PHILADELPHIA _ The Phillies will have to get hot in the final two weeks of the season if they are to chase down first-place Atlanta. But that's not why five blowtorches flamed the infield dirt on Monday afternoon.
The team's series opener against Nationals was postponed Monday after the Citizens Bank Park grounds crew was unable to dry the infield even with the help of blow torches. The teams will play a traditional doubleheader on Tuesday with the first game beginning at 3:05 p.m.
The field was soaked on Friday after the field was left uncovered during a rain storm that was heavier than expected. The game seemed to be in jeopardy after grounds crew rolled off the tarp Monday afternoon to find a soaked infield. That led them to try "something creative," said Howard Smith, the Phillies vice president of business affairs.
The team rented blowtorches to dry the infield. Smith and Phillies manager Gabe Kapler expect Monday night's game to be played. The torches were attached to gas tanks which sat in wheelbarrows. A grounds crew member rolled the wheelbarrow as another shot the flames, drying off the infield sections as they slowly moved from baseline to baseline.
"Basically, we're drying out the top layer of moisture to sort of turn the field over and roll the field," Smith said as the torches flamed behind him. "It's actually working."
The infield was soaked after the grounds crew did not tarp the field on Friday while the team was on the road. The Phillies expected a small amount of rain, Smith said. The ballpark instead received more than anticipated. The team tarped the field Saturday but a steady rain for the rest of the weekend never allowed the dirt to dry.
"The field's not always tarped. The field wasn't tarped on Friday night because we were supposed to get a small amount of rain," Smith said. "If you tarp the field 24 hours a day, the field will turn brown and it will die. It's an on and off situation. We didn't tarp it Friday night. In retrospect, had I known it was going to be this much rain, we would've tarped it. But we didn't. The damage was done and we're just playing catch up."
