News
A's, Yankees rained out on Monday
Makeup game expected during July 24-26 series in BronxBy Mychael Urban / MLB.com
04/20/09 6:02 PM ET
NEW YORK -- A's slugger Jason Giambi's re-introduction to the fans of Gotham was put on hold by Mother Nature on Monday.The opener of a scheduled three-game series at the new Yankee Stadium was postponed late in the afternoon after hours of steady rainfall in the Bronx.
No makeup date was announced, but Brad Ziegler, Oakland's Players Association representative, said the game won't be made up this week. Instead, it will be tacked onto what was to be a three-game series here July 24-26.
The A's have a scheduled day off July 23, but Ziegler, who spent part of the day on the phone with the union, said it's unlikely that the team would agree to play on that date.
"If we played that day," Ziegler said, "it would mean we'd have to agree to play 28 games in 28 days. ... I don't see that happening."
Thus, Ziegler expects Monday's rainout to be made up as part of a doubleheader during the series in July. It's a Friday-through-Sunday set, so a day-night twin bill on Saturday seems likely; teams generally abhor playing two on getaway day, and the A's start a four-game series in Boston on July 27.
A's manager Bob Geren was not made available to the media at the stadium after the postponement was announced, but pitching coach Curt Young said lefties Dana Eveland and Brett Anderson, the scheduled starters Monday and Tuesday, will simply be pushed back to Tuesday and Wednesday.
Lefty Josh Outman, Oakland's No. 5 starter, was scheduled to pitch Wednesday's series finale, but Young suggested that the rotation might be juggled after the Yankees series, and Geren later confirmed as much by phone.
The A's have Thursday off, and they're expected to skip Outman's turn to keep the rest of the rotation on regular rest. That would put Trevor Cahill in line to work Friday's opener of a three-game home series against the reigning American League champion Tampa Bay Rays.
Geren also confirmed that infielder Nomar Garciaparra, who has been battling calf tightness and has played once since last Tuesday, would not have been in the starting lineup Monday.
"He was on the phone when I walked past him on the bus [back to the team hotel], but he kind of gave me a thumbs-up sign, so I guess he's feeling better," Geren said of Garciaparra.
Prior to removing himself from that Tuesday game, Garciaparra had been filling in for third baseman Eric Chavez, who returned to the lineup Sunday after missing six games with shoulder and neck stiffness. Chavez, Geren said, was set to start Monday.
In other medical news, there was no news regarding righty reliever Joey Devine, who is on the 60-day disabled list with elbow pain and last week submitted to a bone scan and a CT scan. Geren said head athletic trainer Steve Sayles hadn't heard anything about the results of Devine's tests.
Mychael Urban is a national writer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
