It was really, really late to be finishing up a baseball game. Or really early. Both I guess. This one ended just after 3AM with a 4-2 Royals victory over the Cardinals following a four hour-rain plus delay.
It was actually the second rain delay of the game, as the thing started an hour late at the outset. The game began after a one hour rain delay and was delayed again for nearly five hours in the ninth inning. But it was right to keep the game open in my view. See, the ninth inning started, the Royals scored three runs and loaded the bases with no one out. When the rains came the umpire crew could have just said “ballgame,” but that would have nullified the Royals’ rally as things would have reverted to where they were at the end of the last completed inning, giving the Cards the win.
Joe West’s crew obviously didn’t want to do that. And while it made for a late, late night for all involved -- and with a ballpark that was basically empty -- at least the game was decided by the players and not the umpires.
Well, it was also decided by Mike Matheny, who decided to put Mitchell Boggs in for the top of the ninth in a one-run game for reasons that make sense only to him, but that’s still better than Joe West deciding the game.
