“There was nothing we were told or saw on the radar that suggested that we were going to be playing in any type of good conditions,’’ Mike Lowell said. “I think a lot of guys are [expletive] pissed right now, just from my experience with the Marlins and hurricanes, there’s open communication between both teams and the players’ union and all that, you can make exceptions for anything, but I’m just saying that what we saw on the radar was 100 percent chance of rain basically from 7:30 on.
“I’m frustrated and I think a lot of guys are frustrated.’’
While rain came down heavily before the game, it lightened enough that the tarp was removed about 40 minutes before the first pitch. But even that was delayed five minutes, until 7:15 p.m., because Lester wasn’t warmed up enough. The rain slackened, yielding to light drizzle for the duration of the five-plus innings. Then it started to pour again and, at 8:59, third base umpire and crew chief Jerry Crawford motioned that the game was being delayed. It never got started again.
“I think we were hoping there was a lot of hope,’’ manager Terry Francona said. “Obviously, from where we’re sitting, we want to stay and play until whenever. We’re the home team, we’re not traveling. There’s a lot of reasons we want to play.’’
Francona said Crawford came over at approximately 10:30 p.m., and said the forecast wasn’t looking good. Crawford said he would call back at about 11:15.
“We got the call,’’ Francona said. “I don’t know if at that point, if you beg, does it help? Obviously, we would have liked to have stayed because we were losing.’’
That frustration had built since the Sox were unable to make anything of Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco, who came into the game with a 7.62 ERA.
