Baseball season in Cleveland off to a rousing start… oh, wait

Holy whiteouts, Batman!

So… the Cleveland Indians’ home opener was Friday. Or was it? Originally scheduled for a 4:05 PM start, the game was pushed back to 5 PM due to heavy snowfall over Cleveland. (Jacobs Field has no roof; games are played in the open air.) When the game got underway, snowflakes the size of snowballs were still falling intermittently, while fans built miniature snowmen on the roof of the dugout. Three snow delays interrupted the game, and a fourth ended it - at the top of the fifth inning, with the Tribe up 4-0 over the Seattle Mariners and the game only one strike away from being official. Paul Byrd was on the mound pitching a no-hitter, the bases were loaded with two out and there was a 1-2 count on Jose Lopez at bat. Former Indians manager and current Mariners skipper Mike Hargrove, once referred to as the “Human Rain Delay” during his playing days for his constant fidgeting at the plate (he reportedly stretched at-bats to 15 minutes on more than one occasion) came onto the field and prevailed upon umpire crew chief Rick Reed to call a halt to the game. Indians manager Eric Wedge argued in favor of getting to a complete game, but in the end, the Tribe’s efforts were wiped out and the game rescheduled as part of a day-night doubleheader for Saturday. Upon official word of the snowout, the Mariners could be seen celebrating and high-fiving each other in their dugout while angry Tribe fans booed from the stands.

Saturday dawned even snowier than Friday, and it was the kind of snowfall that didn’t let up, forcing the postponement of the doubleheader to Sunday. As I write this, it’s still snowing outside and has done so for at least 28 of the past 30 hours. Something tells me there isn’t going to be a baseball game in Cleveland this weekend - at least not an officially-recorded one.

Of course, if the powers that be at MLB were paying attention, they’d know better than to schedule a ten-day home stand (consisting almost entirely of night games, no less) for the Tribe in early April. That’s right: next up after the Mariners, the LA Angels are due in town, followed by the White Sox. Between the snow and rain forecast for this week, I’m wondering how many of the scheduled games will actually be played. If anyone had been thinking, this Indians-Mariners series should have been switched with its counterpart scheduled for late September in Seattle. Late September ballgames in Cleveland can be chilly affairs, but they aren’t likely to be played in four inches of snow. As things stand, the two teams will be hard-pressed to make up this weekend’s games, since they only have two days off in common all season.

No matter how you slice it, we got hosed.