Skies not so friendly at the Confines

The Houston Astros were thankful for two things Monday night.

First, for beating the Cubs 2-0 on one of the most bizarre nights in recent Wrigley Field memory. And secondly, that none of them were killed when umpires allowed the game to proceed in the eighth inning despite dangerous lightning strikes all around the area.

The umpires didn't wave the Astros off the field in the bottom of the eighth until a violent bolt struck nearby, sending first baseman Lance Berkman sprinting to the dugout.

The game was eventualy called with one out in the last of the eighth.

"If they had continued the game I wouldn't have gone back out there, at least not right away," Berkman said. "I've never played a game before where I was fearful of my life.

"Growing up in Texas you see those kind of storms all the time and you learn that lightning is nothing to fool around with. I'll stand out there in a rain storm all day long, but if it's thundering and lightning in that kind of proximity it's definitely a hazard. You got to get the fans out of there."

Astros left fielder Carlos Lee, who struck out to end the top of the eighth with bright lightning flashing, waved his arms to the umpires that he didn't want to go back on the field.

"Somebody could have been hurt," Lee said. "That last lightning was real close. When I was hitting and saw that lightning I said, 'I'm done.' I couldn't concentrate. It was crazy."

The danger first started in the sixth inning with lightning in the pitch black sky beyond the left-field bleachers.

Then a heavy rain began, halting the game for the first time just as Ryan Dempster was about to throw his first pitch to start the sixth.

But the worst was still to come.

Moments after an announcement was made to the crowd over the public-address system that severe weather was in the area and asking fans to take cover on the concourse, the tornado sirens went off from the fire station across Waveland Avenue.

The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for downtown Chicago and what followed was one of the most intense storms anyone could remember striking the 93-year-old ballpark, at least with a game in progress.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Cubs broadcaster Ron Santo, who has been with the team more than 30 years. "I never heard the sirens go off."

The view from the press box was a virtual whiteout of swirling rain that fell so quickly, the Astros on-deck circle began floating toward right field.

Even before the storm hit, the flags atop the scoreboard in center field and those on the foul poles were taken down in anticipation of the strong winds.

The rain delay began at 7:39 p.m., and, 2 hours and 45 minutes later, the game resumed with about 5,000 fans in the ballpark from the 40,867 who had been on hand for the start.

The second major storm with the dangerous lightning hit in the eighth inning.

"It was a little scary," Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. "Even with the fans in the stand, that's a dangerous situation. I'm just glad we got through it. I've never experienced that before. We probably stayed out there an inning longer than we should have."