(Not) ‘Dancing’ in the rain

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What if ‘Dancing With the Stars’ had been performed in the rain Monday like six innings of Game 5 of the World Series?

‘DWTS’ host Tom Bergeron might have been saying, ‘Warren Sapp can’t possibly get a score of 10 doing the rumba in weather like this,’ while Sapp got a perfect score of 10 from guest judge Michael Flatley. Or something like that.

While doing my own remote-control dance of switching between ‘DWTS,’ the World Series and ‘Monday Night Football,’ the most entertaining moment of the night was catching Joe Buck and Tim McCarver talking about how it was almost unfair that Tampa Bay, with an offense so often sparked by base stealing, would be sunk by the basepath mud as driving rain formed puddles on the Philly field.

At about the point one of them said it wasn’t possible to steal a base in those conditions, Tampa Bay’s B.J. Upton stole second base. Apparently Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels was listening to the Fox broadcast because he didn’t seem to think Upton could steal a base either.

Not that the stolen base mattered or anything. It just put Upton in position to score the game-tying run before the rain suspended the game.

The meanest comment of the night was made by ‘DWTS’ judge Carrie Ann Inaba, who lamented the fact 82-year-old Cloris Leachman was still in the competition. It made Inaba ‘sad’ that fans voted Leachman as safe to dance again last week over higher-scoring singer Toni Braxton.

‘We lost Toni Braxton for this,’ said Inaba after Leachman’s cha-cha. Fans booed.

One shudders to think what Inaba will say if Leachman is voted as safe to dance again next week on Tuesday’s ‘DWTS’ results. And it’s still supposed to be raining in Philadelphia too. The Rays better get their running shoes on.

-- Diane Pucin