It is another to break the rules in order to lose.
There is a real problem with the league office's decision to uphold the Giant's appeal on the rain called Tuesday contest at Wrigley Field. The game was official when the rain came down and made the field unplayable, even after 4 hours of delay. It was not a mechanical issue, as the Wrigley tarp is a manual operation.
The Giants were livid because they believed the Cubs grounds crew were lax in trying to get the tarp rolled out onto the infield. By the time the tarps were placed, there was standing water on the infield. Loads of drying agent and sand could not correct the saturation.
However, the difficulty with the tarp was not mechanical, but Mother Nature. The intensity of the rain made the tarp heavy. Also, reports that the Cubs have cut back on the number of grounds crew members in a cost-savings measure probably raises more eyebrows than the game suspension issue.
The rule clearly states that the game is official after 4.5 innings if the home team is in the lead. That is what happened Tuesday. The rule also clearly states that such a game is not suspended if rain does not allow resumption of play. That is what happened Tuesday.
The Giants were still not happy. The team is in a close pennant race. Every win counts. The manager believed it was "unfair" not to conclude the game because of the alleged botched tarp placement. Any rule can be interpreted as unfair if you are on the brunt end of a ruling.
But as Brian Hanley remarked on the radio this morning, he was more concerned with the Cubs GM Hoyer not sticking up for the letter of the law. He has never heard of a general manager in any sport consenting to removing a win from his team. And I agree with that statement; the Cubs front office was too remorseful after the incident to the point of waiving the rule in the eyes of the league. And this only makes sense if the Cubs want to lose games if the plan is to get the number one draft pick next year. Hoyer and Epstein are always telling the media that they are looking for loopholes in order to leverage an advantage; by agreeing to take a win from their record by breaking the rules is clearly a strange way to meet their plan objectives. It is also a major middle finger to the fans, especially those who left Wrigley thinking they saw a victory. No fan wants their team to lose on purpose, let alone break the rules in order to lose.
The strained explanation by the league:
Major League Baseball announced today that Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations Joe Torre has upheld a protest filed by the San Francisco Giants regarding the calling of their rain-shortened game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night.
An examination of the circumstances of last night’s game has led to the determination that there was sufficient cause to believe that there was a “malfunction of a mechanical field device under control of the home club” within the meaning of Official Baseball Rule 4.12(a)(3). Available video of the incident, and conversations with representatives of the Cubs, demonstrate that the Cubs’ inability to deploy the tarp appropriately was caused by the failure to properly wrap and spool the tarp after its last use. As a result, the groundskeeping crew was unable to properly deploy the tarp after the rain worsened. In accordance with Rule 4.12(a)(3), the game should be considered a suspended game that must be completed at a future date.
In addition, Major League Baseball has spoken with last night’s crew chief, Hunter Wendelstedt, and has concluded that the grounds crew worked diligently in its attempt to comply with his direction and cover the field. Thus, there is no basis for the game to be forfeited by the Cubs pursuant to Rule 4.16.
Who in their right mind was calling for a forfeit? The Giants were looking for a suspended game.
Apparently, it was the information provided by the Cubs that the team failed to deploy the tarp "appropriately" because it was not properly rolled up after the last use? It is a tarp that is on a roll.
It is not rocket science. And if the grounds crew worked "diligently" to cover the field to avoid a forfeit, then that same finding would have negated the ruling on suspending the game.
