Hurricane Irene Wreaks Havoc On Schedules; Jets, Giants, Yankees, Mets Games Postponed
NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) — As Hurricane Irene bears down on the Eastern seaboard, officials are scrambling to reschedule events.
That's right, Irene is already leaving her mark on sports even before coming ashore.
The Giants and Jets have postponed their preseason game from Saturday to Monday due to the threat of Hurricane Irene.
Giants president and CEO John Mara said Friday that moving the game two days later was the best course of action for the safety of all.
Hurricane Irene was on track to reach the New York area by Sunday.
New York City have already shut down the entire mass transit system by noon on Saturday.
The game had originally been scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, but had been moved up five hours on Thursday because of the Hurricane. It will now instead be played at 7 p.m. on Monday night.
Check MetLifeStadium.com for more details or follow the Giants or Jets on Twitter.
The Mets' games at Citi Field, first moved up to avoid Irene, have now been postponed. The games will be made up as part of a single-admission doubleheader on Sept. 8 starting at 4:10 p.m.
A split doubleheader Saturday between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles has been postponed because of the expected bad weather associated with Hurricane Irene and has now been moved to Sunday afternoon.
The game originally scheduled for Saturday night will become part of a split doubleheader on Sunday. The first game is slated to start at 1:35 p.m., and the nightcap is scheduled for 7:35 p.m.
New York and Baltimore will also play Monday night, a game already on the schedule.
More: Track Irene's Path | Hurricane Resources | Evac Zone Finder
The New Haven Open, the final WTA tuneup before next week's U.S. Open, moved its championship match at Yale to 1 p.m. from 5 p.m. Saturday to avoid the storm. Caroline Wozniacki was able to get her match in today as she won the New Haven championship over Petra Cetkovska. The match was completed in an hour and twenty minutes.
The U.S. Open also was working on contingency plans to try to avoid problems from the hurricane.
As it is, rain on Thursday forced postponement of play in the tournament's qualifying rounds, and action resumed at 10 a.m. Friday, an hour earlier than originally planned. The tournament then will try to have winners play a second match Friday in hopes of wrapping up the qualifying that day so as to avoid having to play Saturday. If the qualifying isn't completed before more rain arrives Saturday, matches could be moved offsite to an indoor facility.
The tournament will close its grounds starting tomorrow afternoon and stay closed through Aug. 28, the day before the event is to start, because of the threat posed by Hurricane Irene.
But the looming hurricane forced officials to cancel a popular tennis-and-music event on Saturday.
"In order to avoid any possible safety issues for our fans and patrons, many of whom would have been arriving on-site with young children, the USTA is cancelling Arthur Ashe Kids' Day," USTA officials announced on Friday. "This decision also follows discussions held between the USTA and New York City officials."
Knicks star Carmelo Anthony and actor Bradley Cooper were among the scheduled participants, along with top-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic and defending U.S. Open champion Rafael Nadal.
Check the US Open on Twitter for updates.
The New York Red Bulls had a Sunday home match against the Los Angeles Galaxy. That's been postponed and moved to Oct. 4 at 8:00 p.m.
With up to 10 inches of rain expected Sunday in the New York area, the PGA Tour decided to turn the Barclays into a 54-hole event, with the top 100 players advancing to the second playoff tournament next week in Boston. If conditions worsen before 54 holes are complete, the tournament could revert to 36 holes.
"It kind of makes you want to cry because of all the effort that went in, and all of the energy that surrounded this event going into the week, which is going to be the best Barclays we have ever had," tournament director Peter Mele said.
Meadowlands Racetrack will be closed Saturday and Sunday with no simulcasting, and Monmouth Park Racetrack has canceled its live racing cards and simulcasting for Saturday and Sunday.
The Trenton Thunder baseball team rescheduled its Saturday night and Sunday games as a doubleheader beginning at 12:05 p.m. Saturday. The Lakewood BlueClaws rescheduled their Saturday and Sunday games as part of doubleheaders to be played Monday and Tuesday evenings.
Are you changing your plans because of Hurricane Irene? Sound off in the comments below...
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