Tuesday's Yankees-Phillies game postponed ahead of storm, doubleheader set for Wednesday in Philadelphia
A general view of the field during a game between the Miami Marlins and the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on July 25, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 2020 season had been postponed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Getty Images/Hunter Martin
The four games between the Yankees and Phillies originally scheduled for last week weren’t able to go off without a hitch.
In fact, because of the explosion of COVID-19 cases on the Marlins and the ensuing fallout, none of those games got in and were rescheduled for this week.
It appears those games will get in, but the clubs will have to remain flexible. That’s the case, it’s already become clear, for everyone involved in trying to put on this 60-game regular season.
But this time, the weather and not a virus is presenting an obstacle.
Speaking about 3 ½ hours before Monday night’s game, manager Aaron Boone said there had been behind-the-scenes discussions about the Yankees and Phillies perhaps playing a doubleheader Wednesday or Thursday in Philadelphia because of the stormy weather forecast for the metropolitan area Tuesday night.
And indeed, word came a little over an hour later that Tuesday night’s game had been postponed and would be made up as part of a doubleheader Wednesday in Philadelphia. The first game will start at 4:05 p.m. The Yankees, who also have a doubleheader scheduled with the Rays in St. Petersburg, Florida, this weekend, will be the home team for one of the games.
“Hey, it’s 2020 playing in this environment,” Boone said. “We’ve got to be able to adapt to it. I feel like we’ll be able to. It obviously creates some challenges . . . but we feel like we have all the people in there to kind of get through it, and we’ll kind of embrace the challenge of it all.”
Challenging times
Through no fault of their own, Monday night marked the Phillies’ first game since July 26 against the Marlins.
“The hardest thing is trying to keep players sharp,” first-year manager Joe Girardi said. “And we’re really not going to know until we go through this. You want to kind of get back to some normality and normality in baseball is playing every day. This is an everyday sport, not once a week. If we were football, we’d be in good shape.”
Extra bases
Boone said closer Aroldis Chapman, who tested positive for COVID-19 a few days into camp but who was just cleared to rejoin the team, is working out at the club’s alternate site, which is in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Chapman played catch Monday and Boone said he’ll throw his first bullpen “Tuesday or Wednesday.” . . . Tyler Wade started for Gleyber Torres at shortstop Monday night but Boone said it was a scheduled off day for the latter.
