ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — After 20 years and 1,609 consecutive home games, the Los Angeles Angels finally lost another game to rain.
Heavy downpours turned Angel Stadium’s outfield into virtual marshlands Sunday night, forcing the postponement of their game against the Boston Red Sox. Los Angeles will host its first doubleheader since 2003 on Monday.
The Big A’s grounds crew and drainage system couldn’t protect the grass from the remnants of Tropical Storm Dolores, which fell steadily all evening and caused a 2 1/2-hour delay before the postponement. Using brooms and rakes, the crew vainly attempted to push water around the outfield before the Angels finally called their first home rainout since June 16, 1995.
“Unfortunately, I guess you never really know how your drainage system works until you get enough water,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said after the first home rainout of his 16-year tenure in Anaheim. “There’s so much standing water in that outfield that just has nowhere to go. It’s going to be like that all night, probably be like that (Monday) morning. … The field was unplayable, with no way to remedy that.”
The Angels were rained out at home for just the 16th time in their 55-year franchise history. They hadn’t even had a rain delay in a stretch of 359 regular-season home games since April 24, 2011.
According to David Ortiz, the Red Sox are the reason for this unusually rainy season.
“We bring bad weather everywhere,” Big Papi said. “Everywhere we go, it rains. That’s us. It’s not California. It’s us. Seriously, wherever we go, we bring rain. Every series we go to, there’s some rain going on, so I’m not surprised about this.”
The rainout was the first in Anaheim since the California Angels and Chicago White Sox were washed out two decades ago. The Angels have lost just 11 games to rain since the club moved from Dodger Stadium to Orange County in 1966, including a preseason game in 1967.
What’s more, this was just the second summer rainout in the Angels’ 55 seasons. Fourteen of the previous 15 rainouts happened in April or September.
San Diego’s game against Colorado also was rained out in Southern California, which is normally drenched only in sun. The storm provided slight drought relief and caused minor inconveniences for Angels fans, who booed the postponement announcement even while rain steadily fell. Their tickets are still good for the early game Monday.
The Red Sox took it more sanguinely, since they’re more familiar with lengthy rain delays than the average Californian.
“Just looking at the outfield, it looks pretty bad,” Boston’s Dustin Pedroia said. “There’s a lot of good players in the outfield for both teams, so if something bad happens, it’s probably not smart. So it’s a good idea for them to do this.”
Both teams will stick with their scheduled starting rotation in the doubleheader, sending out scheduled Sunday starters Hector Santiago and Eduardo Rodriguez for the early game. Both clubs are allowed to add an extra player for the second game, but hadn’t made a transaction before they left the park.
The rainout interrupted the momentum gathered by the Angels, who shut out the Red Sox in the first two games of their first series out of the All-Star break. Los Angeles has won 13 of 16 overall, pushing past Houston to take a one-game lead in the AL West.
The Angels beat Boston 1-0 on a walk-off homer by All-Star Game MVP Mike Trout on Friday, and Garrett Richards pitched a two-hitter backed by two homers from Kole Calhoun in a 3-0 victory Saturday night.
