Ah, Cleveland in April
Friday was the home opener. Given that it snowed on Thursday and snowed most of Friday, my coworkers were dubious when I told them that I was going to the game. The consensus was that [A] I was completely nuts and [B] the game would be cancelled. I probably can't argue with [A], but they were dead wrong on [B].
JD, MM and myself met downtown and wandered over to Jacob's Field for the 4:05pm start. Things started poorly, with the beginning of the game being postponed to 5:00pm as the grounds crew went to work. An army of crewman armed with leafblowers painstakingly blew all the snow off the field, and by 5pm the snowfall had slowed enough for the Opening Day ceremonies to take place and for the teams to take the field.
The first inning went well and ended with the Tribe up 1-0. Then the snow picked up again and with 1 strike on the Mariner's Raul Ibanez the game was postponed again. About an hour later the snow had slackened, and the leafblowers had been put into good use. The teams took their places and Ibanez struck out nearly 70 minutes after he'd gone to the plate. As he walked back to the dugout the snow came hammering in again and the game was paused for 17 minutes.
After this pause, things went quite well for a while. The Tribe pushed across three more runs to make it 4-0. We went to the top of the fourth. To this point Indians starter Paul Byrd had a perfect game going, but unfortunately his control deserted him. Three walks and two outs later he was struggling to finish off the Mariners.
A baseball game is official after 5 innings, or after 4.5 innings if the home team has the lead, as was the case last night. If the game is called due to conditions after becoming official, it counts in the standings just like a full nine inning game. If it is called before the game is official, the entire thing is treated like it never happened and when they reach the reschedule date it is started over in the first inning. None of the statistics count in this case.
Given this ruling and the large deficit the Mariners were facing, what happened next was totally predictable. Byrd got to a 2-2 count on Kenji Johjima, the Mariners catcher. The snow had picked up during this at-bat, but all Byrd needed was one more strike. Or an infield hit. Or a fly ball. Pretty much any of those would have gotten the game to the 4.5 inning mark and made it official, and we all could have gone home. Suddenly there the umpire threw up his hand to pause the game. He spoke to Johjima, who got back into the box. Then Seattle manager Mike Hargrove (who was once nicknamed the 'Human Rain Delay') came charging out of the dugout, with Tribe manager Eric Wedge only steps behind, and a long argument ensued. During this argument the snow was falling faster and faster. Finally, Hargrove won out and they postponed the game again. An hour later, it was cancelled. So the Tribe was 1 pitch short of a 4-0 win, and Byrd got screwed out of a no-hitter.
The game was rescheduled for Saturday afternoon, but it snowed so much on Friday night that it has now been cancelled, and my tickets can be exchanged for any other game this season that hasn't already sold out. So I will get more baseball for my dollar. Even better, I've now been to an authentically famous Cleveland baseball game that will be referenced for years to come as the Snow Opener.
It was definitely a little chilly at the game, but we had a good time. JD threw snowballs at lots of different things and provided us with a small flask of adult beverage. Given the circumstances, I broke Passover and had a drink. MM, who is apparently even more resistant to cold than I am, regaled us with stories of being cold in miserable at Philadelphia Eagles games in his youth. There was the obligatory crazy guys who pulled off their shirts and another man wearing a Browns Dawg Pound costume, complete with giant fluffy dog head. Most of the signs were variants of "Baseball Season, Football Weather", although there was the usual contigent of women holding the "Grady's Ladys" signs, and one enterprising fellow whose sign said "I'm just here for Grady's Ladys." Best of all was the drunk who jumped onto the field and made a really nice snow angel in the outfield. The crowd booed when the leafblowers destroyed it. The game started with maybe half the seats full, but most people stayed until the last postponement. Maybe 2000 people were left when the game was called for good, but we were there. And I have the ticket stubs to prove it.
JD, MM and myself met downtown and wandered over to Jacob's Field for the 4:05pm start. Things started poorly, with the beginning of the game being postponed to 5:00pm as the grounds crew went to work. An army of crewman armed with leafblowers painstakingly blew all the snow off the field, and by 5pm the snowfall had slowed enough for the Opening Day ceremonies to take place and for the teams to take the field.
The first inning went well and ended with the Tribe up 1-0. Then the snow picked up again and with 1 strike on the Mariner's Raul Ibanez the game was postponed again. About an hour later the snow had slackened, and the leafblowers had been put into good use. The teams took their places and Ibanez struck out nearly 70 minutes after he'd gone to the plate. As he walked back to the dugout the snow came hammering in again and the game was paused for 17 minutes.
After this pause, things went quite well for a while. The Tribe pushed across three more runs to make it 4-0. We went to the top of the fourth. To this point Indians starter Paul Byrd had a perfect game going, but unfortunately his control deserted him. Three walks and two outs later he was struggling to finish off the Mariners.
A baseball game is official after 5 innings, or after 4.5 innings if the home team has the lead, as was the case last night. If the game is called due to conditions after becoming official, it counts in the standings just like a full nine inning game. If it is called before the game is official, the entire thing is treated like it never happened and when they reach the reschedule date it is started over in the first inning. None of the statistics count in this case.
Given this ruling and the large deficit the Mariners were facing, what happened next was totally predictable. Byrd got to a 2-2 count on Kenji Johjima, the Mariners catcher. The snow had picked up during this at-bat, but all Byrd needed was one more strike. Or an infield hit. Or a fly ball. Pretty much any of those would have gotten the game to the 4.5 inning mark and made it official, and we all could have gone home. Suddenly there the umpire threw up his hand to pause the game. He spoke to Johjima, who got back into the box. Then Seattle manager Mike Hargrove (who was once nicknamed the 'Human Rain Delay') came charging out of the dugout, with Tribe manager Eric Wedge only steps behind, and a long argument ensued. During this argument the snow was falling faster and faster. Finally, Hargrove won out and they postponed the game again. An hour later, it was cancelled. So the Tribe was 1 pitch short of a 4-0 win, and Byrd got screwed out of a no-hitter.
The game was rescheduled for Saturday afternoon, but it snowed so much on Friday night that it has now been cancelled, and my tickets can be exchanged for any other game this season that hasn't already sold out. So I will get more baseball for my dollar. Even better, I've now been to an authentically famous Cleveland baseball game that will be referenced for years to come as the Snow Opener.
It was definitely a little chilly at the game, but we had a good time. JD threw snowballs at lots of different things and provided us with a small flask of adult beverage. Given the circumstances, I broke Passover and had a drink. MM, who is apparently even more resistant to cold than I am, regaled us with stories of being cold in miserable at Philadelphia Eagles games in his youth. There was the obligatory crazy guys who pulled off their shirts and another man wearing a Browns Dawg Pound costume, complete with giant fluffy dog head. Most of the signs were variants of "Baseball Season, Football Weather", although there was the usual contigent of women holding the "Grady's Ladys" signs, and one enterprising fellow whose sign said "I'm just here for Grady's Ladys." Best of all was the drunk who jumped onto the field and made a really nice snow angel in the outfield. The crowd booed when the leafblowers destroyed it. The game started with maybe half the seats full, but most people stayed until the last postponement. Maybe 2000 people were left when the game was called for good, but we were there. And I have the ticket stubs to prove it.