IGT 5/24/14 ARI @ NYM: Dry, Dry Again

[G-Fafif]

Clear skies willing, it will feel good to be out of the rain.
Here's hoping the team from the desert doesn't remember its game.
'Cause there's one Zack Wheeler for to give them some pain.

[youtube:3qhnxp07]Tm4BrZjY_Sg[/youtube:3qhnxp07]

[Edgy MD]

Love those live America clips.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Arizona at NY Mets
When: 4:10 PM ET, Saturday, May 24, 2014
Where: Citi Field, New York City, New York
SportsDirect Inc.

The New York Mets will try once again to extend their winning streak against Arizona when they host the Diamondbacks on Saturday afternoon. The Mets, who swept three games in Arizona earlier this season, were trailing 2-0 in the fourth inning in Friday's series opener before rain halted the game and forced the teams to schedule a doubleheader Sunday. New York is still aiming for its first winning streak at home in nearly a month.

Arizona, which has lost three straight, had taken the lead Friday night on Aaron Hill's home run in the second inning, which was wiped away due to the postponement. Hill had gone 0-for-8 in two games since returning from a shoulder injury but is still hitting .306 with 15 RBIs in 22 games since being dropped from second to fifth in the lineup. Mets third baseman David Wright also will be looking to stay hot as he has hit .400 during a six-game hitting streak.

TV:
4:10 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona, PIX11 (New York)

PITCHING MATCHUP:
Diamondbacks RH Josh Collmenter (2-2, 4.02 ERA) vs. Mets RH Zack Wheeler (1-4, 4.53)

Collmenter is 2-0 with a 3.72 ERA in his last five starts after allowing three runs in 5 1/3 innings of a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday. However, he has failed to get through six innings in three outings this month after doing so in his final three starts in April. Collmenter gave up three runs in four innings in a loss to the Mets in his first start of the season April 14 and is 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA in seven career games (two starts) against New York.

After posting four quality starts in five outings overall in April, Wheeler has endured an up-and-down May, going 0-2 with a 5.31 ERA while producing 15 walks and 15 strikeouts. He has not made a start at home since April 25, when he struck out 10 and allowed a run in six innings. Wheeler allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings opposite Collmenter on April 14 to pick up his first win of the year.

WALK-OFFS:
1. Wright has two hits in 11 at-bats against Collmenter but both are home runs.
2. Diamondbacks starters are 8-5 with a 3.42 ERA in 18 games in May.
3. Arizona RF Gerardo Parra is a .345 hitter in 15 career games at New York's Citi Field.

[Edgy MD]

I had understood that statistics from postponed games stood, even though the game was to be restarted. Is this no longer so?

[ashie62]

I thought only suspended games counted?

[Guest d'Kong76]

Wiki says:
Generally, Major League Baseball (MLB) teams will continue play in light to moderate rain but will suspend play if it is raining heavily or if there is standing water on the field. Games can also be delayed or canceled for other forms of inclement weather, or if the field is found to be unfit for play, and for other unusual causes such as bees. Bee delays and cancellations have occurred in games such as the spring training game in 2005 that was canceled,[2] as well as the 2009 Houston Astros-San Diego Padres game that was delayed in the ninth inning.[3] However, rain is by far the most common cause for cancellations or stoppages of play.

Before a baseball game commences, unless it is the second game of a doubleheader, the manager of the home team is in charge of deciding whether or not the game should be delayed or canceled due to rain or other inclement weather (see Rule 3.10 of baseball's Official Rules). Once the home team manager hands his lineup card to the umpire shortly before the game is to begin, the umpire-in-chief has sole discretion to decide if a game should be delayed or canceled (see Rule 3.10 and Rule 4.01 of the Official Rules). This also applies to the second game of a doubleheader. Umpires are required by rule to wait at least 30 minutes to see if conditions improve; this is referred to as a rain delay and is not counted as part of the length of the game listed in the box score. In practice, umpires are encouraged to see that games are played if at all possible, and will sometimes wait as long as three hours before declaring a rainout.

If a game is rained out before play begins, it is rescheduled for a later date. If it has already begun and rain falls, several scenarios are used to determine the need to resume play:

If the game has completed the top half of the 5th inning and the home team is ahead, the game can be deemed an official game. The home team is declared the winner, and the game officially counts in standings.
If the game has completed the bottom half of the 5th inning and either team is ahead, and in Minor League Baseball and college games, it is the final game of the series, the game can be deemed an official game. The leading team is declared the winner, and the game officially counts in standings. However, if the game is rained out prior to the completion of an inning in which the visiting team scored one or more runs to take the lead, and the home team has not retaken the lead, the game is suspended, to be resumed at a later date.
If the game has completed the 5th inning, and the teams are tied, or in college and some Minor League Baseball games regardless of inning, and it is not the final game in the series (the first or second game in a three-game series, also regardless of inning), the game is considered suspended, and the resumption of the game is scheduled for a future date (usually the following day). The game picks up from where it left off.
If none of the previous scenarios apply, the game cannot be deemed official. The umpire declares "No Game," and a make-up of the game is scheduled for a future date unless it is not feasible. The latter occurs mainly among the minor leagues and college due to travel schedules, and only in the major leagues among teams that have been declared mathematically eliminated from postseason play where no benefit in the standings would be derived. The statistics compiled during the rained out game are not counted.
In the Major League Baseball postseason, all games stopped at any time for weather are considered suspended and continued from the point of stoppage when play resumes, no matter if the game has not reached the requirements above.[4] This rule was put into place as a result of Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, which was the first postseason game in history to be suspended and resumed from the point of suspension. Prior to 2008, a playoff game had to be official in order to be suspendable; a playoff game stopped prior to that point had to be started over. An example was Game 1 of the 1982 National League Championship Series which reached the top of the fifth inning but had to be restarted from scratch the next day.
In areas that receive high amounts of rain or otherwise could be impacted by the weather, those teams have built stadiums with a roof to protect the field, first as a domed stadium, and more recently with a retractable roof. Despite this, the Houston Astros--who played at the Houston Astrodome for 35 years and currently play at the retractable roof-equipped Minute Maid Park, primarily due to protect fans from the intense summer Texas heat--ironically had a rainout at the Astrodome on June 15, 1976 due to intense flooding in the Houston area. The game, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, was later made up at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh despite the Astros still having a home series against the Pirates later that season.[5]


2 ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050324&content_id=975977&vkey=spt2005gamer&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
3 ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=290702125
4 ^ "Official Rules: 4.00 Starting and Ending a Game". Major League Baseball. pp. Rule 4.12. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
5 ^ "Hoffman: Astros made history with a rainout - Houston Chronicle". Chron.com. June 17, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2013.

[ashie62]

Looks like yesterday was a "No Game."

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: I had understood that statistics from postponed games stood, even though the game was to be restarted. Is this no longer so?

Ashie's got it right.
Stats used to count for suspended games --it was one way players could get credit for more than 162 (or 154) games played in a single season-- but not for unofficial rainouts.
What they did update a few years back was the rule that suspended games would now be picked up from the point of suspension rather than re-played from the beginning. SF & Colorado had one suspended while tied up in the 6th just two days ago which will be picked up at some future date.

But, as far as stats go for Firday's game at CF, Aaron Hill's HR never happened and Colon's ERA is exactly where it was at this time yesterday (when he was young - Bartolo turns 41 today!).

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think Hank Aaron had lost a home run to a rainout. That got some attention, as I recall, as he was chasing Babe Ruth's home run record.

[Frayed Knot]

I know Aaron lost a HR when he was called for stepping out of the batter's box while hitting one out of the park.
I guess that's technically not 'losing' one because it was never counted in the first place but he always maintained his total was shortchanged. Maybe there's a rain-out story somewhere as well.

The other thing I remember from the Aaron-Ruth chase was that Ruth lost one by hitting a "walk-off" HR with runners on base but the rules at the time only gave the batter credit for the hit required to score the winning run. So hitting one over the fence with a runner on 3rd in a tie game only netted you a single, if on 2nd only a double, etc.
It wasn't until records began to be computerized in the late-60s that this was discovered and it set off quite a debate as to whether Babe should retroactively be upped to 715 HRs especially since both Mays & Aaron were then closing in. But ultimately it was decided that the rules at the time they were recorded should stand (the rule was changed to the current one early in Ruth's career so there was only that one negated HR).

[Edgy MD]

I assume, then, that a walkoff grand slam with the game tied 6-6 was ruled a 7-6 win instead of a 10-6 win.

I kind of think those homers should be retroactively restored.

[Frayed Knot]

"I assume, then, that a walkoff grand slam with the game tied 6-6 was ruled a 7-6 win instead of a 10-6 win." -- Yup. Game was considered over as soon as that first run crossed the plate.



"I kind of think those homers should be retroactively restored." -- Well, that was one argument but ultimately not the winning one. The rule was, I believe, changed around 1920 just as the dead-ball era was ending so there wouldn't have been all that many HRs affected.

[Frayed Knot]

Wheeler not missing enough bats here.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Wright says I can still KABOOM with CitiFences.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

"Hey," says Sugarpants. "I may be married, but I can still get down and dirty."

Wright gets Wheeler out of the sixth.

[Edgy MD]

Runner on third and they go to the pen.

Not sure Edgin is the face I was looking to see.

[Edgy MD]

And Montero slugs it nine inches. Nice play.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

LET'S GO, WET DIRT AND SPIN!

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Hey, whaddaya know? Half-decent discipline/strike-zone control this inning so far.

And speaking of control... is Ollie coming in?

[Edgy MD]

Holy crap! That's Ollie Perez in the bullpen!

[Edgy MD]

Man, does that shortstop look like a ball boy.

[Edgy MD]

Bleh!

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Turns a DP like a ball-er, though.

Epitome of a Bad-Murph swing-- one-handed, utterly powerless contact-- there.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Is it more bad or good-- as it does seem a little of both-- that I keep forgetting that Flores is starting at short until they call his name?

[ashie62]

Opportunity knocks...

[Edgy MD]

OK, Torres.

Let's support that effort with demonstrative batsmanship.

[Edgy MD]

Lefties should be able to beat up on Ziegler. Let's do that.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Yes, but lefties don't beat up on him. Never have.

It's been frustrating watching this guy sign and re-sign with these guys; Ziegler's always been one of those guys I've wanted here.

Whoopsie, Goldschmidt.

[Edgy MD]

Everything about that play: weird.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I understand Gibson standing pat here; I'm not sure I ever trusted Ollie in CitiField.

Let's kill this mockingbird, Boo.