Uragano Isabel

[ClaudioBatistuta]

Occhio agli orari, visto che potrebbero subire variazioni....



09/17/2003 9:39 PM ET
Teams play the Isabel shift
Thursday games in hurricane's path change start times

Now entering the game, Isabel.
Major League Baseball, still making up rainouts from an inclement first half that easily exceeded all of 2002's weather postponements, moved up the starting time of three scheduled Thursday night games as a 105-mph fastball named Hurricane Isabel came hurtling toward the mid-Atlantic states.

The big Phillies-Marlins National League Wild Card showdown game scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET Thursday at Veterans Stadium was moved up to 1:05 p.m. The Yankees' series finale at Baltimore as well as the Reds' game at Pittsburgh, both scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET, were moved up to 12:35 p.m.

For Katy Feeney, vice president of scheduling for MLB, this is an unscheduled addition to a baseball homestretch that is logistically challenging enough due to so many possible playoff participants and tiebreaker scenarios. "Right now," Feeney said Wednesday morning, "everyone is watching Isabel."

Isabel is expected to make landfall in North Carolina on Thursday morning and then head north through Virginia on a path that would take it west of Washington and bring hard rains to the inland. Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner said of Isabel: "This is, in terms of predictions, perhaps the worst storm we've seen in decades." In Pennsylvania, forecasters predicted that nine inches or more of rain could fall in the west-central part of the state and warned of widespread flooding and the possibility of tornadoes. In Maryland, officials opened the state's Emergency Operations Center and canceled leave for essential state employees.

It is not the first bout with unusual weather this season at Camden Yards. Opening Day is remembered there for a mid-game snowstorm, with outfielder Jay Gibbons actually losing a ball in the snow.

There was a rash of home-opener postponements due to a massive early-April storm system that reached from Chicago to Atlanta. By July, Major League Baseball already had exceeded the number of rainouts from the entire previous season, and baseball is paying the forecasting piper in this month. Numerous games have been made up in recent weeks, and some rescheduled games still remain to be played. That compounds the potential difficulty presented by Isabel; with so many teams in pennant races and requiring a full 162-game schedule, and with so many already-rescheduled September dates, there is little flexibility for further rescheduling.

The Marlins-Phillies game is a good example. Florida has a game scheduled for Sept. 22 -- originally scheduled to be an offday -- and Sept. 29 must be left open for a possible Wild Card tiebreaker. Indeed, there are many potential Sept. 29 tiebreakers on the list of scenarios, and a three-way tie could result in the need for one or more additional tiebreakers Sept. 30, depending on head-to-head records.

"There is no other opportunity this late in the season to make up this very important game at home, if rained out," Phillies vice president Mike Stiles said. "We also are concerned that the possibility of significant rainfall and high winds Thursday evening might pose a danger for fans attending or going home after an evening game. We recognize that a last-minute change in starting time creates a hardship for many fans planning to attend Thursday night, but, given these circumstances, we believe the best course is to play Thursday afternoon. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to our fans by this change of starting time."

Besides the obvious pennant-race considerations, the Phillies also are trying to send a ballpark out in style; there are six games left at The Vet starting Thursday. Isabel figures to be a factor in Friday games, with the potential to postpone one or more events, so moving up the Thursday games at least reduces the possibility of two rainouts in two days.

It is just fine with Marlins rookie Dontrelle Willis, who has withstood rain often this season and is especially impressive (3-1, 2.93 ERA) in afternoon games. "It's good," he said of the time change. "You want everybody to be safe. It's good for the fans. You don't want anyone caught in a hurricane."

Fans unable to attend any of Thursday's three rescheduled games because of time conflict can find ticket information on the appropriate team web sites.

Isabel also has required a change in at least one team's travel plans. The Toronto Blue Jays will stay in Detroit Thursday night and leave Friday for that night's scheduled game at Baltimore.

"Hopefully everything will be gone by then," Toronto manager Carlos Tosca said. "It looks like we'll be able to play Friday night."


Fonte: Sito ufficiale MLB

ADiòS! :smoke:

[ClaudioBatistuta]

...speriamo che alla fine non accada nulla...