Weather Wimps

After saying all those nice things about the Rochester Red Wings, I have to take a swipe at them today.

I drove all the way up there to catch a Sunday afternoon game, scheduled to start at 1:30. At 1:15 they covered the infield and announced that a cell was coming through, light rain, and they hoped to get the game started by 2:15 if not earlier.

It was drizzling, and it did rain lightly, returning to a faint drizzle, but at 2:15 they announced that because it was going to drizzle and rain lightly throughout the afternoon, the game was postponed to a doubleheader Monday night.

Maybe they won't start a game when the air is wet, or at least moist, maybe the Twins won't let the locals risk their players of the future, but it was barely drizzling. More like a misting. In Binghamton the week before, they played through rain, with thunder and lightning skirting just to the south. They've played during tornado warnings. Maybe the gate was too light.

I ended up poking around a bookstore just south of the city for a while, left town not much before the time the game would have ended had it started as scheduled, and it was still only lightly drizzling. Weather wimps.

My timing worked out well, as I pulled into Auburn just as the first pitch was being thrown by the Doubledays. Got to see a could great plays by the centerfielders and rightfielders of both teams. The pitching wasn't too shabby, but neither team was stellar in the infield. The best play of the game was by the Auburn manager. His team had been trailing 2-1 for some time and when a shot up the right field line made it 4-1 he came roaring out of the dugout to let the ump know the ball was on the foul side of the bag this far, holding his hands about 18" apart. He kept at it for a while, getting the crowd, and his team, going, getting tossed but not leaving the field. The other ump came in to cool things down and the manager had to show him how far outside the base he thought the ball went by retrieving the base from its spot on the field and carrying it to home plate, holding the base up and demonstrating it was this far outside. From my vantage point, aligned with first, the ball was clearly fair. It was good to get to a game, but watching short-season A ball reminds me exactly why I love AA.