Cross-country skiing, anyone? Game 3 of Phillies-Rockies postponed because of cold, snow

Rocky Mountain baseball: Game 3 in Denver off

DENVER — Colorado manager Jim Tracy suspected this might not be a night for baseball when even his dogs wanted to skip the morning walk.

Major League Baseball agreed with Tracy’s beagles.

Game 3 of the Phillies-Rockies playoff series Saturday night was postponed because of weather better suited for cross-country skiing.

The game will be played Sunday night, with Game 4 pushed back to Monday. Game 5, if necessary, will be played as scheduled Tuesday in Philadelphia, without a day off for travel.

“I think it’s a very wise decision,” Tracy told The Associated Press by phone. “You could have something happen in weather like this where you could lose a player for half a year in 2010. I don’t think that would be good for anybody.

“There’s no question about the type of play that you would see in this kind of weather vs. if you have better conditions that they’re calling for Sunday. To be cold and wet and rainy and sleety or snowy is completely different than cold and dry and clear.”

Surely any dog would know that. Well, at least Tracy’s.

“We got up to take the dogs for a walk and when two beagles don’t want to go outside, I don’t see how baseball players would see this as a real good day to be playing,” he said. “It was snowing and 18 degrees, not very conducive for baseball.”

The NL division series is tied at one game each. The Rockies will stick with right-handed starter Jason Hammel for Game 3 but they could move up ace Ubaldo Jimenez for Game 4, when the Phillies would likely counter with Game 1 winner Cliff Lee. The Phillies are still planning on sending right-hander Pedro Martinez to the mound Sunday.

While the Phillies holed up in their hotel with no plans of working out at the ballpark Saturday, the Rockies summoned their players for a 90-minute workout inside Coors Field.

“We’re going over at noon to do what we can indoors,” Tracy said. “We just want to keep ourselves on somewhat of a schedule.”

A cold front moved into Denver overnight, dropping temperatures into the teens with record lows for the date. Coors Field was covered with a thin layer of snow and ice Saturday morning and flurries were expected to continue through the night.

National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Thaler said the cold front packed more punch than expected and easily broke the record low for the date of 25 degrees set in 1905.

“It’s not going to get as warm as we thought. It got much colder than we anticipated,” Thaler said. “We crushed the record: 17 today, 7:22 this morning. Up in the foothills it’s even colder.”

The front will move out Saturday night and temperatures are expected to approach 50 on Sunday.

“It’s still not going to be a delightful time tomorrow night,” Thaler said. “Baseball is 70s and 80s and 90s weather. It’s not going to be that. By the end of the game, it might be sneaking into the mid- to upper 30s. You’re still going to want to bundle up, but it will be warmer than today.”

AP Sports Writer Pat Graham contributed to this story.