Yankees, Red Sox Simultaneously Kick Themselves In Balls, Nertz, And Doo-Dads

There are many ways to lose a baseball game. You could drop a two out infield pop up in the ninth inning while the winning run crosses the plate. You could let an easy ground ball go through your legs. You could get out-pitched by your opponent, or you could just not show up at all that day. Last night, the Red Sox and the Yankees, two of the best run organizations in pro sports, invented a new way to lose: they decided to play.

The Yankees were to play the horrific Washington Nationals at home at 1pm, while the Red Sox were scheduled to start a 7:05pm game against Florida. Despite an entire day of rain up and down the east coast with rain forecast to continue through the night and on into the morning, neither team canceled their game.

Start with the Yankees, who forced their fans and the visiting Nationals to wait through a five and a half hour rain delay before starting the game. Ever heard of a rain out? You can't convince me this was anything else but hubris because it's not like DC is that far from New York, and according to the NY Times the teams had four mutual off days, so it wouldn't have been too hard to reschedule. But no, the game must go on! And go on it did, despite puddles on the warning track the Yankees were shut out by something called Craig Stammen.

The Red Sox weren't any better. Although their game was able to start basically on time (there was a five minute delay), the rain which had been falling all day didn't let up all night. The forecast was rain followed by rain with a 100% chance of fucking rain! Cancel the goddamn game! Well, they didn't cancel it, so after getting through five innings (with the score Florida 2, Boston 1) the umps canceled it for 'em. After a 2.5 hour delay, of course.

MLB rules state that starting the game is up to the home team. Thus, both the Yankees and Red Sox made the decision to play last night. I'm sure the lousy level of competition played no part in the decision to play in what can only be described as less than ideal weather conditions. But, say the rules, once the game begins, the umpires are in charge of deciding when a delay, postponement, or early ending should occur. The Red Sox effectively turned the game over to the umpires and when the rain kept coming, the umps rightly called the game off, score be damned.

In what can only be described as some form of cosmic justice, both teams lost winnable games to to inferior opponents at home. Maybe next time they'll think twice about leaving their fans to sit in the rain for hours at a time.