Helo Called In To Dry Philadelphia Baseball Diamond

What were the umpires to do? It just wouldn't stop raining and they REALLY wanted to get a complete game out of the Philadelphia Phillies and Florida Marlins. Who ya gonna call?

Why, a pilot, of course. Specifically, a helicopter pilot.

In a game delayed three times by rain, they finally got in the five-and-a-half innings necessary to call it a complete match. It took less than an hour-and-a-half to actually play the game, but soggy fans had to sit through almost four hours of rain delays.

''I've been in the big leagues a long time, [and] it's the longest I've ever waited,'' Marlins manager Jack McKeon said of the three delays. "I mean, come on. They could have waited all night if they had wanted to.''

Even as they were deciding to resume the game, officials knew the grounds were so soggy that they could actually have proven dangerous to the players themselves.

That's when they called in the chopper.

The aircraft hovered six feet over the infield, using the rotors' downwash as a big dryer. It worked. Although the game wasn't finished, it went the requisite five-and-a-half innings and it goes in the record books as a complete game.

Oh... the Marlins won, 2-1.

FMI: www.mlb.com