April showers bring May arthritis

The Giants and Pirates will play two tomorrow, in theory, with Zito and Cain throwing for SF. The forecast looks worse for tomorrow though so the games stand a snowball's chance in Pittsburgh of happening. According to sfgiants.com, they are going to have a hard time making up any games that will be postponed, in part because this is the only trip San Francisco makes to Pittsburgh. The story talks about an aspect of the Collective Bargaining Agreement that is new to me:

If either of Sunday's games is called off, the teams will struggle to squeeze in a makeup date, given scheduling constraints.

Both teams are off on April 23, but playing on that date would put the Giants in action for 28 (or 27, if they play one game Sunday) consecutive days, exceeding the limit set by the Basic Agreement. July 12 is another common day off, but that's a bonus day during the All-Star break.

Playing on July 30 or Aug. 13, two other shared off-days, would force the Giants to play 31 and 30 days in a row, respectively. A Sept. 13 makeup date would thrust a 27-game-in-a-row stretch upon Pittsburgh.