Tigers ticked at handling of rainout

[clevfan]

Tigers ticked at handling of rainout

Lynn Henning / The Detroit News

Oct 5

NEW YORK -- The Tigers were rained out and ticked off Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium after their American League Division Series with New York was finally canceled at 10 p.m.

Tigers players, coaches and executives wondered why they had been kept in the dark about developing weather before Game 2 of their series had been postponed until 1 p.m. today.

Privately, the Tigers were furious that communication from Major League Baseball had either been one-sided in its dealings with the Yankees, or haplessly nonexistent.

The Tigers were scrambling late Wednesday to find hotels for players, staff and their spouses after the Tigers had checked out of the Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan. Those rooms were subsequently filled and the Tigers ended up finally securing rooms at the Hilton in Manhattan.

Adding to their ire, the Yankees apparently had received steady information that a second wave of rain was moving into the Bronx and resumption of play -- the tarp was brought onto the field just before the first pitch was to be thrown at 8:19 p.m. -- was unlikely. It prevented Yankees players such as starting pitcher Mike Mussina from even venturing onto the field for warm-up tosses.

The fact one team was in the process of getting ready for a game, and one was conserving its energy, grated on the Tigers as the postponement threw the visiting Tigers into mild chaos.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland did not appear in the clubhouse or speak after the game was re-scheduled, but he was reportedly steamed one team was allowed to pursue its business-as-usual preparations while the home team had more accurate and updated information.

On the record, the Tigers tried to play down the incident. Off the record, they scorched Major League Baseball for its silence at a significant point of preparation for any baseball team, let alone one getting ready for its first playoff game in 19 years.

Major League Baseball's representative, Jimmie Lee Solomon, soft-pedaled the dispute and suggested the Tigers had no reason to be irked.

"We wanted to get the game started, we thought we could," Solomon said. "The forecast indicated we could get in two, three innings, tops, and would have to stop again for an hour and-a-half to two hours.

"We didn't want to burn up two pitchers if we had that coming through. We reconvened, talked, we had the Tigers representatives with us, and we made a decision jointly with the commissioner (Bud Selig).

Justin Verlander was to have started for the Tigers and was in the early stages of his pre-game routine, playing catch in the bullpen. The Yankees, meanwhile, were laying low.

"Definitely, they had information we didn't," said Verlander, who said his biggest challenge heading into today's re-scheduled game would be getting to sleep after the evening's adrenalin rush. "We heard we were pretty close (to starting the game) and then we heard the game was canceled.

"I thought, 'Do they know something I don't?'?"

"I understand he did some soft-tossing and some stretching," Solomon said, "but he didn't do any real pitching."

No one -- players or coaches -- suggested that Wednesday's interruptions would compromise Verlander in any way as he faces the Yankees today after New York won the first game of the series, 8-4, Tuesday.

"He'll be fine, he didn't do anything," said Chuck Hernandez, the Tigers pitching coach.

[clevfan]

MICHAEL ROSENBERG: DAMN YANKEES: Late rainout ticks off Tigers

October 5, 2006

DETROIT FREE PRESS

NEW YORK -- For a game that still hasn't started, it sure did irritate the Tigers.

Sometimes the rain leaves a funny smell, and the Tigers were holding their noses and biting their tongues. It's not so much that Game 2 of their American League Division Series was postponed by the commissioner's office. The Tigers were upset that they found out later than the Yankees did.

At around 9:40 p.m., the Tigers were warming up for a 10 p.m. first pitch, while Derek Jeter was already back at his Manhattan condo, getting treatment from Bud Selig's personal masseuse.

No, I'm kidding. But the Tigers noticed that while they warmed up, the Yankees were nowhere to be found. Everybody knows the Yankees are a great team, but are they so great they don't even have to warm up?

"They definitely got information that I didn't have, that our team didn't have," Tigers starter Justin Verlander said. "Half of our team was out there. Not one of their guys was. I don't know what happened."

Verlander is the main concern, of course. He tried to minimize the damage. He said that he probably would have thrown more on a normal off day. But let's be honest: If he knew he was starting a game at 1:09 p.m. today, he would not have thrown at 9:35 p.m. Wednesday. And that's what he did.

And that's why the Tigers were angry. They stopped just short of saying that publicly. But trust me on this: They absolutely were. And they should be.

"At 9:35 they said, '10 o'clock start,' " closer Todd Jones said. "Then Justin goes out there and starts throwing and not one Yankee was out there. They went from we're going at (10) o'clock to six minutes later, the game is canceled. And it hasn't really rained hard out there? Is that what I'm hearing?"

It actually rained fairly hard, although games have been played in worse. The dumbest part of this whole deal is that the game was canceled because of a storm front due to come in at midnight. Well, it's not like that storm front leaped onto the radar at 9:30. Everybody knew it was coming -- and with TV commercial breaks, there was no way to play this game in less than three hours. So why wait until 9:40 to cancel the game?

"I think we should have played," Yankees owner George Steinbrenner told New York reporters. "We should have made up our minds earlier."

The Tigers would agree. They waited and waited, and for what? Nobody seemed to know what the plan was.

"I kind of figured it would have been more structured," third baseman Brandon Inge said.

Maybe the Tigers should have clammed up, gone back to their hotel and forgotten the whole thing. But that brought up another problem: they didn't have a hotel. They had planned to fly back to Detroit immediately after the game. And that's another reason for their irritation. All night, they were told the game would be played. The Yankees even announced it over the public-address system at 8:36.

"I might just curl up on the couch," Inge said. "I'm not sure."

What happened here? Blame the commissioner's folks? Did the Yankees want Verlander to warm up while their starter, Mike Mussina, rested?

"I don't know," Jones said. "I hope not. I wouldn't think that would be anything Joe (Torre) would OK, you know?"

I don't think so either. The Yankees are many things -- extremely talented, well-financed, relentless in their pursuit of championships. But they are not bush-league.

Is this a reason for the Tigers to lose today? No. Of course not. The reason they probably will lose this series is that the Yankees have the best lineup in baseball -- one of the best ever. If you combined the rosters and picked a starting lineup, you might just pick a Yankee at every single position on the field.

No, this won't cost the Tigers the series. But it is annoying and inexcusable. Playing the Yankees is hard enough. Why must it be so hard to not play the Yankees?

[clevfan]

What a mess that was

NEW YORK -- First, the weather. It's cool but perfectly clear at Yankee Stadium this morning.

Now, on to last night.

We talked to Jim Leyland this morning, and he was still a little upset about the way the rainout was handled by major-league baseball. He didn't blame the Yankees for any of the problems, not at all, and he emphasized that nothing that happened should have any impact on the Tigers' chances of winning.

But Leyland had a good line: ``We had an off day, and I got out managed. Torre's home having a glass of wine with his wife, and I'm checking the bullpen to make sure Verlander's ready.''

Here, close as we can tell, is how things happened:

At around 6:30, MLB got word that the storm was coming. The Tigers were told that had it been a regular-season game, it would have been postponed right then. But with everything that comes with the postseason (fans, TV, schedules, etc.), they were going to make an effort to play, with a probable delayed start.

At about 7:30, Mussina was in the Yankee dugout, getting ready to go warm up. Then everyone was told the game would be delayed.

At 9:30, it had stopped raining, and MLB decided the game would start at 10. They told both teams, and the tarp came off the field. Torre told them Mussina needed 25 minutes to warm up, so it would be tough to be ready by 10. Then MLB told him that more rain was coming by 11. Torre asked why they were starting the game, then.

Leyland had the Tigers out in the dugout, and Verlander went to the outfield. He stretched and lobbed the ball 4-5 times, but never really threw. The Yankees were not on the field. At that point, MLB said the game was off.

As Leyland said: ``This is not a factor. This is something you make light of, and go about your business.''

But he still didn't like the way it was handled.

In other news:

Same lineups as scheduled last night, which means same lineups as Game 1.

Leyland said again today that he won't be afraid to use Zumaya and/or Rodney early, even though there is now no off day before Game 3.