Phillies-Rockies Postponed Tonight

An inch of snow fell on Coors Field last night. There are supposed to be intermittent snow showers throughout the afternoon. The coldest temperature for a postseason baseball game on record is higher than the forecasted afternoon high today in Denver. Therefore, it really should come as no surprise that tonight's Phillies-Rockies game has been postponed tonight. From MLB.com

With the series between the Rockies and Phillies tied at a game apiece, Game 3 has been rescheduled for Sunday at 8:07 p.m. MT. Game 4 has been moved to Monday, with game time to be announced prior to the start of Sunday's contest.

Snow began falling Friday night in the Denver metro area as the temperature dropped to 17 degrees in the Mile High City overnight, breaking the record low of 25 for the date, set in 1905. Coors Field was blanketed in snow by Saturday morning, and the white stuff was expected to keep coming down into the day, predicted to dissipate by the 7:37 p.m. game time. Since Coors Field is the only field in the Majors with an underground heating system, the snow might have been cleared away.

The cold is another matter, though.

Denver awoke to icy roads, multitudes of accidents on the highways and snow all around, with the updated forecast for the scheduled 7:37 p.m. game time calling for a temperature of 26 degrees -- which would have been by far the lowest for a postseason game in history. That distinction belongs to Game 4 of the 1997 World Series at Cleveland between the Indians and Marlins, with a game-time temperature of 35. The predicted high temperature for Denver on Saturday is 33.

Rockies manager Jim Tracy, whose team evened the series with a 5-4 victory in Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon, said at Friday's workout that he was well aware that the weather could cause Major League Baseball to step in and postpone Game 3.

"If it's a day where ... it's not conducive for either team to be playing baseball, it's going to jeopardize our fans from the standpoint of being treated to the type of baseball that has been played thus far in the first two games of the series in Philadelphia," Tracy said.

"If moving it back because there's going to be much better weather ... that would be the most sensible thing to do ... because, you know, Game 3 in a series that's 1-1, it's a fairly pivotal game.

"You'd hate to see a game be determined one way or the other due to the fact that the conditions were not good. Somebody slips that otherwise wouldn't have, if the conditions would have been much drier and much more conducive for baseball."

Fans with tickets for Game 3 will now be able to use them only for Sunday's game at 8:07 p.m. MT. Those fans with tickets for Game 4 will be able to use them for Monday's game. Game 5, if necessary, will still be played on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

As fun as it would be to see a baseball game played in the frozen tundra, this is definitley the right call to make. Those conditions are not suited for baseball and given the nature of the game, the cold could definitley play a factor one way or the other. Making this call even more of a no-brainer is that tomorrow and Monday are supposed to be nice days with highs in the 50s, although the temperature for game time would most likely fall int the 40s. Regardless, it is much better than this.

This does bring up an interesting scenario for the Phillies pitching in Game 4, which has now been moved to Monday, time TBD. The question now becomes will Cliff Lee pitch game 4? He would be available on normal rest and especially if the Phillies lose tomorrow, may be their ace in the hole to make sure that regardless of what goes down tomorrow, that at the very worst for the Phillies, this thing goes to a Game 5.

Update: It appears as if the change in date has also affected the Phillies starting pitching. Pedro will no longer be on the mound as the starter, but rather, according to CSN Philly, the Phillies have named NL Rookie of the Year candidate J.A. Happ as the starter for Game 3.

If his leg/knee is all right, then I have no gripes about this decision. While he has never played in a game of this magnitude, he has done a solid job all year and I feel real comfortable with him on the mound.