http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10116459
Weekend Buzz: Warm weather only? Put a freeze on that idea
April 8, 2007
By Scott Miller
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
The Weekend Buzz while you were looking for Easter eggs and wondering whether Tony will sleep with the fishes the final half-season of the The Sopranos:
1. Cracker Jack out, hot chocolate in: According to Weather Underground's website, they're calling for a high of 37, a low of 25 and a chance of more snow again on Monday in Cleveland. On Tuesday, the forecast is for a high of 36, a low of 32 and another chance of snow showers.
The Boys of Winter? C.C. Sabathia seems to like the idea. (AP)
In other words, they may never play baseball this year in Jacobs Field.
And considering that the Los Angeles Angels are due in Cleveland on Tuesday and the Chicago White Sox on Friday, that's awfully inconvenient.
Following two postponed doubleheaders in two days (along with Friday's series-opening postponement) the Indians and Mariners will attempt another doubleheader on Monday. Indians manager Eric Wedge called the weekend "indescribable", and Brandon Koehnke, Jacobs Field head groundskeeper, told veteran beat man Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, "You don't have enough ink in your pen to say how I feel about" the crack job the snowblower-packing grounds crew did in battling Mother Nature.
Big problem is, because of baseball's unbalanced schedule, this is Seattle's only trip to Cleveland. So it's going to be a major hassle attempting to shoehorn this series in later this summer. So some folks again are calling for cold-weather teams to open on the road and warm-weather teams (or teams with domes) to open at home.
But that's a rotten idea, and here's why: It's stupid.
For one thing, fans in cities like Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh shouldn't be penalized by having to wait until mid-to-late April for their home openers every year.
For another, that would mean the schedule likely would flip-flop in September, and the warm weather teams would have to play an inordinate number of road games down the stretch while fighting for a playoff spot -- and those cold-weather teams would have the benefit of extra stretch-run home games.
And, it was 72 degrees and gorgeous on opening day in Cincinnati on Monday, and 62 and beautiful in Detroit. You win some, you lose some. And if you've got tickets to Jacobs Field this week, bring mittens and a scarf.
