Arizona Diamondbacks are getting a chilly reception in Philly with the coolest weather in five months
Good pitching weather is expected with cooler temperatures than last week's and winds blowing in.
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The Arizona Diamondbacks will be in for quite a chilly reception on Monday and Tuesday nights when they play the Phillies in South Philly, and not just from the fans.
Temperatures during the games on both nights are likely to range from 52 to 56, with just an outside shot at a shower or drizzle on Monday, said Bob Larsen, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. and a longtime Phillies fan.
The weather should favor pitchers Zack Wheeler and Arizona’s Zac Gallen as the wind will be blowing in from center, and the game-time temperatures will be about 15 degrees lower than they were last week during the Phils’ home games against the Atlanta Braves in which the Phillies hit nine homers. Conditions will be similar Tuesday night.
The ball doesn’t carry as well in cool air. Physicist Alan Nathan, a University of Illinois professor emeritus, has estimated that every degree Fahrenheit on average means about a 4-inch difference in the flight of the ball; thus, 15 degrees would equate to about a 5-foot difference.
With a morning low deep into the 40s, Monday could well end up with the lowest daily average temperature since May 3. (Incidentally, the Phillies’ record fell to 15-17 that day with a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team the Diamondbacks vanquished in their division series.)
It will be overcast Monday, and a storm will be spinning off the coast, Larsen said, but the odds are way against any rain delays.
Said Matt Brudy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly, “All in all, it could be worse.”
In fact, it was on Saturday, as a run of rainy weekend days continued. Measurable rain has fallen on five of the last weekends. That isn’t all that unusual.
That has to do with the size of the wavelengths of weather systems that move across the planet, said Larsen.
“Often times, it’s a rhythm such that ... it lends itself to seven-day cycles, and you get caught in one of those weekend cycles.” That may well continue this weekend, he said.
No worries. The Phillies won’t be home this weekend. In fact, they have hosted no Saturday or Sunday postseason games this year and have yet to have even a rain scare.