[onlooker]

Just 1 strike away from the game being official, they call it when snow would not stop falling.

Let me say, I was happy as hell that game was called, because the Mariners didn't seem to be able to get anything going in that game.

Game called one strike away from being official
Associated Press

CLEVELAND -- One strike away from being an official game, the Cleveland Indians' home opener against the Seattle Mariners was postponed Friday night when daylong snow wouldn't stop.

The Indians were leading 4-0 with two outs in the top of the fifth, when the umpires halted play for the third time. The first pitch had been delayed for nearly an hour because of the winterlike weather.

Crew chief Rick Reed called the game at 8:41 p.m. -- 4 hours and 36 minutes after the scheduled first pitch -- ending a strange day and night when the grounds crew spent more time on the field than any of the players.

In addition to a 57-minute delay at the start, the game was interrupted for 22 minutes, 17 minutes and finally for 1:17.

At one point, Reed summoned Indians manager Eric Wedge and Seattle's Mike Hargrove to the umpire's dressing room to figure out what to do. Earlier, the two managers had a heated on-field discussion.

The game was rescheduled for 1:05 p.m. on Saturday. The clubs will also their regularly scheduled game at 7:05 p.m. -- weather permitting.

Indians starter Paul Byrd was just one out away from getting through the fifth inning and possibly being credited with an abbreviated no-hitter when the relentless snow dumped on Jacobs Field again.

Protecting a 4-0 lead, Byrd had walked the bases full and was ahead 1-2 on Seattle's Jose Lopez when Hargrove, known during his playing career as "The Human Rain Delay" because of his slow ritual at the plate, came out of the dugout to complain about the conditions to plate umpire Alfonso Marquez.

That brought out Wedge and the two skippers had an animated discussion while Byrd tried to stay loose by throwing pitches. Finally, after the visibility worsened, Reed brought the Indians off the field.

On his way to the dugout, Byrd flipped the ball into the crowd, which had booed during the time Hargrove and Wedge were going at it. As he left the field, Hargrove, who managed the Indians from 1991-99, stopped to verbally engage with some fans.

Whatever Hargrove was trying to do to slow the game down, it worked perfectly. Moments after he began later, near white-out conditions enveloped the Jake, leading to the day's longest delay when Reed walked onto the field behind home plate and waved the game off.

Because this is the Mariners' only one trip to Cleveland, and with a weather forecast calling for more snow and cold, the Indians had to do all they could to get the game in. But they did so at the expense of their own fans, most of whom headed home long before the postponement came.

The first pitch was pushed back 57 minutes because of wintry conditions that had Indians fans bundled up as if they were at a Browns-Steelers game in mid-December.

In the hours leading up to the start, snow fell delicately, blew sideways and generally swirled around the Jake, turning the 43,000-seat ballpark into the world's largest snow globe.

Working non-stop, the Indians' grounds crew used leaf blowers to clear the outfield grass, which at one point had at least an inch of accumulation. But every time they got it swept off, the snow returned.

About two hours before game time, a few of the Mariners spelled out "WIN" in the snow covering right field, and someone built a small snowman just beyond the infield tarp near second base.

By the time the game got under way, though, the snow had slowed to flurries and other than being bitterly cold, it was time to play ball -- for a little while. A heavy band off Lake Erie twice stopped action in the second inning for a combined 39 minutes.

Game notes
During the delay in the second, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" was played over the stadium's sound system. Also, a fan ran onto the field and left a snow angel in right-center before being arrested. ... The Mariners celebrated their 30th anniversary Friday. The club played its first game on April 6, 1977, a 7-0 loss in the Kingdome to the California Angels.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2828833

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

[bigboydan]

I loved it that the Umps called that game as well looker.

[EaglesPhan36]

Eh respectfully, F yooze guys! I had CLE on the RL for +140. Admittedly though, Byrd was losing it there in the 5th, he could have easily given up 3-4 runs with the bases loaded.

[LT Profits]

Eagles,

You probably had no shot anyway, as I seriously doubt the game would have gone on much longer. I think that the umps were just hoping for an offifcial game, and that they probably would have called it shortly afterwards anyway.

[rmcaj]

that sucks I had Cleveland on the ML. I fell asleep at around 4ish and woke up later and saw this game was postponed, I thought it had been cancelled before they started but after hearing this...damn that sucks.

[moses millsap]

Funny stuff.

[R3Sports]

good, because I had Seattle!

[Crayzee]

small miracle every once in a great while
i had seattle too

[xxx]

For a RL game to be official, the game must go 8.5 innings. So even if the game was official after 4.5 innings last night, their would be no action on the RL.

[LT Profits]

xxx,

Right, that was exactly my point.