You'd think there wouldn't be any rain delays in an indoor stadium. But the Oakland A's found otherwise in today's 6-5 loss to the Tampa Rays.
The weather stopped the game in Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, when a thunderstorm knocked out the lights and cause a 15-minute delay. It's another embarassment for the Rays' terribly surfaced, obnoxiously sound-amplified, ugliest-design-in-pro-sports ballpark.
It was the bottom of the first in a day game, and Dallas Braden had just walked Carlos Pena. A thunderstorm raging outside caused a power outage, resulting in Tropicana Field losing it's overhead lights. Pictures from onfield indicate that it wasn't really that dark, but that might just be the glare from all the empty seats.
Nonetheless, it took over fifteen minutes to get the lights back on and the game going again. Susan Slusser reports on her Chronicle blog that throughout the delay, the lights in the press box were working just great.
A's fans trying to follow the game online via ESPN.com or SI.com "gamecast" applications (Sorry, Comcast! The check is in the mail, I swear!) were informed that the status of the game was "PPD-Rain". Maybe that's just what they say whenever the weather holds up a game.
The A's lost the game in walk-off fashion in the ninth when the Rays' Carl Crawford drove in Dioner Navarro off of Brad Ziegler. The A's remain last in the AL West at 15-23, seven games behind the first-place Rangers.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who should not expect a Christmas card from his good friends at Tropicana Field.
