Rain disappoints White Sox fans

Back in 1981, when Ozzie Guillen was in his first year as a professional baseball player with Bradenton (Fla.) in the Gulf Coast League, inclement weather forced his team to play three games in one day.

If the rain keeps falling on the South Side this weekend, the White Sox might want to consider playing a tripleheader.

That's not going to happen, but the Sox have to be feeling like a fish out of water after Friday night's game against the Detroit Tigers was rained out.

The White Sox and Tigers are scheduled to play a doubleheader Saturday at U.S. Cellular Field, but more heavy rain is in the forecast, and Sunday's not looking much better.

"I heard it's supposed to rain in New York on Monday, too," right fielder Jermaine Dye said.

The White Sox are scheduled to open a four-game series at Yankee Stadium on Monday.

With just over two weeks to go in the regular season, the Sox are probably going to have to scramble to play out the schedule.

"It's unfortunate, but you can't play when it's raining," Jim Thome said. "It is what it is. It's kind of the wrong time of the year with all of the pennant races going on, but you can't do anything about it."

With an obvious eye on today's gloomy forecast, the White Sox and Tigers initially planned on playing Friday's game in a light rain.

But when the tarp came off before game time, the rain intensity picked up and the game was called off.

"Over the course of the season, you have freaky things happen," Dye said. "You have to make the best of it. We're in a tough stretch right now, but we can just use this time to get some rest and be ready when the weather clears up."

The Sox' game against the Blue Jays on Monday was also rained out, and the two teams played a day-night doubleheader Tuesday.

"It's that time of the year when you have tornadoes and hurricanes and a lot of rain," Dye said. "You just have to prepare yourself mentally to get through it."

With any luck, maybe the Sox and Tigers can get at least one game in this weekend.

"You can't control Mother Nature," catcher Toby Hall said. "It's just one of those things where when they tell you to play, be ready to play. You never know, all of this rain might push the end of the regular season into October."

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