Baseball Game Ends.. at 145 This Morning.

[Mitchell]

The New York Mets and Atlanta Braves played a split day-night doubleheader yesterday/last night/early this morning Eastern Time.

The doubleheader was as a result of a rained out game the last time the Mets were in Atlanta.

This is how the proceedings unfolded.

The first game, started at 110 pm Eastern Time, which was the regularly scheduled game between the teams.

There was a short rain delay.. during that game.

The game then ended in the bottom of the ninth inning, when the Braves won on a home run.

The second game, the "night game" of the day-night doubleheader, had been scheduled to begin at 710 pm Eastern Time last night.

Due to.. heavy rain in the Atlanta Metro Area, the game was delayed until shortly past 10 pm.

When the game finally started, it was a "baseball slugfest" with many runs scored, and took much time, over three hours.

That game, finally ended at 145 am, this morning, and was won by the Mets.. for a split of the doubleheader.

Mets broadcasters Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez, said on the telecast, that they had been at the ballpark for more than a dozen hours, along with the Braves broadcast team, and the camera and technical people.

Luckily, for the Mets, Braves, and the broadcasters and camera people, the game between the Mets and Braves is not supposed to begin until 735pm Eastern time tonight.

However, more heavy rain is forecast for the Atlanta area today, and tonight.

Sometimes if games have not started due to rain, they will be postponed until a later date.

Last night, the umpires chose to wait 3 hours to start the night game of the doubleheader.

It will be very interesting to see what happens.

 

[Mitchell]

Tonight's Mets Braves game in Atlanta.. will .. be delayed by rain again!

Woo Hoo!

Can anyone say.. 145 am

They are saying it is delayed due to "impeding weather"

We will see how long tonight's "delay" is.

 

[Barbershopman]

I wonder how many fans were in the stands when it ended?

I'd think MLB would have a standing rule that if a game hasn't started by 9:30 local time, it should not be played and rescheduled (at least regular season games). With the Mets and Braves both being in the east, I think it would be easy to reschedule a game between teams in the same division.

The problem you get into is a situation where inter-league game has had to be rescheduled. With that, where the teams play so infrequently, you'd have to find a date in the schedule that is free to both teams and not a travel day for either one.


Maybe the solution is to go back to a 154 game season, then you could have at least a few more days to reschedule games.


Barbershopman

 

[Mitchell]

Barbershop. I see your point.

The Mets broadcasters were talking about what would have happened if Monday night's game had been rained out.

Supposedly, the Mets and Braves do not have any "mutual off days" where they could have played a makeup game.

The Mets do go to Atlanta one more time in two weeks, so, they could have called Monday's game, and played it the next time the Mets go to Atlanta.

Also odd.

When the Mets play the two games in Atlanta in two weeks, those are the last games in Atlanta between the Mets and Braves for the season.

However, the Mets and Braves , have played only one series in NY this year.

The Braves do not come to NY again, until a four game series in early August. The Braves then come to NY again in late Sept, the last week of the regular season.

In the 1980s, when there were only two divisions in each league, and not three, each team played 12 games or two home series and two road series against the other division, and 18 home games, or three home and away series against teams in their own division.

Rescheduling an interleague game would be tough. Plus, for a game, between say, the Mets and Yankees, the stadiums in NY are almost always sold out, so the situation with rain tickets, etc also becomes a problem.

 

[Mitchell]

Tonight's Mets Cubs game at Citi Field in NY lasted 14 innings, and ended after midnight, Eastern time.

Fox announcers John Smoltz and others, purposely showed the clock.

The Mets played a lot of baseball this past week. A day night doubleheader with a 3 hour rain delay that ended at 145 am Tuesday, a 14 inning game that ended after midnight this morning, and oh, later today, their game with the Cubs is at 1 pm Eastern.

 

[milagros317]

Given their high salaries, the players shouldn't complain about playing a full schedule, all 162 games.

 

[Mitchell]

Agreed, mils.

Even the "lower salaried players" so to speak, make more money in one year, than most people make in their entire lifetime.

Such is why a guy like Cal Ripken is so admirable. Ripken had the Iron Man streak of games played, and was a Hall of Fame player as well.

 

[Sodahead]

I have a part-time job doing live production for professional and college sporting events and I'll add this. The decision to suspend a game is a very complicated one. For the most part I like Barbershopman's idea of having a league wide standard, at least for intra divison games where the teams will certainly meet again. I recently covered a game that after two weather delays, didn't finish until well after midnight. It wasn't awesome to say the least.

While players might make a lot of money, the contractors, concession stand workers, ushers and people who actually make the ballpark function, don't make that much money. Some contractors are paid a flat rate per game and many hourly workers barely make more than minimum wage (it's often their second job and they need to be somewhere else the next morning.) I'm fortunate enough to fall in neither category but regardless of your pay scale, working until 1:45 in the morning just plain sucks, haha

There are other factors as well and managers for each team always have their own opinions about what should happen. Ultimately, bad weather is just a by product of working in sports. It comes with the territory and those of us who work in the industry know that. But still, when it's after midnight and you've been working all day and haven't had any food since 5 PM, you just want the game to fucking end.

 

[usgrant]

I’m still pissed they don’t have the pitcher pitch the intentional walk anymore

 

[milagros317]

I’m still pissed they don’t have the pitcher pitch the intentional walk anymore

Me, too. I have seen a wild pitch during an intentional walk. Once I even saw the pitcher drop the ball for a balk during an intentional walk.

 

[Mitchell]

I agree with grant and mils.

MLB does it now, the way high school baseball teams do it/did it.

I used to do some work with my high school's baseball team. If the coach wanted a pitcher to intentionally walk a batter, the coach just flashed the four fingers sign to the umpire, which would mean intentional walk, and the batter would go to first base.

I think MLB does this, to "Save the pitcher's arm " from the four extra pitches.

What mils and grant said is true. I, too have seen a passed ball, wild pitch, etc, on an intentional walk.

I think they should go back to the old way of having the pitcher throw the four pitches for the intentional walk.

We'll see if that ever happens.

 

[Sodahead]

I agree with everyone about the intentional walk rule. Generally, I'm pretty okay with trying to increase the pace of the game a bit and kind of get annoyed with all the baseball purists who stick their nose up at any change. But as Mitch and usgrant have correctly pointed, pass balls during an IBB are not that uncommon. And it's not like the few seconds they save each game really matter in the grand scheme of things.

I know pitch and inning limits are a big thing now (and probably a necessary thing since kids start pitching year round by the time they're 10) but it's not like lofting the ball in there during an IBB is all that taxing on the arm. So yeah, MLB made a bad choice there

 

[Barbershopman]

I think the IBB rule is stupid, especially on the major league level. Yes, the season is long and, yes the pitchers throw an extraordinary amount of innings during that season. But you're telling me that tossing four balls 60 feet 6 inches at 60 miles an hour is going to do harm to a pitcher that is used to throwing a baseball 80 times a game at a velocity of 85-90 miles an hour? I don't buy it.


Barbershopman

 

[Barbershopman]

I resurrected this thread for this one reason, it just passed 1:00AM here in the Midwest and I am sitting in front of my TV. It is the bottom of the 13th with Milwaukee and LA tied 1-1 in Game 4 of the NLCS. It started just past 9:00PM local time.

So this game started at 7:00PM PST and it just passed 11:00PM PST. I'm just feel bad for the people on the east coast, the way this game is going, they may be able to catch the top of the 22nd after they turn off their alarm clocks to get up and go to work on Wednesday.

Mitch, I specifically address you since you started this particular thread. Are you still up watching this game at 2:15AM your local time?

Barbershopman

P.S. The game just ended shy of 1:30 in the morning after 5 hours and 15 minutes. Congrats, Mils, Dodgers tied the series at 2-2.
Game 5 set to start at 5:05PM today.

 

[milagros317]

I resurrected this thread for this one reason, it just passed 1:00AM here in the Midwest and I am sitting in front of my TV. It is the bottom of the 13th with Milwaukee and LA tied 1-1 in Game 4 of the NLCS. It started just past 9:00PM local time.

So this game started at 7:00PM PST and it just passed 11:00PM PST. I'm just feel bad for the people on the east coast, the way this game is going, they may be able to catch the top of the 22nd after they turn off their alarm clocks to get up and go to work on Wednesday.

Mitch, I specifically address you since you started this particular thread. Are you still up watching this game at 2:15AM your local time?

Barbershopman

P.S. The game just ended shy of 1:30 in the morning after 5 hours and 15 minutes. Congrats, Mils, Dodgers tied the series at 2-2.
Game 5 set to start at 5:05PM today.

I was awake, watching, and happy when it ended at 2:30am Eastern time.
At 2:31am I was drinking a shot of single malt whiskey from Scotland. 😀

 

[Barbershopman]

With game 5 starting right now (5PM EST), by the time all of the post-game brew-ha-ha was over very early this morning, getting back and settled in, are the players on both teams going to experience a little jet-lag (for lack of a better term) and come out a little sluggish? After a 5 hour, 15 minute game, I would say yes.

I also believe that the strategy of game 5 will be different with both bullpens being taxed, especially the Brewers having to replace their starting pitcher, Gio Gonzalez, in the second inning due to injury.

Should the Dodgers expect retaliation for Manny Machado's antics igniting a bench-clearing incident in game 4? I don't think it will happen anytime soon, the stakes are way too high, but that's just me. Anything could happen.

Barbershopman