A shortwave trough (upper level disturbance) is moving into the northeast, causing increasing clouds from late afternoon into evening. That will help keep temperatures from falling quickly after sunset. Problem is they only get into the low 50s for highs today, so game temps should be in the upper 40s. Wind should be very light, from the S (right to left on the field) at only 2-4 mph, probably totally irrelevant to game play. There is an increasing chance of rain with time, but nothing is expected to reach NYC until well after the game is over (2,3,4 in the morning).
If the Phils stay alive for Thursday - that upper level disturbance is going to create a surface low of the coast that should intensify rapidly. Its close enough to the coast that rain is likely all day, but far enough off that it should be more of a steady drizzle/light showers than steady pounding rain. Combine those showers with temperatures in the mid-40s AND a 20-25 mph win from the northwest (out to right field, the famous “wind tunnel”), playing conditions will be totally miserable. I don’t think the rain by itself would be enough to call the game, but I would hope that the combination would. If they do play in that weather, look for New York hospitals to be flooded with upper respiratory cases by Sunday-Monday. Those of you that don’t live along the east coast don’t appreciate the how pernicious these cold damp events feel, the way the humidity helps the cold penetrate into you and take your immune system apart like a sand castle at high tide. I’d rather be out in 20 degree snow than this.
Assuming they do the right thing and delay to Friday - Clear weather, but a little bit colder still. Game time temps in the 40-43 range, and the wind will still be noticeable at 10-15, still blowing out to right, but that’s roughly half of what Thursday night’s wind is liable to be. That will produce wind chills in the 30-35 range, but it will still be better than Thursday by a mile.
Clay: During the regular season, the Yankees would have a lot of say in canceling the game, or not, beforehand.
In this case, one would think that if they lose Game 6, they really don't want to postpone Game 7 for starting pitching reasons. Will they have any say in the matter?
If there is a game 7 and it is delayed until Friday, the Phillies should bring back Cliff Lee on 3 days rest. It would be against CC on full rest, but I think at this point Lee on short rest is a better option than Hamels on full rest.
Agreed. And so is Cliff Lee, and they're both way better than the other 10 guys on the staff. Given that opportunity, the Phillies should tag team them to pitch the nine innings together.
You know what I meant. I'm sure Hamels didn't have a ninety mile per hour fastball as a nine year old. I meant Hamels 07-09 and Lee 08-09 are the same pitchers in their respective eras.
I knew what you meant and I wasn't meaning to criticize. Nor was I meaning to overexaggerate by saying Hamels had a 90 mph as a nine year old since I was only looking at the 2006-2009 period. I am saying that Lee was successful, then he wasn't, then he not only reclaimed success but got even better.
We still have no clue why pitchers are successful. We talk about K/9, yet there are pitchers with high K/9 that aren't successful and those with low K/9 that are. Surely not every element of a pitcher's success comes down to luck, regression to the mean, etc.
So, what is it that makes a pitcher successful? If we take a case of a pitcher whose performance varied wildly, like Lee, we can use him as a bit of a control because his physical attributes are basically the same, his ballpark was mostly the same, and his teammates were similar.
Can we learn anything instructive about Lee, whether its his velocity, movement, handedness, the distance that he is from the plate when he releases the ball, or whatever that gives us insight on what makes a pitcher successful and how we can apply that to other pitchers?
When I saw the schedule for this year, I hoped Colorado would make the world series so the November weather in Denver would teach everyone a lesson (more than just postponing games, it could close the airport).
I don't really expect MLB to learn anything from rain and wind.
I had less lofty goals. I just wanted Colorado to meet the Cubs in the NLCS so I wouldn't have to fly to Chicago to see a Cubs playoff game.
Of course, if these late October World Series games keep up, I can see the World Series being sponsored in a neutral domed venue kind of like the Super Bowl.
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If there is a game 7, maybe they can play a few innings and then suspend it. It worked so well last year.