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.