IS BUYING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIS
Goose Gossage understands one of life's great truths.
"Baseball's not meant to be played in cold weather," Goose said.
He spoke the words two years ago, as the Colorado Rockies prepared to play in a frigid postseason game at Coors Field, but his words always will remain true.
Baseball is designed for the warm, breezy nights of June, July and August. It's the summer game. It's not designed for frosty nights in October.
Baseball's rulers postponed Saturday's Rockies-Phillies game, and that was the right move. If played, the game might have included mass frostbite on the field.
The season should be over. It drags too long. It's silly to watch players try to execute with icy-cold hands.
Gossage, the former New York Yankees star, understands the challenge of trying to execute with numb fingers.
"It's a very delicate game," Gossage said. "You need your hands and when your hands are frozen . . ."
The Hall-of-Fame reliever paused.
"Man, it's tough. You have no feel for hitting, fielding or throwing."
He's right, of course. When fans watch baseball on extremely cold nights, they watch a flawed version of the game.
And it will only get worse.
If the Rockies continue their run - and there's no good reason to believe they won't - schedule-makers may have to dodge a blizzard.
It wasn't always this way. In 1954, Willie Mays and the Giants, then based in New York, defeated the Cleveland Indians in the World Series. Mays and his teammates danced on the field as champs on Oct. 2.
In 1978, when Gossage helped pitch the New York Yankees to the crown, the season ended Oct. 17.
Ah, the days of old. Slowly, teams multiplied and so did playoff series and soon the summer game was often played in winter conditions.
Want to hear something ridiculous?
Game 7 of the World Series is scheduled for Nov. 5.
Playing baseball games this late in the year leads to bizarre scenes. On Oct. 14, 2007, the Rockies played the Arizona Diamondbacks on a freezing, slushy night at Coors.
It was viciously cold, and it rained all night, which left me feeling guilty in the dry warmth of the press box. Players on the field looked miserable. Fans didn't look happy, either.
I'm still waiting for a supporter of cold-weather baseball to step forward. It's one of the few things in life everyone agrees on. It's awful, and it's not going away.
After Game 2 on Thursday, a Philadelphia reporter asked Rockies second baseman Clint Barmes about playing in the cold.
"Will it help you?" the reporter asked. "It's your weather."
Barmes grimaced and then laughed.
"Don't think it's our weather," he said.
"Nobody likes playing in the cold."
Photos: 2009 Phillies 
