NewsPhils-Marlins game postponed by rain
No makeup date announced; Happ to start series finale
By Alden Gonzalez / MLB.com
07/18/09 10:03 PM ET
MIAMI -- Hours before Saturday night's game, the Marlins held a groundbreaking ceremony for a 37,000-seat retractable-roof stadium that will open for the 2012 season.But that didn't help matters in the third of a four-game series against the Phillies.
With one out in the bottom of the second at Land Shark Stadium, a football stadium with no roof, a rain delay ensued for the second consecutive night. But this time, after about 90 minutes, umpires officially called the game a postponement with the Marlins leading, 2-0.
No makeup date has been announced. But when the teams do replay it, the game will start from scratch, and none of the stats from Saturday will count.
With the Marlins heading to San Diego on Monday to start a six-game West Coast swing, and the Phillies headed home to host the Cubs for a three-game series, Sunday's finale, scheduled to start at 1:10 p.m. ET, will not be a doubleheader.
The Phillies won't be back in South Florida until Sept. 22, when they begin a two-game series. The two teams were originally supposed to play a three-game set starting Sept. 21, but with Land Shark Stadium hosting Monday Night Football that night between the Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts, the game was moved to this past Thursday.
The only options to make up this game would be to have a doubleheader Sept. 22 or 23. Sept. 22 would be the likely scenario, since a rained-out game in the finale the following day would be nearly impossible to make up.
As for Phillies starter Joe Blanton, who gave up two runs on a two-run double by Jeremy Hermida in the bottom of the first, he will start Tuesday, and the rest of the rotation will be pushed back. That means J.A. Happ will start Sunday, Rodrigo Lopez on Monday, Blanton on Tuesday, Jamie Moyer on Wednesday and Cole Hamels on Thursday in a makeup game against the Padres at home.
"[I'll] just use it as a bullpen day," said Blanton, who threw 24 pitches in his 1 1/3 innings. The 28-year-old right-hander has not officially started since July 10, meaning he'll basically be on 10 days' rest the next time he takes the mound.
"I don't really like having breaks," Blanton added. "So I'm glad this is going to be quicker. ... I'd rather stay on normal routine."
Heavy rain and scattered lightning had come to a halt about 15 minutes before the official word, but the grounds crew did not move because a heavy storm was expected to make its way back to Land Shark Stadium.
"It might be 30 or 40 minutes right now before it rains, but when it does, it's going to set here for a while," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said shortly after the postponement. "They said they didn't want to keep the fans here three to four hours, because they said it's moving real slow and the build-up is big."
As for Marlins starter Josh Johnson, he isn't expected to take the mound until his next turn in the rotation Friday against the Dodgers.
Alden Gonzalez is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
