Tarp Madness in the Rockies

If I were ever to create a Rainout Blog Hall of Fame (Boy, how dumb would that be?) one of my inaugural inductees may have to be Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies. By now, you’ve seen the video of the storm that hit Coors Field Sunday. If you haven’t, it’s right above this text. Duh! Also, you can see the ESPN SportsCenter highlight of the game and tarp whipping here.

Anyway, Victorino and his teammates did great work and were fast on their feet to help the Rockies groundscrew Sunday when a freak storm swept through during the seventh inning causing a 50-minute rain delay.



From wire reports:

Shane Victorino grabbed a corner, dug in and began wrestling it toward left field. Ryan Howard held a section down with a knee, and Michael Bourn started heaving sand bags onto the tarp to weigh it down.

By the way, where were the Rockies? Hmmm! LaTroy Hawkins was the only Colorado player pitching in. Anyway, thankfully no one was hurt. Below, a grateful head groundskeeper describes the scene and expresses his gratitude to the visiting team.

"That was the worst ever," said Mark Razum, Colorado's head groundskeeper. "The wind was so strong, we couldn't hold it. When it draped over the guys, I was worried that somebody might suffocate. It was really cool the Phillies came out and gave us a hand."

This rain delay story, as you can imagine, has gotten considerable play from various new agencies and blogs, including one my favorites, uniwatchblog.com, where one commenter provided this super cool pic of Brian Trottier sliding on the tarp in Pittsburgh with Lord Stanley’s Cup.