BALTIMORE _ The Yankees got some quick relief from their seemingly never-ending spate of bad weather days Sunday when their game against the Orioles was postponed 2 { hours before it was set to start.
Instead of waiting around all day in rainy Charm City before Monday's day-night doubleheader in Detroit, the Yankees found out around 10:30 a.m. that they were free to go. So the players and staff headed to the Motor City knowing they had a lot of baseball left to play in Baltimore later this summer.
Sunday's washout will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader Aug. 25. Thursday's would-be series opener was also rained out and rescheduled as part of a single-admission doubleheader July 9.
The Yankees, who have won four in a row, have had eight games postponed this season and one (against Washington) suspended because of weather. That game will be completed in Washington on June 18 and then another rained out game will follow, so that's sort of a half doubleheader.
"I think we handle it pretty well," manager Aaron Boone said. "You've just got to try and appreciate a little bit of a day off now and recharge the battery a little bit. Obviously, these games are building up, but it's also something we understand is out of our control ... I've never looked at weather reports and radar so much in my life. I'm not getting any better at reading them, either."
While realizing there's nothing he can do about the weather, Boone continued Sunday to rail against another all-powerful force: his old employers at ESPN.
Boone, who came to the Yankees directly from ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" booth, complained for the second straight day about the Yankees having to play a Sunday night game in Toronto on July 8 before they have to fly to Baltimore and play a doubleheader at 4 p.m. the next day.
The Yankees found out Friday they had been selected by ESPN for the July 8 Sunday night slot. They didn't jump for joy.
"I haven't heard anything, but hopefully it's still happening behind the scenes a little bit," Boone said of changing the schedule. "Hopefully, there's some pressure being applied because it's just not good for the product on the field and the safety of our guys to be having to go night game, flight, into a doubleheader. That's ridiculous and anyone that would argue with that is, I think, not being truthful."
When it was suggested that the schedule was "locked in," Boone said: "Then unlock it."
A spokesman for Major League Baseball did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the situation.
Sunday's rainout did allow Boone to set his starters for Monday's games. Luis Severino will start Game 1 and Domingo German will pitch the nightcap. The Yankees would have added a starter from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for Monday's second game if German had pitched Sunday as scheduled.
CC Sabathia and Sonny Gray will start Tuesday and Wednesday in Toronto, respectively. The Yankees are off Thursday before beginning a three-game Subway Series at Citi Field on Friday.
The Yankees can add a 26th man for Monday's games. Reliever Adam Warren is with the team and is eligible to be activated from the disabled list, but Boone said the team had not decided on its move for Monday yet.
One piece of good news for the Yankees is that Boone said Gleyber Torres would have been in the lineup had a game been played Sunday. Torres was hit in the wrist by a pitch Saturday, but stayed in the game.
