Now THAT is what it sounded like on my radio, with the midges quite possibly giving Cleveland a run and affecting the outcome of the game.

Football has The Fog Bowl, what are we calling this Barry? The Jo-Bug Game?

They were "flying soldiers," a type of flying ant from Canada that descend on very warm days this time of year, attracted to light and warmth. The players on TBS were acquainted with them. Frank Thomas or the other player on TBS were saying, "Ain't no need to get the OFF - that don't do nothin to em. They ain't gonna bite. They just gonna lay on you and fly in your eyes and ears and mouth." John Sterling likened it to a Biblical plague, calling it "The Swarm" and concluding, "Maybe the Yankees are just not meant to win this game." He went on to remember the pre-Astrodome days of the Cot-45's. "Houston is humid, damp place- one of those warm cities right on the water; they had bugs as big as animals. They would take bug breaks for a truck to come out and spray the field.

You're both heading to Denver?

Gnat swarms are not unheard of in sometimes-swampy northeastern Ohio. Still, it's reasonable that they weren't prepared for it. Had they delayed the game, all they could have done was send for the exterminators, and how long would that have taken?

Barry, did the midges get into the press box? (It would be surprising if they didn't.)

Also, nice haircut. Now you're getting into the spirit of things. Do remember, however, to put on your pants.

Crasnick: "While Chamberlain was looking itchy, the Indians scratched out a run to tie the game."

I wonder how many baseball writers trotted out a wheeze like that this morning? Fortunately, Svrluga and Sheinin are above such cheapness...

... right?

Also, now that I think of it, I remember a midgefestation in Harrisburg, on City Island at a Senators game last season.

Flynnie, quoting TBS, is right. They don't bite; they just annoy. Your best protections are long sleeves, long pants, and silent prayer (lest the little [RF]s fly into your open mouth).

I wonder if you can pitch and hit wearing one of those hats with the insect netting? They are absolute requirements when hiking in Vermont and Canada before August 15. I wondered where all the insects went after Our Lady's Day. Now I know.

I hate having no baseball to watch this afternoon. Everybody pull for a 5 game series. Or I will be consigned to yard work or the sport of choice of the Nation's Capitol, the sport which is nasty, brutish and long, where career-ending injuries are referred to as "a little nick" and commercials abound.

The walk off HR by Zimmerman came to mind last night. Once again, the Gnats are too much for the Yankees! ;-)

"Or I will be consigned to yard work or the sport of choice of the Nation's Capitol, the sport which is nasty, brutish and long"

Football appears to be Hobbes's hell

Anyone else think that Jeter was implying the bugs were intentional?

What a night of baseball!

I wondered the same thing about the bug invasion...should the game have been stopped. But would the bugs have gone somewhere else if they waited long enough?

Poor Jaba. He was being eaten alive.

Let's just hope the same thing doesn't happen to the Nationals new ballpark on the river.

Man, it's amazing how the Yankees are just crying, whining about those evil bugs that messed up Chamberlain's game!

Yeah, Derek, I'm sure the Cleveland grounds crew had boxes and boxes of those bugs sitting around in the grounds-crew well, just waiting for the proper moment to let 'em loose.

Not only Yankees fans, but even the Yanks themselves, are sounding like a buncha crybabies this morning. They went all those innings without a run, and it's the bugs' fault? How about Carmona shutting down their bats?

I don't have much of a dog in this fight--except for wanting to see the Yankees beaten into the ground by Cleveland. C'mon, Tribe, do it to them in Yankee Stadium. Then let's see what kind of non-baseball excuse the Yankees make up.

Why does it not surprise me that the swarm would descend on Barry's game?

Bill Veeck was semi-accused of instigating a gnat attack on behalf of his White Sox, so (he wrote) he figured he might as well play along with anyone that stupid. "D*@M! It took all winter to train them, and they're gone with one spray!"