Don't tell me not to live or that it will rain on Dodgers' home opener
As Barbra Streisand sang, it’s not nice to rain on parades or home openers. It was the deleted lyric.
Rainouts and Dodger Stadium have enjoyed a remarkably infrequent relationship. Showers at Dodger Stadium were essentially banned by the baseball gods when Walter O’Malley placed that first shovel into Chavez Ravine.
It was less a deal with the devil than excellent geography.
Monday’s rain, however, may have given some concern that Tuesday’s home opener could be some kind of historic rainout.
Two notes on that one: 1) It’s not scheduled to rain Tuesday; and 2) There’s already been a home opener rained out at Dodger Stadium.
It’s true, it happened April 12, 1976, against the Padres.
There have only been 17 rainouts in Dodger Stadium history (nine coming in April). Not that it means anything, but that 1976 Dodgers team won 92 games -- and finished 10 back of the Reds.
The Dodgers have played 807 consecutive games since their last rainout at Dodger Stadium. They’ve also played two consecutive games without blowing a lead, but that’s another story.
-- Steve Dilbeck
Rainouts and Dodger Stadium have enjoyed a remarkably infrequent relationship. Showers at Dodger Stadium were essentially banned by the baseball gods when Walter O’Malley placed that first shovel into Chavez Ravine.
It was less a deal with the devil than excellent geography.
Monday’s rain, however, may have given some concern that Tuesday’s home opener could be some kind of historic rainout.
Two notes on that one: 1) It’s not scheduled to rain Tuesday; and 2) There’s already been a home opener rained out at Dodger Stadium.
It’s true, it happened April 12, 1976, against the Padres.
There have only been 17 rainouts in Dodger Stadium history (nine coming in April). Not that it means anything, but that 1976 Dodgers team won 92 games -- and finished 10 back of the Reds.
The Dodgers have played 807 consecutive games since their last rainout at Dodger Stadium. They’ve also played two consecutive games without blowing a lead, but that’s another story.
-- Steve Dilbeck
Could someone at the Los Angeles Times do a little fact checking before printing stuff like this? I was at the game you were mentioning, and it wasn't Opening Day. It was on a Sunday, April 11, and Opening Day was six days earlier.
Posted by: Jeff Turkell | 04/13/2010 at 08:50 AM
Never mind.
Posted by: Jeff Turkell | 04/13/2010 at 08:54 AM
Jeff: As apparently youve discovered, I did check with the Dodgers PR department to make sure that was an opening day. Thanks for reading.
Posted by: Steve Dilbeck | 04/13/2010 at 08:56 AM
I wonder how Dodger games have been played in Los Angeles. I was reading the San Diego Union-Tribune, since the Padres were incepted into the Major Leagues back in 1969, there have been 3,316 games played in San Diego, and out of those 16 have been rained out. With that said, the probability of getting rained out in San Diego is a 0.005% chance.
Posted by: Tom Wellman | 04/13/2010 at 09:26 AM