said there was no way to resume play yesterday.

"While obviously we want to finish Game 5 as soon as possible, the forecast for today does not allow for us to continue the game this evening," he said. "We are closely monitoring tomorrow's forecast and will continue to monitor the weather on an hourly basis. We will advise fans as soon as we are able to make any final decisions with respect to tomorrow's schedule."

The forecast for today called for clearing skies by the early afternoon, with temperatures in the upper 30s by night.

"We get to bat four times, they get to bat three. We get 12 outs, they get nine," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "We are definitely coming with the mind-set that we are going to win that game."

The Phillies lead three games to one, needing one more win for their first championship since 1980. There has never been a rain-shortened game in Series history, and this was the first suspension.

"We'll stay here if we have to celebrate Thanksgiving here," Selig said Monday night when the suspension was announced.

By the time Carlos Pena hit a tying, two-out single in the sixth for the Rays, every pitch and every hit had become an adventure.

"It was terrible. The field wasn't bad, but it was the worst conditions I've ever played in," Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria said.