Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Trip to Nowhere

So I am back from my lovely trip to nowhere. Yes, nowhere.

The original destination was to Yankees Stadium for game 6 of the ALCS, but mother nature didn't cooperate. The game is now rescheduled for Sunday night at 8:20pm. Which is just lovely considering the fact I have to work Monday early in the morning.

While MLB obviously made the correct decision, as a fan I am not thrilled with how they handled this whole situation. Weather reports all day were indicating that the city was going to be pounded all night with heavy rain and thunderstorms. As the game got closer, it was becoming more obvious that baseball was not going to be played in NY tonight.

However, at 4:30, Major League Baseball released a comment to the media about how they were optimistic about the weather and were going to try to get the game in. To me, that meant that they figured they were going to be able to get the game in. Why else would they go out of their way to make this type of report? I had heard a report was going to be issued by baseball, so I wanted to see what they had to say before making the decision to head out to the game. Once they stated they were going to try to get it in, I went on my way to the city, with the expectation that some sort of baseball would be played (though I figured there would be a few delays here and there).

Anyone who is a pretend meteorologist could see that the Bronx was going to get hit hard with rain. Even before I left, I checked the Doppler on weatherchannel.com which showed a whole lot of green and yellow heading directly to my destination. Despite trying to use my common sense, I figured MLB knew something I didn't. Instead, them "trying to get the game in" entailed waiting til 6:30, over an hour after the gates were opened to the public.

If they knew the weather was going to be THAT bad, why wait til after the fans were arriving. You can't tell me the doppler radar changed that much between 4:30 and 6pm. Don't get me wrong. I am glad they called the game, it was an obvious decision. But their timing was horrible from the perspective of a fan attending the game, especially one who had to travel a distance to get the Bronx.

I guess I should just be thankful that I didnt make it far enough to pay $30 for parking. That and I did enjoy quite the scenic view of 87 South. It would have been a better view had there not been the constant torrential downpours though.

/// end of rant.

We will try this again tomorrow!

4 comments:

Kyle said...

What a disaster by MLB today. It was absolutely the right decision to call the game, but they handled it wrong. At 4:30 or so they said the gates will open at 5 and they'll try to play. By 6 it was called.

Rather annoying being that I left my house around 5. it was raining, but I figured maybe the Bronx weather wasn't the same as North Jersey.

Anyway we'll give it a try tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be fantastic on Sunday. Late game and I work early on Monday, but what can you do.

Should be a lot of fun on Sunday. Looking forward to it.

The Commish! said...

That sucks CHristina. Have fun at Game 6 Sunday.

The Commish! said...

Here is a pretty good article that explains the process MLB officials go through in deciding whether to postpone a game:

http://www.newsday.com/columnists/david-lennon/lennon-threat-of-rain-leaves-mlb-officials-sweating-1.1546871

Al Leiter's Bullpen Catcher said...

thanks Justin. It makes more sense and I understand now why they waited, but it still doesnt change the fact I am angry for driving 2 hours.

Its a lose-lose situation. If i stayed home with the fear of rain, they probably wuld t have eneded up playing, knowing my luck. I had to take the chance even though we all knew rain was imminent.