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Baseball officials got it right by upholding Giants' protest

After the San Francisco Giants endured a rain-shortened loss to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night, I had planned on writing column about how I was surprised the Giants didn't protest the “tarp gone wild” game.

Because the tarp had not been properly stored after its last use, the ground crew had trouble cover the field, making it a quagmire after a very heavy rainfall. The game was finally called at 1:15 a.m. after a 4½-hour rain delay .

As Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer explained, “We tried to wait as long as we possibly could because the Giants are in a pennant race, and because we felt an obligation to do that.”

Once the game was deemed an official win for the Cubs at 4½ innings with a score of 2-0, I wasn't surprised the Giants protested.

The game was slated to continue in the bottom of the fifth inning at 4 p.m., well before their scheduled 7 p.m. game on Thursday at Wrigley Field. Another two-hour rain delay, however, prevented any baseball from getting underway until 6 p.m. Thursday at Wrigley.

It was the right decision by major league baseball. If the game was against a team not in the mix, maybe it wouldn't have mattered as much, but the Giants are in the heat of a playoff run for the NL West division or a wild-card berth.

It's the first protest won in major league baseball since June 16, 1986, and baseball made the right call because if the Giants had missed the playoffs by one game, it wouldn't have been pretty.

Play ball!

Rose needs to come home:

Everyone is weighing in on Derrick Rose's latest travails for Team USA and questions are looming about his health.

Rose was scheduled to play on Wednesday in an exhibition game against the Dominican Republic at Madison Square Garden, but he sat out after missing practice during the week due to knee pain.

Was it a good idea for Rose to participate in the World Cup for Team USA?

I'll admit the world championships are important and playing for your country is relevant and patriotic, which I believe in completely, but shouldn't his first priority be to the Chicago Bulls?

I think Team USA should send Rose home and thank him for trying. The Derrick Rose brand should begin and end with the Chicago Bulls, and with the East there for the taking, why take a chance on an injury with the World Cup?

Are we possibly looking at a guy who came onto the scene, accomplished so much in so little time, and now is destined to be this Chicago generation's Gale Sayers?

I sure hope not.

Notes:

My condolences to the family of Dennis Zybora, longtime owner of Edison Park Inn on the northwest side of Chicago, where my Caucasian Man video was shot. Dennis was a great guy who really supported 16-inch softball and the neighborhood.

• It was good to have lunch with my buddy, Jerry Reinsdorf, at the Palace Grill on Madison.

• Follow me on Twitter@ north2north, and listen to Fox Sports Daybreak with Andy Furman and myself from 5-8 a.m. Monday through Friday on Fox Sports radio, and check me out on iHeart radio or Foxsportsradio.com.

• Mike North's column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.

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