Rain and snow postpones Angels-Twins
MINNEAPOLIS -- The third game in the series between the Los Angeles Angels and the Minnesota Twins at Target Field was postponed Wednesday due to rain and snow that was falling shortly before the 8:10 ET game time.
There is no date for the makeup game scheduled at this time, but clearly there was no way for the game to be played as several inches of snow were forecast to fall on the Twin Cities.
"This stuff (light rain) was supposed to be the window that we were to try to play in, and there's no way we could play in this," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "At 9 p.m. it's going to be harder, and the snow comes all the way through tomorrow."
Scioscia plans to push his rotation back. Tommy Hanson, who was scheduled to pitch Wednesday, will go Friday against Detroit, and Garrett Richards will start Saturday.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire plans to do the same: Vance Worley, Scott Diamond and Kevin Correia will start in Chicago.
"We'll keep everybody right in order," Gardenhire said.
The makeup date will be a little tougher to figure out. This series is the only time that the Angles were scheduled to play at Target Field this season, so some coordination will be required to find a suitable date.
"It is the last time they are in town, so we have to go through the whole process of calling Major League Baseball, and we'll have to let them know the days we can make it up," Gardenhire said. "It's not a good situation for either team because they are going to have to fly back in here."
With the difficulty in rescheduling, the teams tried to get the game in. The managers met with the umpires 40 minutes before the game and checked the radar before calling it.
Scioscia said they couldn't even get in all their batting practice. It was definitely a no-go.
"If you could start the game and see how conditions progress, that's one thing, but we couldn't even start in this stuff," he said. "That was sleet and snow coming down -- a definite documentation of snow."
Asked if there was anything positive to take out of it, given the way his team is struggling, Scioscia said, "That's neither here nor there. At some point you want to play, because you know you need to play to get where you want to be. But it is what it is."
NOTES: The Angels were trying to avoid a sweep in Minnesota for the first time since July 31-Aug. 2, 2009, and now they will have to wait. ... Twins OF Oswaldo Arcia returned to the major leagues after one day back in Triple-A. He was scheduled to start. ... This postponement was the seventh in Target Field history and the second of 2013.
