After a weekend of rain in the nation’s capital, the Nationals thought they might catch a break by heading north to begin a series Monday night in Philadelphia.
But a major gaffe on the part of the Phillies’ grounds crew, according to published reports, meant no baseball Monday.
The Phillies were out of town this past weekend, playing in New York against the Mets, while the field at Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia was left uncovered for the weekend, according to reports.
The City of Brotherly Love got more rain than expected and that left the infield a muddy mess Monday evening.
The Phillies brought in blowtorches to try and dry the field for the start of the game at 7:05 p.m. But the game did not start on time and a few minutes after 7 p.m. the game was postponed. MASN reported the teams would try and play two games Tuesday starting at 3:05 p.m., though rain was in the forecast.
At 6:45 p.m. television cameras for Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) showed Washington general manager Mike Rizzo, manager Davey Martinez, assistant general manager Bob Miller and pitching ace Max Scherzer looking at the infield. Later Nationals star Bryce Harper came on the field a few minutes before the scheduled start.
“Not good,” Nationals closer Sean Doolittle told MASN as he came off the infield at about 6:30 p.m.
The series was slated to end Wednesday night. It is the last visit of the year for the Nationals in Philadelphia. Citizens Bank Park opened in 2004.
Washington has won four of the last six games against the Phillies, including two of three in Philadelphia late last month.
Washington is already slated to host the Cubs on Thursday at 4:05 p.m. to make up the rainout from Sunday at Nationals Park. Of course, rain from Hurricane Florence is slated to reach D.C. Thursday afternoon, according to some models.
Nats radio broadcaster Dave Jageler tweeted out Monday that in the past 72 hours the Nats had been involved in 10 hours, 58 minutes of rain delays while playing six hours, 23 minutes of baseball.
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