100 Percent Chance of Rain!

That's the weather forecast – heavy rain – for Friday night's Pac-12 championship contest between Stanford and UCLA in Palo Alto, Calif.

Whenever rain is forecasted for a football game it always brings the question of which team is better equipped to handle the wet conditions. Ordinarily, we agree the team with the best running attack has the edge in rain, and passing can dominate in the snow.

UCLA coach Jim Mora has this take on the rain factor:

"You could look at it two ways. They're kind of a physical, pound-it, grind-it-out team. On the one hand, you can say that might be an advantage.

"But I've also been in games where a team that spreads it out a little more, gets playmakers in the open field and creates those one-on-one matchups sometimes has the advantage. If you make a guy miss on a slippery field, you've got some ground you can gain."

In the regular season finale Saturday, Stanford handed UCLA a 35-17 defeat.

T.J. Simers is questioning whether clouds that night held back any potential rainfall that may or may not have provided an advantage to one team over the other.

Wet Monday in Pittsburgh?

I posted below about the rainy Sunday night in Chicago, and tonight's Monday nighter in Pittsburgh could get a little sloppy wet, too.

However, the wetness factor may not night rate quite as high as in Soldier Field last night.

The forecast for the Pittsburgh area tonight is calling for a chance of light rain, about 90 percent at kickoff, throughout the game.

The chance the contest between the Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs will be a watchable game is significantly lower.

Chicago Soaker

Photo: Chicago Tribune

If you're a fan of old-school-looking football played on natural grass out in pouring rain – oh, and low scoring – Sunday night's Texans-Bears clash at Soldier Field mostly likely was directly in your wheelhouse.

Today, the Chicago Tribune has an excellent photo gallery highlighting the rain-soaked action.

By the way, Houston scored a 13-6 win over the Bears. Jay Cutler left the game in the first half after suffering a concussion, which no doubt has left the quarterback feeling a bit cloudy today.

Cutler not only missed the second half of the game, is questionable for the Bears' showdown Monday night in San Francisco, but he also was forced to cancel his Monday radio show with "Waddle & Silvy Show" on Chicago's WMVP-AM.

In Stitches?

In a quick, first glance at this photo taken during the rain delay of Wednesday night's NLCS Game 4, I thought I was seeing an abstract image of a baseball. Can you see the St. Louis Cardinals' grounds, decked out in red jackets, appear to be forming the stitches of a baseball on the background of the white tarp? You can see that right? Am I just a little baseball nuts right now?

The photo, which you can see a larger version of here, is from Mercurynews.com.

Wild, Rainy (and not so rainy) Night

I hate admit this, but I saw no baseball yesterday. Blame it on the rain. (That's so cheesy. Sorry.)

When I got home from work, the Giants and Cardinals had already slipped into what would become a three-and-a-half-hour rain delay – the delay actually lasted longer than the game.

My wife and I are remodeling our bedroom, and when I finished painting the closet and installing light switch and outlet covers, the rain had stopped and the Cards had grabbed a 2-1 series lead.

In the American League, you all know by now that the Yankees, who are benching everyone these days, and the Tigers were rained out… sort of. Actually, it was the threat of rain that postponed Game 4, and possibly lengthened the hapless, hitless Yankees' season by a day. Today's game, which should have been Game 5, gets started at 4:07 p.m. From what I've heard and read, the ballpark was dry when the game was called at 9:15 p.m. Rain eventually hit the ballpark around 10 p.m., where it rained for about an hour.

Forecasters say that the wet stuff will be long gone from Detroit before today's Yankees-Tigers tilt. The NLCS Game 4 is scheduled for tonight in St. Louis, where it will be, according to forecasters, cloudy and cool with a low around 45 degrees with a chance of a spot shower or sprinkles. That forecast doesn't seem much to worry about, right?

Sprinkles

MLB.com has a story about the Cards-Giants rain delay, complete with Giants skipper Bruce Bochy talking about the delay.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch has some cool pics of a lot of wet fans in Busch Stadium last night… lots of umbrellas, which I love but never use. I love the image showing the weather radar on the ballpark's giant screen.

As a Nationals fan, I'm a bit sick of writing about the Cardinals participation in the playoffs, so let's move on to the Yanks and Tigers…

FanGraphs has a story detailing how Wednesday's postponement in Detroit could play havoc with the Yankees rotation and further damage the team's already dismal chances.

The Tigers have been through this playoff rain delay thing before… last year, and Max Scherzer is cool with it.

Not so cool with the rain out was this fella, who checked out his grandfather from a nursing to take him to Comerica Park for the game.

Not to be outdone by the Post-Dispatch, the Detroit Free Press has photos from the not-so-rainy night accompanying a Mitch Albom column. I love Mitch.

Speaking of sports writers I love, Tim Kirkjian took to Twitter during the delays to discuss his top 10 sitcom characters of all time.

Thunderstorms Forecasted for NLCS

It looks likely no fall shadows or sun monsters will be plaguing the participants in this afternoon's National League Championship Series Game 3 in St. Louis. First pitch between the San Francisco Giants and home-standing St. Louis Cardinals is scheduled for 3:07 Central time in Busch Stadium, where the National Weather Service is calling for a chance of strong storms to hit St. Louis around 3 p.m. local time. That includes an 80 to 90 percent chance of rain and possibly lightning.

I was griping earlier today that, because of this work thing I have going on and my long commute, I'm going to miss most of the game. However, if the umpires can take one for Team Rainout Blog and delay the game for a couple of hours, I would be forever grateful. Spending Wednesday night switching the TV between the NLCS and ALCS would be right in my wheelhouse of laziness.

Crank the Fog Machine to 11, Boys!

I was telling someone the other day that my second favorite non-sunny day weather event – second to rain, of course – is fog. And you know what, I don't write often enough about fog. Perhaps that's because there aren't that many sporting events that take place in those low-lying stratus clouds. Trust me; I look for those stories all the time. There isn't much there.

So, I'll gladly take a story featuring fake fog, especially when there's hilarious video – and an ever cooler close-up photo – of college football players falling all over themselves after tripping over a fog machine. That's what happened Saturday when Mississippi State took the field for its season opener. Saturday Down South has the video.

By the way, the Bulldogs managed to pick themselves off the turf, clear their eyes and deliver a 56-9 beat down to Jackson State. 

Argh! Pirates Kick Astros at Rain-Soaked PNC

I've never been there, but PNC Park in Pittsburgh is one of the coolest-looking baseball parks in the Major Leagues. It looks even better, as you can see above, with a fresh coat of rain and gloomy skies. The Getty Image was taken Tuesday night sometime during a rain delay that held up the Pirates and dreadful Houston Astros for 75 minutes. The Pirates won 6-2. Nothing like playing the incompetent 'Stros to end a four-game slide.

Speechless in the Rain

Hey, I got a lot of real-world crap to do today, so I'll be brief. 

I know this is a sports weather blog, but you may want to know that President Barack Obama's primetime speech at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night has been moved indoors to the Time Warner Center in Charlotte. 

Obama campaign officials had been saying for weeks the speech would take place outdoors "rain or shine," but a strong threat of thunderstorms forced the move. (And, perhaps a lack of confidence by campaign officials to fill the 75,000-seat Bank of America Stadium.) 

Here's where'd I'd like to throw in a joke about the cluelessness of Mitt Romney, but I just can't make it fit. This is a not-quite-ready-for-primetime-blog, ya know.

Ok, moving forward to the sports stuff. It's been raining like hell at the U.S. Open in New York, and it appears the weather will be a menace again today. Only two  matches reached completion Tuesday. One being Victoria Azarenka's three-set win over Sam Stosur under glooming skies. I love Azarenak, but I really wish she stop with the post-match dances, unless she's dancing in a downpour. I'll make that exception.

Maria Sharapova, speaking of someone I'd like to see dancing in the rain, and Marion Bartoli pick up their suspended match today at 11 a.m.

Oh, and you may have heard, Andy Roddick will try to stave off career elimination tonight. His match was rained out Tuesday night. It's sort of a big deal to a bunch of tennis pundits. I love tennis, but I've never been a Roddick fan. 

I keep hearing how great he is, but it seems every time I look at tournaments results, Roddick has lost in the second round. The excuse I keep hearing is he played in a tough era. Big deal. If he really were great, the era wouldn't matter. To be truly great, you have to get the job done no matter the competition.

Wow, I really went off on a tangent there.

Didn't I say I was going to be brief? Oh, well.

One more thing: The NFL season kicks off tonight, and there's a strong chance of rain and thunderstorms for the Cowboys-Giants matchup at MetLife Stadium. Awesome!

I know I said more thing, but I got another "one more thing." Ok? Did you hear there was a rain delay in Toronto for the Blue Jays-Orioles game Tuesday night? That's right. A brief, unofficial rain delay at the indoor Rogers Centre. Apparently the retractable roof was moving a bit slowly… like Robinson Cano moving toward a ground ball.

Ok, that's it. Good night, everybody. I wish the real world would just stop hassling me. We're have I heard that before?

Rain Could Doom Tigers - Yankees Finale

It's rainy at Comerica Park today where the Detroit Tigers are scheduled to host the New York Yankees at 1:05 p.m. A 60 percent chance of rain is forecasted for Detroit today.

I'll be away from The Rainout Blog Headquarters this afternoon, so you may want to follow the Tigers on Facebook and/or Twitter for updates. I'm so lazy.

By the way, the photo with this post is from the Tigers Facebook page. Thanks, guys, for letting my borrow it.

UPDATE: First pitch has been pushed back to 1:35 p.m. because of rain. Do Detroit TV stations show episodes of The Andy Griffith Show during rain delays?

Major Thunderstorms Possible at PGA Championship

The PGA Championship is under way at the Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, S.C, and The Weather Channel has a break down of how the weather – lookout for a few downpours, Tiger – could impact the major. Heat is not much of a concern for the tournament, says The Weather Channel, with highs topping out in the upper 80s to low 90s. Here's the complete story from the pros.  

Photo from Getty Images

TRoB on Paper.li

Guess what. The Rainout Blog is now on Paper.li, too… sort of. To be honest, I'm not sure what I'll be able to do with the Paper.li page, but I'll have a go at it and see if it can be a nice addition the TRoB. For the uninitiated, "TRob" is what all the cool kids call The Rainout Blog.

Off Pitch

I'm not sure where this photo is from, but I think it was taken during the July 19 rain storm in New York City. Anyway, it's not sports related, but it's a great photo and very share-worthy. Enjoy!

Rain (Photo) Delay

Hey, remember a few weeks ago when the Yankees bird-slapped the Toronto Blue Jays 6-0 in a rain-shortened game in the Bronx? Well, I'm sure these guys do. That game was July 18, but I just today found this fun Daily News photo when researching another story. As for the game, it was called after a 58-minute rain delay. Wouldn't you just love to hear John and Suzyn fill air time during a near hour rain delay?

Lightning at Pocono Kills One Race Fan

From ESPN.com:

LONG POND, Pa. -- One fan was killed and nine others were injured as a result of lightning strikes following Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway.

Monroe County Coroner Bob Allen only identified the deceased as a 41-year-old man. Track officials said the fan was pronounced dead on arrival at Pocono Mountain Medical Center in Stroudsburg.

One other fan is in critical condition at Lehigh Hospital in Allentown. The other eight are being treated and evaluated for minor injuries at local hospitals.

Track spokesman Bob Pleban said nine fans, including the fatality, were injured from a strike that occurred in a parking lot behind the main grandstand shortly before 5 p.m. The other came from a strike near Gate 3 between Turns 1 and 2. Read more.

Rains Falls on Pocono

I'm not much of a NASCAR fan, but I am, of course, a fan of weather's interference with sporting events. So, I have to say it's sort of fun sitting on the couch this early afternoon watching rain pour on Pocono Raceway. Oh, and you know what was really fun: watching ESPN reporter Marty Smith standing out in the rain while giving a report. Some of the folks back in the studio asked if Marty really needed to be out in the rain. It does seem a little silly – like when Weather Channel reporters report from the street in hurricane winds – but those reports do give great insight of the conditions outside.


I'd love to sit here all day and provide weather reports from Pocono, but there's grass outside that's not going to cut itself. However, if you want to stay current on the weather conditions, I suggest you follow Brian Neudorff, the "unofficial NASCAR meteorologist" (@NASCAR_WXMAN) on Twitter. Brian, I think, is an actually meteorologist, whereas I… well, I just like rain.

UPDATE: Jet dryers are on the track, and ESPN just announced that driver intros will begin at 2 p.m, followed by more rain at 3 p.m. (I made up that "more rain at 3" part.)

Feeling the Heat at NFL Camps

Every year at this time, we hear stories about how bloody hot it is at NFL training camps. Recently, Weather.com ranked the 10 Worst Weather NFL Training Camps. So, how did Weather.com arrive at their rankings? The author of the story can explain it much better than I. Plus, it's really late here at The Rainout Blog World Headquarters, and I'm a bit lazy tonight.


From Weather.com:

We used five factors to arrive at our ranking for each NFL team. Temperature related elements such as average high temperature (85 degrees being neutral for exercise), average dew point (above 63 degrees as the defining point for it being muggy) and percentage of hours above 85 degrees. The higher the percentage, the longer the duration heat will have a detrimental impact upon a football player’s body. That percentage is even more critical during two-a-days: one practice is in the morning and the other in the heat of the afternoon.

The two cooling factors, no matter the temperature, are cloud cover and wind. As we have all experienced, standing in the shade is much preferred to standing in the sun when it is hot. For cloud cover, we used the percentage of days where skies are overcast. Direct sunlight may add as much as 15 degrees to the heat index.

A moderate breeze has a cooling effect on the body by evaporation of sweat during exercise. We took the mean wind speed and average daily max wind speed together so as to not discriminate against locations where wind speeds pick up in the afternoon due to local topography or coastal breezes.

It's not surprising most of the teams in the ranking are located in the southeastern part of the United States, including the Texans, Titans, Falcons, Panthers and Redskins, who train in Ashburn, Va., where temperatures reached 100 degrees last week on the first day of camp.

You know, training camp heat is tough on the fans too, as you can see in this Washington Post photo gallery of Redskins camp.

I'm sure Redskins players and coaches, but not so much the un-invited fans, are thankful for the team's new practice bubble, which can allow the team to sometimes escape the heat and those pesky, fast-approaching thunderstorms.

In the meantime, Weather.com listed the Texans' camp as the toughest, calling it the NFL's Iron Man Camp. Here are statistics from Weather.com to back up the claim:

July/August average high: 93 degrees / 93.5 degrees

July/August % of hours above 85 degrees: 36% / 36%

July/August average dew point: 74.5 degrees / 74 degrees

July/August % of hours with overcast sky: 5% / 4%

Rolling Through the Rain

So, it got a little rainy today at Miami Dolphins training camp. No big deal for the NFL Films Hard Knocks crew, who kept the cameras rolling. There's nothing weather related, but the Hard Knocks Facebook page has a gallery of behind-the-scenes photos from Dolphins camp. And yes, Lauren Tennehill makes an appearance.  

Not Worth Mentioning, But Here Goes...

I just can't do this. With all the cool photos of rain and, of course, sunshine from the London Olympic Games, I just can't post anything here about a nothing story like the first-place Nationals and Marlins playing a doubleheader today – it begins at 4:05 p.m. at Nationals Park – to make up for a rained out game between the two N.L. East clubs way back on April 22. Can't do it. You readers of The Rainout Blog – both of you – deserve better.

Oh by the way, I just saw the lineup for the first game... no Bryce Harper. Bummer! Perhaps he'll pinch hit at some point. And, I'm sure the rookie will be on the field for the night cap. 

You Pic it

Instead of me posting a ton of rainy photos from the Olympics – I'm kind of getting bored with the process – I'll give you a link to a Yahoo Sports gallery with some really cool shots. I'm not saying I'm done for the day. I'm just done posting pics for the sake up increasing my blogs post numbers. 

Making The Rainout Blog A Brighter Place

I'm always telling you about (what many people perceive to be) the bad, awful, dreadful weather in sports. But, who says we can't enjoy a little sunshine every now and then? Well, it's my blog, and I say we can do whatever we want!

The above Associated Press photo shows German beach volleyball players Sara Goller – no storms brewing in her eyes – preparing to serve during an Olympics round-of-16 match on... ah, who cares what do it was? Now, run along and Google more pics of Sara.

Can't Outrun the Rain

In case you haven't heard, it has been raining like London at the Olympic Games today. This Associated Press photo is of Jamaica's Rosemarie Whyte on Friday, the first day of track and field competition.

Photo of the Day (Ok, sure)

Hmmm. What's the purpose of this post? I guess I could remind you that I occasionally – and by "occasionally," I mean very, very rarely – post only photos (maybe with a line of descriptive text) from rainy, snowy, windy, muddy… whatever, sporting events.

So, I guess you can say that's what I'm doing here, and not simply taking an opportunity to post gratuitous photos of uber cute field hockey girls celebrating in the rain. You believe that, right?

Ok, the photo at left, from Getty Images, shows Caia Van Maa of Netherlands celebrating with teammates after netting her team's third goal of the Olympics contest against Belgium on July 29 in London. So, which team won, you ask. You know, I was too lazy to look up that information. Just enjoy the picture of the pretty girls. 

Your Olympics Forecast

One more thing before I call it a night... or morning. Here, from The Weather Channel, is the five-day forecast for London, the site of many outdoor events in the summer Olympic games.

And if you need to know the Olympic game weather happenings for today and Friday, I've coveniently stolen borrowed the forecast from The Weather Channel and pasted it below.


"By Thursday the UK will be in a slightly fresher flow from the west with quite a deep low pressure center not far from northwest Ireland. Much of the UK will start dry and quite sunny with gentle southwest breezes. Scattered showers will develop over southwest England during the morning and become heavier over south Wales and southwest England by midday.

These showers then slowly move northeast in the afternoon to the English Midlands (e.g. Birmingham) and central Southern England, but many places miss them and escape dry. Any showers over southeast England and the London area will be isolated with typically a 30% risk of an afternoon shower.

Temperatures will reach 68 to 72 degrees over eastern England and 64 to 66 degrees over the west. Moderate south to southwest breezes over southern England with a 15- to 20-knot (17 to 23 mph) southwest wind along the south coast and off Weymouth for the Olympic sailing.

For London, a fine morning and mostly sunny start. Becoming partly cloudy with a 30% chance of a light afternoon rain shower. A fine and sunny evening. Moderate southwest winds.

By Friday, the low pressure center will move across western Ireland, but will only have a limited influence on the weather across the UK. Another mainly dry morning with sunny spells, except for the risk of a few showers near southern and western coasts. Through the day isolated light rain showers will develop, but most places stay dry away from the western UK.

Some more frequent showers are expected across parts of southern Wales and southwest England, while most of the heavy showers will be over Ireland. Gentle southwest breezes, becoming moderate along the south coast. Feeling quite pleasant in the sunshine with afternoon temperatures 68 to 72 degrees across much of England but a couple of degrees colder in the west and across Wales."

*****
By the way, this is the 400th post to The Rainout Blog. That's right. I've been writing this blog off and on -- mostly off -- for just more than six years, and I'm just now hitting 400 posts. It's creeping right along. Good night everybody!

Uncover the Cover-up

Team USA beach volleyball super stars Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor ditched their bikinis (in favor of long sleeve shirts) and look what happens: They lose their first set ever in Olympic competition.

The dynamic American duo had won seven matches in Athens and did the same in Athens and had won two matches already in London before the set loss to Austria. Team USA rebounded to take the match win, of course.

Sure it was late, and sure it was cool, but the only way for Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor to get back to their dominant, never lose a set ways: NBB – Nothing But Bikinis!

No Streaking in the Rain

Justin Verlander failed to pitch past the sixth inning Tuesday for the first time in his past 63 starts.

Why? Blame it on the rain… and perhaps the Red Sox.

The Detroit pitcher had lengthy innings in the first and fourth, tossing 31 and 35 pitches in those frames, respectively.

He gave up four runs in the fourth, and that was all the Red Sox needed to take a rain-shortened 4-1 over the Tigers' ace at Fenway Park.

After the game, Verlander didn't blame precipitation for his woes:

“I was able to keep my hand pretty dry,” he said. “The only area it affects you is when you start throwing a little bit harder. (Your foot) lands in a (new) area. I was slipping a little bit. That’s why the ball was elevated. It became pretty difficult for me to throw a strike.”

By the way, if you want to check out photos of the rainy night's action, the Boston Herald has a neat gallery, mostly of Red Sox players, of course.

Stay Covered and Carry On

I admit, I'm mostly posting this item just to get shirtless Timmy off the top of the blog, but this bit of information could be important to all you Olympics watchers out there.

According to an article in The Telegraph today, forecasters in the UK are predicting "that the weather will remain unsettled for up to 16 days with sunshine and showers dominating the skies."

A forecaster for Vantage Weather Services told The Telegraph "August is looking dreadful. Apart from the odd spike of hot weather, the whole month will be cooler than average with this picture of persistent heavy rain really keeping the theme.”

I can't wait to see how this all plays out. On one had, it would be great for the Olympic athletes, who have been training years for these two weeks, to have perfect weather in which to compete. However, the devil hovering over my left shoulder says "let them test their abilities in nasty, dreadful weather." That same devil keeps asking me for cigarettes. 

This may be my worst blog post ever! But hey, if you want to check out some good writing, check out this column about the Olympics, rain and bikini-clad beach volleyball players.

Carry on!

Yes, I Do Have to Post This

I know I'm super late about posting this, but I can't half-assedly run a blog about sports and rain without mentioning the big news from New York Jets camp Saturday: your boy Tim Tebow running shirtless in the rain. Yeah, I know, the photos and video have been everywhere, even on the back page of one of the New York tabloids, but as I just wrote, I have to at least post a photo to validate the existence of – sure, it's on it's last breath – The Rainout Blog.

So, what did Tebow have to say about his Bo Derek-like (see below) moment? As usual, he went all "ah shucks, I can't believe people pay attention me," on us. Here's what he told reporters:

"It was funny. A few guys gave me a hard time, but honestly I don't think anybody knew until they saw it that night on ESPN. It was funny. More than anything it was probably just Mark (Sanchez) and Greg (McElroy) giving me a hard time and then everybody else catches on after that... My shirt felt like 20 pounds because we had been in the rain and then I was signing autographs for like 20 or 30 minutes. I didn't really think you all would be filming it and taking pictures."

I asked my wife if she had seen the video of Timmy's shirtless rain jog, and she curled up her nose as if I had once again asked her to try eating one of my world famous peanut butter and apple burgers. (Those things are delicious, by the way.) I'm not sure if she's being honest, but she said, "most women don't care about Tim Tebow. It's just all you guys and your man crushes on the guy."

Is she right? Yeah, I don't think so either. Sure, a lot of dudes have fallen for Tebow, but we all know the ladies love this guy, too. Am I wrong? 

Braving the Rain

Before the Braves and Marlins could start the sixth inning last night, rain fell at Turner Field and delayed night's baseball game in Atlanta for an hour and 53 minutes. 

The photo above, on loan to me from the Braves Facebook page, shows Jason Heyward standing on deck as ominous clouds gathered. (Did I really need to write that sentence? You can plainly see what is happening.) 

Anyway, the Braves went on to thump the Miami Marlins 7-1 for their 10th victory in their last 13 games. The Braves hot streak inches them a bit closer – two and half games behind – to the N.L. East-leading Washington Nationals, who somehow was thumped by what's left of the last place Philadelphia Phillies last night. 

Bob in My Brain

I was watching MLB Network late Wednesday and heard Bob Costas talking about Arizona pitcher Wade Miley's masterful performance that night against the Texas Rangers. The rookie left-hander gave up only a run to the potent Rangers lineup, but received no run support from his Diamondbacks teammates and lost the game 1-0.


Anyway, as I'm watching the highlights, I see a shot of Miley walking off the mound in the pouring rain. My brain immediately went into daydream mode and, in my mind, I heard Bob say," this is the sort of thing that needs to be featured on The Rainout Blog." Ok, had Bob actually said those words, he would have much more eloquently. He is Bob Costas, after all.

So here ya go, Bob, a brief mention of Wiley's performance – it was halted by a 29-minute rain delay in the fourth inning – just like you asked for… if only in my mind.

Now, I didn't find an image of Miley pitching in the rain, but I did find this cool Associated Press shot of the Rangers' Adrian Beltre walking back to the dugout after striking out against Miley in the second inning as ominous storm clouds gather above the ballpark. Eerie!

Rain Spoils Gardner's Work

If you're a New York Yankees fan eager for the return of Brett Gardner to the lineup, you'll have to wait perhaps a day longer for the left fielder to test his injured right elbow. Gardner's scheduled rehab game with Tripe-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre, know this year as the Empire State Yankees, was rained out last night. The team is scheduled to play a double header today against Columbus in Rochester. (Confused yet?) Gardner has been out of the New York lineup since April 18 with a strained right elbow.

Rochester is far away from The Rainout Blog headquarters, but the trusty Weather.com tells me it's raining right now in Rochester, just as it is at TRoB HQ. However, the forecast calls for rain to cease a few hours before the 5:05 first pitch and for a 30 percent chance of rain the rest of the night.

The image at right was posted Monday on the Empire State Yankees Facebook page.

What Are You Waiting For?

The game has been postponed. 

Fans in this Associated Press photo from April 30 are shown braving wet conditions during a rain delay at Comerica Park in Chicago. 

The patient fans were waiting to see the hometown White Sox play the Kansas City Royals. However, rain kept falling and the game was postponed until Sept. 24, a date that had been a mutual off day for both clubs. 

The rainout was the second in three days for the Royals.

You Kids Get Off My Lawn

To all spammers out there who insist on leaving (usually unreadable) messages in the comments section of this blog: I hate to rain on your parade, but no one reads this blog. No one! It's a simple project I do for fun in my spare time. 

Your advertisements, or whatever you call that crap, will not be seen here. Now, run along and play someplace else. Scram!

Did The Beatles Ever Sing about Foggy Nights in Liverpool?

You are looking live, sort of, at foggy Anfield, where today – tonight in Liverpool – the Reds host mighty Tottenham.

Well, "mighty" may be a bit of a stretch for the Premier League's third place side, but Hot Spur are having a nice run this season.

Anyway, the match, which I hope to catch glimpses of as I work today in The Rainout Blog satellite office, should be fun if the fog continues to hover along the pitch.

By the way, the neat photo above is from the Liverpool Facebook page.

Speaking of Premier League social media pages, Manchester City posted on its Facebook site a nifty gallery of Saturday's beautiful snowy scene at The Etihad Stadium Saturday.

I watched some of the match live and caught more of the visuals later that night on replay. I particularly enjoyed watching grounds crew members shovel snow away from the penalty areas.

If anyone was at the match and took photos you'd like to share with the – uh,hm –  many, many Rainout Blog readers please send those my way.

A Brief Story on Tim Howard’s Wind-Assisted Goal That I Should Have Posted Two Weeks Ago

Wow, wind can do crazy things… like push a kick from a goalkeeper into the opposing team’s net from about 100 yards away.

That’s what happened Wednesday night, Jan. 4, when Everton keeper Tim Howard booted the yellow ball from just inside his penalty area. The ball soared across the pitch, bounced about 30 feet from the Bolton goal and then took wind-assisted flight over outreaching Wanderers goalkeeper Adam Bogdan and into the goal during the game’s 63rd minute.

“I think the wind is the hardest condition to play in,” Howard, an American, told BBC Radio.  “Snow, rain, sun doesn’t matter, but the wind really does play tricks on you.”

It was only the fourth goal by a keeper in the Premier League’s history, which dates back to only 1992.

Those inside Goodison Park joyfully cheered the rare achievement – Howard remained subdued, explaining later he felt bad for Bogdan – but Everton supporters’ glee was short lived as Bolton soon scored two goals and held on for a 2-1 victory.

Bogdan, speaking to reporters, said he would learn from the experience.

"It could have happened to anybody because of the conditions,” the keeper said. “It was extremely hard to get in the right positions.”

Can They Play Two in the Snow?

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for spring and baseball season, particularly after seeing – or is it despite seeing? – this photo posted last night on the Cubs’ Facebook page of the snow falling on the statues outside Wrigley Field.

It’s been an unusually mild and quiet winter here at The Rainout Blog world headquarters, but I’m eagerly awaiting the days when I don’t have to fear waking up and driving to work in nine inches of snow.

For now, with Opening Day still a few months away, we can sneak a peek at the streets outside Wrigley Field, where currently a little snow lingers, and dream of the warmer, baseball-filled days ahead.

Crimson Rain (not literally)

It was wetter than elephant spit in Tuscaloosa Tuesday when the Alabama Crimson Tide football team landed safely back in its home state with its second national championship in three years. In case you missed it, Alabama thumped LSU and its comatose offense 21-0 Monday night in the title game.

Fans of the football crew gathered Tuesday at the Tuscaloosa Regional Airport – who knew they had airports in Alabama – to greet the champs by, no doubt, yelling “roll Tide” and something silly about a yellow hammer. Aren’t you glad college football is over? Me, too!

Photo: AP Photo/The Birmingham News