Jersey Matt | 6.3.10
Last night a couple of friends and me went to the Pirates/Cubs game at PNC Park. Storms clouds hung nearby but it appeared as if the game would begin as scheduled, at 7:05. Pretty soon after a middle school choir croaked through the National Anthem, the tarp was placed on the field.
And the skies opened up. And I mean, they opened up. The thunder and lightning became so bad that PNC Park personnel did not allow any drunk hearty fans to remain in uncovered seats during the downpour. As is the Pittsburgh custom, the rain became horizontal. As is not the Pittsburgh custom, however, the rain continued unabated for two hours.
The rain slowed down and then eventually stopped just a few minutes after 9:00 pm EDT. The grounds crew began the process of removing the tarp and the diamond vision screen posted the estimated time of first pitch at 9:35 pm.
After the familiar, pull off and pull over method on the tarp, it became clear that the standing water on the dirt of the infield where the second baseman and shortstop normally positions themselves needed diamond dry. Thus, the staff began that process, as well as using brooms to move the water from the outfield.
After this was finished, the crew began attempting to remove what appeared to be up to six inches of water along the warning track.
Sometime during this extended process, managers Lou Pinella and John Russell had several conversations with men in suits.
By this time, it was almost 10:00 pm.
The game was cancelled at 10:18 pm.
All I’m saying is that Jim Joyce made the wrong call on a bang-bang play. The Pirates waited three hours and thirteen minutes to cancel a game that was to played on field that was clearly going to be unplayable by 8:00.
They also neglected to note the decision to reschedule the game for this Monday while fans were still in the ball park.
Filed under: Uncategorized, jim joyce, outrage, pirates, rain delays
Baseball Jeremiad 