» Phils and Red Sox Rained Out: Welcome to Old Time Baseball “Rainout Theatre”

Phils and Red Sox Rained Out: Welcome to Old Time Baseball “Rainout Theatre”

On Sunday, rain washed out the Phillies, Boston game. There is still a game to play in this series on Monday, weather permitting.

But, back in the old days, when a TV game was rained out, the slot was filled by “Rainout Theatre” where old movies were shown or a game from earlier in the season or from a previous year was rerun. I remember once watching Rick Wise’s no-hitter on “Rainout Theatre.”

But today, we’ve got a pretty unique piece of baseball action to show from a recent game. To view the footage, click here.

On Thursday, June 22, 2006 with the Florida Marlins and Baltimore Orioles tied up at 5 a piece and with Florida batting in the top of the 10th inning against Todd Williams (2-3) with a runner on 2nd base and one out. It was decided to intentionally walk 3rd baseman Miguel Cabrera (10 HRs, 47 RBIs, .340 BA). However, Williams floated the pitch much closer to the plate than Cabrera expected, but he alertly laced the floater into centerfield for a base hit driving in shortstop Hanley Ramirez (3 HRs) with the go-ahead run. Florida went on to win the game by an 8-5 score with Williams being nailed with the loss.

Kevin Saucier

Got a laugh out of the Cabrera play. It’s one of the few rare swings at an intentional walk pitch that I have seen since I saw an opponent (don’t remember who) do the same to pitcher Kevin Saucier sometime between 1978-80 when he played for the Phillies. See, Saucier had this weird, unorthodox delivery which for the life of me I can’t describe. And he had a real problem with intentional walks, often throwing wild pitches beyond the reach of the catcher or uncorking a big fat one right over the meat of the plate on an intentional walk pitch. Saucier was one of the more colorful characters in red and white pinstripes in the pre-wild thing era.

The pitchers have been announced for today’s Phillies, Red Sox game, weather-permitting. The match-up between Cory Lidle (4-6) and Tim Wakefield (5-8) scheduled for Sunday night, will go today.