MLB considering Angels-Indians series switch

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

MLB considering schedule switch
04/08/2007 7:13 PM ET
By Tom Singer / MLB.com

Maybe you can't change the weather. But following a week in which wintry conditions played havoc with its Midwestern schedule, Major League Baseball is considering changing the games due to be played in it.

Specifically, the three-game series between the Angels and Indians slated for Cleveland's Jacobs Field on Tuesday-Thursday may be switched to Anaheim.

A final determination is not expected to be made until 8 a.m. Monday morning on a development regarded as "unlikely" by all involved in it.

However, if the Mariners and Indians still aren't able to play the Tribe's thrice-delayed home opener on Monday, and the forecast remains discouraging for the rest of the week, MLB may be forced to forfeit this one to Mother Nature.

"It's very unlikely, but we are looking at all possibilities," Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro confirmed to MLB.com on Sunday afternoon.

"We've been in touch with Major League Baseball," said Angels spokesman Tim Mead, "but no decision will be made until the morning. They will continue to monitor the situation."

One of the issues complicating this predicament is the Angels' inability to simply exchange home series with the Indians.

The two teams are scheduled for two more series later in the season, both times in Angel Stadium, on May 8-10 and Sept. 6-9. Advance ticket sales project crowds of 40,000-plus for each of those seven games, making it a logistical nightmare to even consider swapping out those dates.

Thus, any switched Tuesday-Thursday games would become additions to the Angels' home schedule, attended by walk-up ticket purchasers and the home-visitor shares of the gate appropriately adjusted.

The Indians have been inactive since Wednesday, when they concluded their season-opening series in Chicago with a 4-3 loss to the White Sox.

Games last week also had to be called on account of cold, windy weather in both Chicago and Detroit.

Snow showers are forecast for the Cleveland area through Tuesday, turning to rain showers for the rest of the week as temperatures gradually climb into the mid-40s.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070408&content_id=1887336&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[tlongII]

Global warming.

[TheTruth]

can't believe it took them a week to figure this one out.

[T Park]

Global warming.




:lmao

so true

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

http://www.jsonline.com/blog/?id=92

MONDAY, April 9, 2007, 12:04 p.m.
Indians-Angels to play at Miller Park

It's snow joke.

The Cleveland Indians, beset by cold and snowy weather in Cleveland, will play a three-game series at Miller Park against the Los Angeles Angels beginning Tuesday, baseball officials said Monday.

"It's a very unusual situation," said Rick Schlesinger, the Milwaukee Brewers' executive vice president for business operations.

The move was made after nasty weather wiped out the Seattle Mariners and the Cleveland Indians for the fourth straight day, causing the teams to postpone Monday's scheduled doubleheader.

Schlesinger said the games will be played at 6:05 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a day game at 12:05 p.m.

Tickets will be sold for $10 apiece and will be limited to the field and loge levels.

The tickets will be available through www.brewers.com, and the Miller Park box office starting at 2 p.m. today.

Parking will cost $8 per vehicle. Parking lots will be open two hours prior to each game. The park will be open to fans one hour prior to the game.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, reached by phone in Arizona, said the Indians had lost four games to weather and had to do something.

"This is a tough situation for Cleveland," Selig told the Journal Sentinel. "We knew yesterday we had some trouble; we didn't like the alternatives. So this morning, Paul Dolan (president of the Indians) called me very early from Cleveland and suggested Milwaukee. It was really Cleveland. Frankly, we are trying to help Cleveland because they lost four games and they have a bad forecast for this week. So he said, 'What about Milwaukee?'"

Schlesinger said the financial aspects of the games - the expenses and the revenues to put on the games - will be figured out later.

"The important thing is to get the games played," Schlesinger said. "We'll figure it out afterward."

To say the least, a three-game series in Milwaukee in April, and involving the Indians and the Angels, is a little unusual. Moreover the switch would never have occurred if Miller Park didn't have a roof over its head.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Angels and FSN West still plan to televise the series in Los Angeles.

According to the Times, the players' collective bargaining agreement forbids West Coast to East Coast travel without a day off. The Angels play in Boston on Friday, and the Indians would have had to fly back to Cleveland.

The Times said the Angels players reported to Angel Stadium on Monday, as scheduled, for their 10 a.m. bus to John Wayne Airport. By that time, major league officials had decided on Milwaukee, and traveling secretary Tom Taylor had scrambled to re-route the Angels' charter flight and arrange buses and hotel rooms in Milwaukee.

Meanwhile, in Cleveland, initial reaction to the move was not warmly welcomed. For comments posted on the Cleveland Plain Dealer web site, go here.

While the series is unusual, it is not unprecedented. According to a Major League Baseball spokesman, the Florida Marlins and the then Montreal Expos played a two-game series at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago because of Hurricane Ivan. The series was played Sept. 13-14, 2004.

"I got a call from Cleveland this morning asking if it would be possible to play there," said Mike Duckett, the executive director of the Miller Park stadium district. "I said yes."

Cleveland still has not played an official home opener.

"We'll have another opening day," Duckett said. "We'll have the heat on and the roof closed."

The Indians, at least, should feel right at home. The forecast this week calls for highs in the low 40s, with some precipitation on Wednesday. And the Famous Racing Sausages will compete at all three games.

The last time a game was played between two American League teams in Milwaukee was on Sept. 28, 1997, as the Brewers hosted the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles won, 7-6. The next year the Brewers moved to the National League. The Indians last visited Milwaukee on June 16-18, 2006 for an interleague series against the Brewers.

Baseball fans also will remember that Milwaukee once stood in for Cleveland for the movie, "Major League."

Now Milwaukee gets to do it for real.

[TheTruth]

MLB is a joke. Cleveland's FO and Players should be pissed. What a joke.