Jays losing indoor game adds to weather problems

TORONTO — Even moving indoors couldn't get the Blue Jays back on the field.

Toronto postponed Monday's series opener against Kansas City after chunks of ice crashed down from the nearby CN Tower following a weekend of freezing rain, including one that punctured a hole in the Rogers Centre roof.

Andrew Miller, the Blue Jays' executive vice president of business operations, was standing in the infield with two colleagues around 10 a.m. Monday, examining existing damage, when a falling piece of ice tore a hole about three feet by five feet in the PVC roof over right field, sending ice and pieces of insulation crashing onto the turf.

“We saw it happen,” Miller said. “It was pretty frightening. It was really loud. It sounded like fireworks or some kind of explosion going off.”

It's the first postponement at Rogers Centre since a game against the Royals was called off following a collision between two panels of the stadium's moving roof in 2001. The teams will play a doubleheader on Tuesday.

“If you come to a dome and get banged, something ain't right,” Royals manager Ned Yost said about an hour before the game was called.

Weather also wiped out Toronto's game at Cleveland on Sunday, one of six games around the majors to be postponed. It was the second straight weatherrelated postponement for the Indians and Blue Jays.

In addition to the game at Toronto, weather-related postponements also took place Monday at Boston and Chicago. That brings the number of postponements to 24 for April, the most since there were 26 in 2007.

On Monday afternoon, light could be seen coming through the hole above right field, while tarps and batting practice screens surrounded the area on the turf below. Workers went on the roof and patched the hole around 4 p.m., and the Blue Jays said they still hoped to play. About an hour later, the game was postponed.

“We didn't want to put players at risk, we didn't want to put fans or employees at risk,” Miller said. “We just thought more information and more time would help us.”

Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images A hole in the roof of Toronto’s Rogers Centre was caused by falling ice from the nearby CN Tower and was one of the factors in causing Monday’s postponement.