Major League Baseball has definitely had some awe inspiring history made this 2014 season; Josh Beckett completes his first no-hitter on May 25th, 2014, his fellow ace teammate, Clayton Kershaw dominates his first ever no-hitter on June 18th, 2014 closely following suit. Then there’s Tim Lincecum, completing his second no-hitter for the second straight year in a row against the exact same team, the San Diego Padres. Yes, 2014 has brought us many triumphant memories this season and also one odd yet huge history making “tarp” situation victory. The series opener between the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants came to a halt on August 19th, 2014 due to a rain storm at the bottom of the 5th inning with the Cubbies leading the Giants 2-0. Everyone either in the dugout or in their seats were waiting patiently for the game to resume, after all, the storm only lasted for 15 minutes. 4 hours and 34 minutes later, the game was called and the lovable losers were awarded the 2-0 victory against the post season hopefuls, the San Francisco Giants. The 4 and 1/2 inning game met regulation rules you say? What’s done is done? Nope, not in San Francisco Giants manager, Bruce Bochy’s eyes.
There seems to be a little bit of a loophole when it comes to calling games after a freak act of mother nature; no better place to have it than Chicago. According to the MLB rule 4.12 (a) (3), which states a game can be suspended due to a “malfunction of a mechanical field device under control of the home club.” MLB determined that the Chicago Cubs equipment did indeed malfunction and ultimately granted the Giants the appeal. The first appeal since 1986 to be upheld by MLB. Whether you’re a fan of the Giants or just a fan of baseball and major league sports altogether, this felt like a win to everyone. Some incompetence was had during the attempt to cover Wrigley field with a tarp and it was good to know that the Giants weren’t going to sit back and take that loss and it was even better knowing that MLB wasn’t having it either.
This whole tarp fiasco and the appeal being upheld by Major League Baseball felt like something out of the movies for the San Francisco Giants, but they couldn’t get that same victory in that series opener. Joe Panik singles to right and Adam Duvall scored, but that wasn’t enough to make that MLB appeal worth it. The Giants lost 2-1, some say it wasn’t worth it to appeal that called game because they lost anyway. The Giants may have not won the series opener, but they sure did win the respect of the non Giants fans. The Giants management put themselves on the line in hopes to get a chance to finish the game that should have resumed no later than an hour after the rain storm. Yes, the Giants lost to the Cubs on this semi double header game, but at least they got the opportunity to win that game. As a lover of everything baseball, that’s all you could really ask for.
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