Report: Giants Have Officially Filed Protest Following Tarp Chaos
(CBS) The Giants have officially filed a protest with Major League Baseball following last night's rain-shortened 2-0 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Tuesday, csnbayarea.com Andrew Baggarly reported.
The contest was called in the middle of the fifth inning at 1:16 a.m. after a 4-hour, 34-minute delay that followed a fierce 15-minute rainstorm earlier in the evening. The long delay was caused because the Cubs' ground crew failed (some would say comically) to unfurl the tarp and get it to cover the entire infield. The unexpected rainstorm took the umpires by surprise, and the rain accumulating on the tarp made it more difficult to manage.
While dozens of bags of Diamond Dry were used in an effort to make the field playable, it was still too much of a mess after four-plus hours.
That infuriated San Francisco, which is tie for the second wild-card spot. On Wednesday, they filed the proper paperwork with MLB to protest, contending that the Wrigley tarp is a "mechanical field device," which under MLB rules would allow for a suspended game, according to the Chicago Tribune. As it was decided early Wednesday morning, there was no provision in the MLB rulebook that would allow for a suspended game. It could be called because the trailing team had batted five times.
The argument seems to be a mighty stretch for the Giants, as the tarp must be manually moved and unrolled by a dozen or more grounds crew workers.
"I'm frustrated, beside myself," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's a long and frustrating night … a tough night for everybody."