Fox's spin on Game 4 1/2: You saw history, dude!

This is the latest ratings release from Fox Sports, without any editing:

Baseball history was made last night when severe weather conditions in Philadelphia forced World Series Game 5 to be suspended. It is the first time a World Series game has been suspended in-progress, forcing it to be concluded on a different day. Game 5 is scheduled to resume Wednesday night at 8:30 PM ET with the Phillies coming to bat in the bottom of the sixth with the score tied 2-2.

FOX earned an 8.2/12 household rating/share (13.2 million viewers) last night for the first five-and-a-half innings of Game 5. Comparisons to all previous World Series games are irrelevant due to the unprecedented suspension. When Game 5 is completed, Nielsen will issue a separate rating for the second portion of the game, and under Nielsen rules the two segments can not be officially combined into one rating.

Highlights

- Last night's pre-game show (4.1/7) and the completed portion of the game combined to average a 7.5/11 in prime time and a 3.7 among Adults 18-49. FOX ranked first for the night in prime among Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 (3.1), in every significant male demo and second among households. Among both Households and Adults 18-49, last night rates as FOX's top Monday night in 23 weeks.

- The audience for Game 5 was growing as the evening progressed. It posted a 6.5/10 at 8:30 and a 6.7/10 at 9:00, surged to 8.8/13 at 9:30, 9.6/15 at 10:00. The final quarter-hour of the broadcast earned a 10.4/16 as the decision was made to halt the game.

- The last World Series Game 5 posted a 10.3/18 (16.3 million viewers) for the decisive game of the 2006 World Series between the Cardinals and the Tigers. To this point, the 2008 World Series has averaged an 8.1/14 (13.1 million), down -24% in rating compared to last year's 10.6/18 (17.1 million) for Boston's four-game sweep over Colorado. The '08 series is off 20% in rating and -17% in rating and audience, respectively compared to the five-game '06 World Series featuring the Cardinals and Tigers (10.1/17, 15.8 million).

- Philadelphia posted a stratospheric 45.2/60 last night for what could have been - and could still be - the decisive game of the Series. That 45.2/60 tops all games of the 2001 NBA Finals with the Sixers. Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg delivered a 28.1/40, a slight improvement over its Game 4 rating (27.5/41). Florida markets Orlando (12.2), West Palm Beach (12.0) and Ft. Myers (11.4) followed and other markets posting above average viewership for the first part of Game 5 include Minneapolis (11.0), Baltimore (10.0), Milwaukee (9.9) and Phoenix (9.5).

And the Los Angeles market on KTTV Channel 11: A 7.4 rating (from 5:30 to 7:45 p.m.), tied with that baseball bastion of Buffalo for No. 29 of the 56 metered markets. With 4 1/2 games in the books, L.A. has an 8.1 rating for the series, which ranks 23rd.