MIAMI
Inclement weather dampened Opening Day festivities between the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins Monday afternoon.
With one out in the bottom of the second inning, home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson halted play due to rain.
Marlins Park, which opened in 2012, has a retractable roof. As fans filed for cover, the roof began closing. The grounds crew brought out dirt for the infield and covered both home plate and the mound.
"The criteria for leaving it open is not having a rain delay," president David Samson said. "It's like No. 1 in the manual we wrote in 2012. No matter what happens don't have a rain delay. So I sort of skipped to part five, which is predict the weather at your own risk, and that's what happened."
The rain delay -- the first at the venue -- lasted 16 minutes. The ballpark has a no umbrella policy. It took the roof 13 minutes to close, one more than usual.
Samson said he ensured some fans got towels and the concessions stands served beer. According to Samson, it has rained during a game before, but never enough to warrant a delay.
When Samson alerted owner Jeffrey Loria of the upcoming delay as soon as he knew about it, Loria responded with "I thought we had a roof."
"I tried to predict that a cloud would go north and it went south on top of our ballpark, and the roof closed as quickly as I could get it closed short of me pushing it, so we had a 16-minute rain delay, which is the first ever in Marlins Park," Samson said. "All the fans got to enjoy a rain delay and I did not. I can only say that we made a memory and we always promise we're going to make memories. This was one for the books, that's for sure."
You can follow Christina De Nicola on Twitter @CDeNicola13 or email her at cdenicola13@gmail.com.
