Dodgers-Orioles delayed by rain, on a sunny day in Baltimore

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but a Dodgers road game has been delayed by rain again. Except this time, it’s not actually raining in Baltimore. But the start of Wednesday’s series finale against the Orioles won’t start on time, because of poor planning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

At issue was the grounds crew not putting a tarp on the infield after Tuesday night’s game, so the field was hit by overnight rain. So, despite a sunny Wednesday afternoon in Baltimore, the 10:05 a.m. PT start time is no more.

In a way, this is pretty hilarious. But after so many recent weather delays in Dodgers road games, a simple rain delay is too mundane. So kudos to the Orioles for at least getting creative.

The Durham Bulls ever so cleverly referenced a classic scene from the movie ostensibly about them, ‘Bull Durham,’ in which the team manufactures a rainout.

If you haven’t been keeping track, the Dodgers have now had the start of a game delayed by weather (whether directly or indirectly; thank you Baltimore for this now-necessary disclaimer!) five times in their last 10 road games:

• June 29 in Denver: one hour, 50 minutes (hailstorm)
• July 1 in Kansas City: one hour, 25 minutes (rain)
• July 15 in New York: 46 minutes (rain)
• July 16 in New York: start time rescheduled three hours, 50 minutes later (rain)
• July 19 in Baltimore: TBD (poor planning)

Given the sunny weather at Camden Yards, there doesn’t appear to be any threat that Wednesday’s game won’t be played. And the Dodgers are off Thursday before one more stop on their road trip, this weekend in Arlington, Texas at Globe Life Field which, mercifully, has a dome. There goes the streak.

But this is more an annoyance than anything.

Looks like 10:45 a.m. PT is the planned start time, which would be a 40-minute delay.

Now we wait.