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How To Screw Up A Rain Delay

By Seth Everett

I am one person who can't stand rain delays. What took place over the weekend was frustrating, but there were some mistakes made that could have been avoided even if the rain couldn't have been.

Thursday and Sunday, the Phillies starting pitching was curtailed when the delay came. That's not really the excuse for some bullpen meltdowns, but I'm not going to make a big deal of it, mostly because that Washington series will be more remembered for the Phillies' fans at the ballpark & sitting through more rain delays.

The game in which I questioned was Friday night. The game was delayed for 2 hour and 22 minutes, but started on time with a storm coming. There was thunder & lightning in the air as Livan Hernandez threw the 1st pitch.

The rule is that before the 1st pitch is thrown, the decision on whether to start the game is that of the home team. Once the game commences, the umpires call it. My gripe was clearly with the Nationals.

Four batters in, and the tarp comes on! That's ridiculous. It's a disservice to the fans, and even worse for the players.

I did ask a source inside the commissioner's office if there can be any penalty for mishandling of a rain delay. I was told that MLB really has little to no jurisdiction when it comes to the starting of games. I adamantly criticized the Nationals, and received no disagreement.

Full disclosure, I did create a "Seth Everett Rain Delay Policy" after sitting through a Marlins-Rockies split double-header that went nearly 19 hours. I may have an anti-rain bias. My real issue, was with a team that didn't know how to handle an impending storm.

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