Notes from SABR 37 - Day Three (part two)
The rain that I had earlier hoped would stay clear of St. Louis did not, in fact, miss the city.
After a brief but drenching pre-game soak — which the statue of Stan the Man faced fearlessly — things got under way on time.
Well, until the clouds rolled in again, that is.
The grounds crew had trouble getting the tarp on… which is sure a weird coincidence, because the home team was down 3-0 before the game would have been official, meaning that if the field wasn’t in good shape — like, for instance, if the tarp wasn’t put on quickly enough — the game would be called. There’s a whole chapter about these kind of shenanigans in Derek Zumsteg’s great book, “The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball“.
Once the field was covered, the storm did its best to discourage the game from being played for about twenty minutes, just dumping down rain.
You’ve got to hand it to whoever designed the drainage system at the new Busch Stadium, though. The field soaked it all in, and was ready to resume play less than half an hour later.
During the break, the big screen replayed the most recent “This Week in Baseball”, featuring, to my surprise, the A’s.
After the delay, St. Louis couldn’t get in the game, and Milwaukee kept banging away, scoring 12 runs on 19 hits. Tony La Russa threw in the towel early, refusing to pinch hit for Mike Maroth with a rally going, only to remove him after facing one batter in the next inning. By the seventh inning, there was nary a regular in the Cardinal lineup. To top it all off, the top half of the ninth saw one of the strangest Cardinal 1B-2B combination I can recall. Manning first was none other than normal starting catcher Yadier Molina (5 career games at 1B), while second base was held down by outfielder So Taguchi (2 career games at 2B). Shocking everyone, they very nearly turned a double play the first time they’ve ever been together on the right side of the infield.
To top it all off, the Brewers sent Craig Counsell and his oft-mocked batting stance to the plate in the inning.
Some of my fellow SABR-ites sitting near me noted that at the end of the game, the two SABR sections had far more people left in them than any other section in the ballpark. Apparently once Albert Pujols is out of the game — and you’re down by ten runs — it’s time for Cards fans to skedaddle. I estimate that there were perhaps 2,000 of the 45,500 announced attendance still in place when the last out was recorded.
Overall, I’ve got to say that I enjoyed the new Busch Stadium, even with the rainstorm. It’s a nice, shiny new place to see a game, although there is a hell of a lot going on with the multiple scoreboards in centerfield. Combined with the innumerable flashing boards and displays around the park, I felt more like I was in a casino than a ballpark. The delicious footlong brat I enjoyed during the rain delay offset any negative feelings about the intrusive lights, however.