No One Really Knows If The Angels-Yankees Game Will Be Played Tonight Or Not

With a little more than two hours remaining before the scheduled first pitch, we're not sure if Game 2 of the ALCS between the Yankees and Angels will be played or not.

Although according to The New York Times baseball blog Bats, the game is still on.

As of 2:45 P.M., Major League Baseball said it was still hopeful of starting tonight's Yankees-Angels game on time. Although rain is in the forecast for Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, Pat Courtney, a spokesman for baseball, said the latest forecasts showed that the rain would be light. Of course, that forecast could change.

Given that 2:45 ET was some time ago and being the intrepid reporter that I am (Gary Gnu was my childhood hero), I went and checked out the current forecast on TheWeatherChannel.com, and its battalion of meteorologists have this as the current forecast for the evening:

Rain likely. Low 42F. Winds NNE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch.

90% chance of rain? Yowsers. So that means it is as likely it will rain tonight in the Bronx as it is this Crystal Skull-shaped bottle of vodka will be finished before I'm done writing today. Interesting.

One person who doesn't want to hear about the inclement weather is Times' columnist William C. Rhoden. And he believes that the weather isn't the only problem.

Major League Baseball faces two fundamental problems: weather and umpire accountability.

The weather is just part of the game, but umpiring has become an increasingly disturbing part of the game.

...

Welcome to winter ball in the fall, a result of too many days off in the postseason and the power of the networks, which have devised a schedule that will have major leaguers playing baseball in November.

But baseball's larger problem is the umpires. Their performance may be the same as it has always been, but the scrutiny is much greater.

Of course Rhoden isn't as worried about the weather as he is the umpiring. It's not like he's going to be at Yankee Stadium for the game. Rhoden and his wife already have movie tickets to go see Where The Wild Things Are tonight.

But don't worry. He'll still write a semi-competent column about the game anyway.

The Game Is On, for Now [Bats] Weather May Affect Game, but Bad Calls Shouldn't [The New York Times] (previously on Deadspin) William Rhoden's Wimbledon Coverage Didn't Garner Him Any New Fans