Tag Archives: rain delays

How Not To Cover The Baseball Playing Area

[Update:Major League Baseball upheld the Giants protest over the decision to declare the game over. The game will resume tomorrow at 4:05 p.m. CDT. It will be a double header since one is also scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CDT.
Source: Giants protest upheld; rain-shortened game to resume(20 Aug 2014,MLB.com)
]

Yesterday the SF Giants played the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago. And then it began to rain at the end of the 4th and top of 5th inning. Now procedure is for the grounds crew to deploy a tarp that covers 1, 2, 3rd bases, home base and the pitchers mound (other areas may be covered as well). Now usually if done right, you take the tarp off when done and the area underneath is usually dry or just mildly damp. Then you deploy your team to make sure it is dry and playable. Game resumes.

Unless of course you screw up the deployment of the tarp. Which is what happened last night ultimately causing (after a 4 1/2 hour delay) to call the game and hand the win to the Cubs who were ahead 2-0 at the time the game ended. The Cubs grounds crew is getting laughed at all over the place for what they did. Thankfully it is also fodder for You Tube. And the following is a video of the whole sorry affair with a musical accompaniment. The music, for those who do not know, is commonly known as the Benny Hill theme. A wacky British comedy from years ago. Enjoy.