Heavens can't wait!

Associated Press

Have you ever had one of those moments – pre-DVR, of course – where you had to run off from to the television during a baseball game to… um, take care of important business? You wanted to get through one more batter – your team is playing a rival in an important series – but you just couldn’t wait.

That’s relatable, I think, to the happenings in Detroit Sunday night. In a 1-1 tie, Miguel Cabrera came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with his Tigers in 1-1 tie with the Royals.

That’s when it happened. The skies couldn’t hold it any longer.

Rain delayed the game for an hour and 43 minutes, pushing the contest well past midnight and making me even more sleep deprived. When the game resumed, the homestanding Tigers loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth, but failed to produce a run. The Royals grabbed a run in the top of the 10^th and hung on for a 2-1 series-clinching win over its American League Central rivals.

Video

Pray for rain?

San Francisco Examiner

There’s a slight chance rain could be a factor during Game 4 of the World Series Saturday evening in San Francisco.

At the moment, the extended forecast shows a 40 percent chance of precipitation at about the time Ryan Vogelsong fires the first pitch for the Giants. Rain chances increase to 60 percent during the 6 and 7 p.m. hours and dip back to 40 percent around 8 p.m. Temperatures should be in the mid to low 60s.

It’s not likely rain will cause a postponement, but we could see some rain throughout the contest.

However, according to this story, AT&T Park is equipped with a custom-designed SubAir System that, among other cool things, utilizes a vacuum mode that “quickly removes standing water, virtually eliminating the need for extended game delays or cancellations due to field conditions.”

Good to know.

Anyway, Giants ace Madison Bumgarner is scheduled to pitch Game 4 on three-day’s rest. A rainout and postponement of Game 4 to Sunday would give him an extra day. If you’re a Giants fan, do you pray for rain in hopes of a fresher arm for Bumgarner?

-- rain --

All’s clear

Not a cloud in the sky.

Like most of you, my life is super busy. So much so, I rarely get a chance to update The Rainout Blog for the seven people who visit this blog. (That number may be a bit inflated.)

Often, a sports/weather event will occur or be forecasted – remember: Game 3 of the ALDS was rained out – and I’ll cringe just a little because there’s no time to grab the laptop and write a post and share a photo or two.

Today, I have a little free time. So, what’s happening? Nothing.

Weather in Kansas City for the first two games of the World Series have been perfect.

We have Thursday night NFL action in Denver, where it looks like there will be a better chance of Peyton Manning NOT adding to his touchdown record than there is a chance of rain drops or snowflakes – you never know in Denver.

The low in the Mile High city tonight will be around 48. It’ll be a little chilly, but it shouldn’t be enough to affect Manning’s performance. He’s not a cold-weather quarterback, ya know?

There are a couple of college football games scheduled for tonight. Miami travels to Blacksburg for an ACC showdown – more likely a “letdown” for the home team – with Virginia Tech. Temps will dip to the mid 40s, which is about as cold as the Hokies’ offense.

You’ll see about the same weather conditions in Greenville, North Carolina if you tune into tonight’s East Carolina home game with Connecticut. (Why would you do that?)

And you know what? Sunday’s NFL slate looks pretty unspectacular too, meaning no rain, no mud, no snow, no fog… no nothin’.

Rain Shields

I love this shot. You could probably say this Reuters photo is sports/weather blogger’s dream come true. Ok, let’s not get carried away, but this is a great shot of what looks like a single rain drop splattering off the bill of Kansas City Royals pitcher James Shields as the starting pitcher faced the New York Yankees in the Bronx. James and the Royals won 3-1 in a game on July 9 – yeah, I just found the pic nearly a month later – that was played in occasional rain and hail.

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.

Royal Rain

Heavy rain flooded parts of the outfield before Tuesday's game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. More details at ESPN.com.

UPDATE: The start of the Royals game with the White Sox was not delayed. The first pitch was fired on schedule. Workers at Kauffman Stadium worked swiftly to remove water from the warning track and other parts of the ballpark. Read more about it on the Royals Web site. At last check this game was going into the 11th inning, tied at 5-5. I'm going to bed.

Royal Rain Clouds Hover Over KC

The Kansas City Royals are scheduled to play their 2008 home opener later today against the New York Yankees. The Royals and their loyal fans are hoping the rain stops in time for the 3:10 p.m. local time first pitch. They also are counting on the Yankees being a bit tired after the Bombers played and won a Monday night game in the Bronx. The Royals had Monday off to relax and watch the weather radar.

Royal Treatment

Yesterday, I made mention and posted a photo from Umbrella Night in Baltimore at an Orioles game last year. This year, the Kansas City Royals are passing out golf umbrellas during a May 10 home game with the O’s. Here’s the description from an MLB.com story highlighting this season’s top ballpark promotions:

Kansas City Royals, May 10 vs. Baltimore, Golf Umbrella: There are lots of good golf courses in the Kansas City area, and also lots of rain, so what better tool to solve the occasional convergence of the two? One possible drawback: The umbrella won't help you with the lightning that often hits this part of the country. Maybe next year they'll have Rubber Suit Night.

Richmond Rain Pushes Race To Sunday

NASCAR got all wet Saturday night in Richmond and had to postpone its Crown Royal 400 until Sunday. Jet dryers were used to prepare the track's surface after rain fell before the start on the race on the Richmond International Raceway. However, threatening skies gave way to a downpour leading to the postponement after only 12 low-speed laps. Some cars nearly slid off the track before the action was halted. I'm not much of a NASCAR fan, but I hear that Jimmie Johnson won the race on a dry track Sunday.

Juan Pablo Montoya is not used to rain delaying races, The News & Advance out Lynchburg, Va., reports. Montoya came over to NASCAR this year after running on the Formula 1 circuit, where races are not stopped because of rain, but rather racing slicks are exchanged for grooved rain tires.

"Probably the best story is when half the field in Formula One wrecked in the same corner in Brazil. When was that, like 2003? It was raining hard, but there was like a river coming across the track," Montoya said.

Weekend Baseball Delays
I love photos of grounds crews working their tarp magic at the ol' ballpark. Above is an AP photo of the crew members at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City removing the tarp after heavy rain delayed the start of the Royals' game with Detroit by 26 minutes. The Tigers won 13-4. (AP Photo/Dick Whipple). The first pitch of the Reds game with the Colorado Rockies Saturday night at the Great American Ballpark was delayed by 61 minutes.

Tennis Action On The Skids
Who knew there was a Steffi Graf Stadium? I guess a lot of people in Germany know of its existence, but today was the first I, a Steffi fan, had heard about it. Anyway, the Getty Images photo above shows fans waiting through a rain delay on the opening day of the Qatar German Open. Nothing exciting here, but it does give me a chance to mention Steffi on The Rainout Blog. …Justine Henin defeated Alona Bondarenko 6-1, 6-3 Monday to win her second J&S Cup title after rain postponed Sunday's action for a day.

SPRINKLES: A high school baseball tournament in Illinois scheduled to begin last Friday was postponed a day because of tornado warnings and a visible funnel cloud that appeared near the ballpark. "I've never been tornadoed out," said Mike Waldo, pitching coach of the host team Edwardsville Tigers. The twister appeared just as the visiting team was taking infield practice. …A writer for OutlookIndia.com is asking why the recent rain-plagued cricket World Cup was not played in February and March when weather in the Caribbean has less humidity and rain.

Weather Term of the Day:
TORNADO ALLEY -- A geographic corridor in the United States which stretches north from Texas to Nebraska and Iowa. In terms of sheer numbers, this section of the United States receives more tornadoes than any other.