To play, or to suspend?
The Wild Things' game Tuesday night against the Rockford Aviators was suspended because of rain.
Or because it was considered too late to resume play.
With dark clouds hovering above Consol Energy Park, rain began falling during the national anthem. The game started, but only two hitters completed their at-bats. Rockford's Brandon Newton stuck out against Washington starting pitcher Shawn Smith, and Brian Bistagne drew a walk. With a 3-1 count on the Aviators' Jeff Kremer, home-plate umpire Tony Maners stopped play and sent both teams off the field.
The rain was heavy, and there was a noticeable drop in temperature during a stoppage of 1 hour and 34 minutes. Many fans waited out the storm because, with it being a sudden and steady downpour, they couldn't get to the parking lot without being drenched, so they took cover under the seating bowl.
Shortly before it was announced that the game was suspended -- word came at 8:46 p.m. -- the rain stopped, the sun began peaking through the clouds and even another rainbow could be seen in the sky above the left-field wall (see the post below for a photo of the one from Monday night).
With Consol Energy Park's quick-drying FieldTurf playing surface, there was no reason to think the game wouldn't resume.
There was, however, one stumbling block.
Apparently, somebody wanted to get some sleep.
According to Washington manager Bart Zeller, because the series finale was scheduled for 11:05 a.m. Wednesday, the umpires were concerned that resuming the game would mean it would not conclude until around midnight. With the morning game scheduled for Wednesday, playing until midnight would cause too quick of a turnaround.
C'mon!
I hope everyone went to bed early Tuesday night and got that much-needed rest.
Two things can be learned from this:
1. Don't schedule games for 11 a.m. If you want to play early, then schedule a game for 1 p.m.
2. If you do schedule a morning game and it rains the night before, then tell the umpires to suspend the game after 30 minutes, not 95 minutes
Or because it was considered too late to resume play.
With dark clouds hovering above Consol Energy Park, rain began falling during the national anthem. The game started, but only two hitters completed their at-bats. Rockford's Brandon Newton stuck out against Washington starting pitcher Shawn Smith, and Brian Bistagne drew a walk. With a 3-1 count on the Aviators' Jeff Kremer, home-plate umpire Tony Maners stopped play and sent both teams off the field.
The rain was heavy, and there was a noticeable drop in temperature during a stoppage of 1 hour and 34 minutes. Many fans waited out the storm because, with it being a sudden and steady downpour, they couldn't get to the parking lot without being drenched, so they took cover under the seating bowl.
Shortly before it was announced that the game was suspended -- word came at 8:46 p.m. -- the rain stopped, the sun began peaking through the clouds and even another rainbow could be seen in the sky above the left-field wall (see the post below for a photo of the one from Monday night).
With Consol Energy Park's quick-drying FieldTurf playing surface, there was no reason to think the game wouldn't resume.
There was, however, one stumbling block.
Apparently, somebody wanted to get some sleep.
According to Washington manager Bart Zeller, because the series finale was scheduled for 11:05 a.m. Wednesday, the umpires were concerned that resuming the game would mean it would not conclude until around midnight. With the morning game scheduled for Wednesday, playing until midnight would cause too quick of a turnaround.
C'mon!
I hope everyone went to bed early Tuesday night and got that much-needed rest.
Two things can be learned from this:
1. Don't schedule games for 11 a.m. If you want to play early, then schedule a game for 1 p.m.
2. If you do schedule a morning game and it rains the night before, then tell the umpires to suspend the game after 30 minutes, not 95 minutes
posted by Chris Dugan at
8:12 PM
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