PDA

View Full Version : Rain may delay Red Sox-Yankees series



ducks
10-15-2004, 05:57 PM
By The Associated Press

Rain didn't stop the St. Louis Cardinals (news) from taking a 2-0 lead over the Houston Astros (news) in the NL championship series, but it may hold up the AL series in Boston.


The Red Sox are looking for their first victory of the series against the New York Yankees (news) but it was raining at Fenway Park in Boston, and the field was covered with a tarp just hours before the scheduled start.

The commissioner's office said a decision on the status of Game 3 of the AL series would be made between 7:30 p.m and 8 p.m. EDT.

A postponement of Game 3 could the Red Sox and Yankees to reshuffle their rotations. Boston, in particular, could use a breather after the team announced Thursday that ace Curt Schilling's ailing ankle will prevent him from pitching Game 5 and perhaps the rest of the postseason.

Kevin Brown starts Game 3 for the Yankees. New York manager Joe Torre decided Thursday that Orlando Hernandez, apparently recovered from a tired shoulder, would start Game 4 against knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

The Yankees hold a 2-0 lead in the series.

"I obviously feel a lot of pressure," said Bronson Arroyo, Boston's Game 3 starter. "We're backed into a corner."

Ditto for the Astros. Of 61 teams that have fallen behind 0-2 in best-of-seven postseason baseball series, only 12 have rallied to win, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The numbers are even more dismal in the league championship series: 2-for-15.

And no major league team has overcome a 3-0 deficit.

Following the Astros' loss in Game 1 on Wednesday, Astros manager Phil Garner acknowledged he'd been monitoring The Weather Channel much of the afternoon for reports on the coming front.

The rain could've helped out the Astros, possibly postponing Game 2 until Friday and allowing Garner to reshuffle his pitching rotation.

But no such luck. Pete Munro took the mound for Houston instead of a rested Roger Clemens, and the Astros lost their second straight in St. Louis.

A steady drizzle in St. Louis delayed the start of the Astros-Cardinals game for 28 minutes Thursday, and the rain lasted until the very end. It was 48 degrees at gametime, the coldest start in a postseason game since it was 46 for Game 5 of the 1997 World Series (news - web sites) at Cleveland.

The chilly temperatures forced the sellout crowd at Busch Stadium to break out their coats, winter caps and endless cups of steaming coffee. But the weather couldn't dampen the Cardinals' bats, as St. Louis rallied for a 6-4 win over the Astros.

"Obviously, the weather conditions weren't great at that time," St. Louis' Scott Rolen said. "If you have 52,000 people sticking it out there for you, I don't think it's too tough for us to stick it out and do the best we can."

"It's part of the game," said Astros reliever Dan Miceli, who gave up two game-turning homers in the eighth. "You've just got to fight through it."

Injuries are, too, but Boston is reeling from the loss of Schilling. A New York nemesis during the 2001 World Series, when he was named co-MVP after the Arizona Diamondbacks (news) beat the Yankees in seven games, Schilling didn't disappoint with 21 wins this season.



But the Red Sox ace was dismal in Game 1, lasting just three innings and 58 pitches while allowing six runs in Boston's 10-7 loss in Tuesday night's opener; it was his poorest postseason performance since 1993.

"If I can't pitch without altering my mechanics, then we're going to have to win a World Series without me," he said in a call to WEEI-AM. "It's doable, and if you're a world-champion club, you're going to find a way. And I believe we are, and I believe we will."

But the Red Sox's opponent was baseball's best at breaking opponents' hearts this year, and the Yankees look primed to do it to the Red Sox again.

New York has won five straight postseason games since losing its first-round opener to Minnesota and has won all five best-of-seven series under Torre in which it's led 2-0.

"We've been fortunate that when we've gotten a little bit of a head of steam going, we've been able to maintain our edge," Torre said.