Orioles rained out (updated)
The exhibition game between the Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays has been cancelled after a heavy rainstorm swept over Fort Lauderdale Stadium. The tarp was on the infield this time and the sun came out by 1 p.m., but the field was too water-logged to play the game safely.
It is the second rainout this week. The first one cost the Orioles half of a split-squad doubleheader on Wednesday.
Don't know if the game could have been played under these conditions at a newer spring training facility, but every time something like this happens it is a reminder of how the Orioles were left behind during a couple of spring training construction bursts in Florida and Arizona.
There are whispers that the O's are making nice with Sarasota and may still get a deal done to play in a renovated Ed Smith Stadium complex. There are other possibilties, but that one seems the most logical from a baseball operations standpoint.
Pitching update: The starting rotation has been adjusted for the rainout. Mark Hendrickson will start tomorrow's game against the St. Louis Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla., and a determination is yet to be made on the status of Hayden Penn, who was originally scheduled to start the game. Penn could drop in behind Hendrickson or throw in some kind of simulated situation in Fort Lauderdale, where Rich Hill and Koji Uehara already are scheduled to throw to hitters in a simulated game.
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Comments
When I was down there I checked out an O's game in Jupiter, it was way nicer than FTL. Of the ones you've visited this Spring who has the nicest complex?
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Pete's reply: I like Jupiter. The Rays have a nice newly renovated complex in Port Charlotte I hear is right up there. The Yankees complex is really the cream of the crop, however.
Posted by: David B | March 21, 2009 1:28 PM
You mentioned Sarasota as a possible option. I had heard Port St. Lucie was also tossed out there. Where are the Red Sux going?
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Pete's reply: The Red Sox are going to another site in Fort Myers.
Posted by: David B | March 21, 2009 8:38 PM
O's making nice during negotians? Was P.A. sick or something? Maybe he's the one defining it as "nice". Why is it, with millions of new $$ flowing into the coffers from MASN, the club still does everything in the cheapest way allowable? (see Markakis & Guthrie. Not because he should but because he could.)
Reminds me of the reasoning behind the bonuses handed out by firms receiving bail-out money. Because they could.
Baltimore will never have an admired baseball franchise as long as the present ownership remains. Jerry Hoffberger must be shaking his head over this. Same as how Carrol Rosenbloom must have done when the Colts were stolen from us.
WHY US? What has Baltinmore done wrong? We lost a reasonably good basketball franchise, a world-renowned football team and now our baseball team has deserted the fans. Where do we go from here?
Posted by: jc-of-O's | March 21, 2009 10:05 PM
What about Vero Beach? Possible? Desirable?
Posted by: JimBob | March 22, 2009 11:43 AM