welp, just got home....and found this.....
looks like the brew crew get a reprieve: DAMMIT.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates certainly didn't want to do this: call off a game against the Milwaukee Brewers.
A persistent rain and a wind-chill factor that was expected to drop into the 20s by game time caused the Pirates to postpone their home opener until Tuesday night. Game time will again be 6:05 p.m. EDT, one hour earlier that most Pirates' night games at home.
The starting pitchers remain the same, with Brewers left-hander Glendon Rusch (0-1) opposing Kip Wells (0-0). The right-handed Wells was 3-1 with a 3.13 ERA against Milwaukee last season.
The Pirates thus started their 2003 home schedule the way they ended last season's. Rain wiped out their final home game against the Mets and it was not rescheduled, causing them to play a 161-game season.
The Pirates had only two rainouts at home last season, against the Mets on Sept. 26 and an April 27 game against San Diego that was made up the following day with a doubleheader.
For the Brewers, the rainout might have been the best thing to happen to them this season. They are 0-6 for the first time in franchise history and now must play three games in PNC Park, where they seldom win.
Not exactly the way a team coming off a 106-loss season wants to start a new season.
The Pirates were 72-89 last season, but they were 15-4 against the Brewers -- the same record they have at home against Milwaukee in their first two seasons at PNC Park.
Manager Lloyd McClendon no doubt preferred to see the Pirates keep playing, especially with them coming off a 5-1 road trip to Cincinnati and Philadelphia. But the Pirates already have participated in two home openers, so delaying their own home debut shouldn't be much of a problem.
The three-game series now will run Tuesday through Thursday, as do most such series during the season.
``It's always good to get off to a good start,'' McClendon said. ``It was a tremendous road trip for us. I don't expect us to win five of every six games. But I certainly think we're the type of club that's going to be very competitive. We have the talent that gives us the opportunity to win our share of games.''
The postponement also delayed the ceremony honoring Ralph Kiner, the Pirates Hall of Fame outfielder and Mets broadcaster. A bronze sculpture of Kiner's hands holding a bat will be placed near PNC Park's left field rotunda. Kiner will also throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Kiner won or shared the NL home run title in each of his first seven Pirates seasons from 1946-52, still an NL record. He had power at the turnstiles, too, as he helped the Pirates to their five largest season attendance totals in the franchise's first 65 seasons.
Kiner is the only player in Pirates history to hit more than 50 homers in a season, doing it twice with 51 homers in 1947 and 54 in 1949.
Tuesday's forecast calls for temperatures holding in the 40s, but little chance of rain.
