A daylong rainfall had seemed certain to wash out Tuesday`s Oakland game. At about 3 p.m., GM Larry Himes donned wading boots and walked the outfield with head groundskeeper Roger Bossard. That began a parade of excursions, including one by Oakland GM Sandy Alderson and manager Tony LaRussa and another by Ivan Calderon. Calderon didn`t need wading boots. He slogged out to his position wearing shower slippers. ”I would rather not play. Somebody could get hurt. I`d rather play a double-header tomorrow.”
The view was the same in the Oakland clubhouse, where Dave Henderson was on crutches. He suffered the injury sliding for a ball in center field Monday night, and he said Tuesday the wet field ”didn`t help” with his injury.
”It was playable last night, but it rained last night and today, and it`s not playable,” he said. ”I`m going to wait and see if they call it. Or are there too many people out there (in the stands) to call it? Maybe they`ll wait until they run out of players to call it.”
But Bossard`s crew removed enough water from the outfield to convince the umpires that the conditions were safe.
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Misstep: Robin Ventura was sidelined Tuesday night with an ankle sprain that might have been caused by the wet conditions Monday night. He sprained it faking a break from third base. ”It was the stupidest play I`ve ever done. I just tried to bluff the throw, and I hit a soft spot and it turned over. It really doesn`t feel very good.”