Weather Wreaks Havoc for White Sox

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Apr 5, 2007 12:43PM

Baseball in Chicago in early April can certainly be a chilling experience. Chicagoist remembers — all too well — playing Little League games in arctic temps, with the moms in attendance taking turns running to the closest fast-food outlets to bring back hot chocolate.

But it's not just Little Leaguers who have to deal with the joys of early spring in Chicago. The weather caused problems on Wednesday for the White Sox, too.

The high winds that plagued Chicago overnight Tuesday into Wednesday caused a wind barrier to break loose at U.S. Cellular Field. Because of the high winds, a weld broke, and the police had to close a three-block section of 35th Street in case the barrier broke off entirely. Crews had to scramble to re-weld the runaway barrier before fans began arriving for Wednesday afternoon's game.

Not that too many fans actually showed up to the game, in large part because of the brutal weather — 28 degrees and 30 mph wind gusts. And flurries. While MLB probably would have cancelled the game, the forecast isn't much better for the rest of the week, so they decided to make 'em play. We'd be willing to bet that it was one of the first times that hot chocolate outsold beer at The Cell during a game!

Unfortunately, the cold seemed to cool off the Sox more than the Indians, who beat the Sox 8-7, to take the second game in the series. Not exactly the low-scoring, pitching-dominated affair that is usually associated with cold-weather games.

The forecast doesn't look too much better for Today's game ... will they finally get their cold-weather pitchers' dual as Mark Buehrle takes the mound for the first time?

Image via AP Photo/Brian Kersey.