It's the kind of backup no Major League Baseball team needs: Raw sewage.
A drainage problem at Oakland's Coliseum on Sunday created stinking pools of fluid that rose a foot deep in some parts of the home and visiting clubhouses. The disgusting situation forced the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners to share accommodations on a higher floor inside of the NFL's Oakland Raiders' locker room after the game.
Via the Associated Press, A's pitcher A.J. Griffin just wants the world to know:
''Make sure everybody finds out about this sewage thing. We need to get a new stadium.''
Part of the Coliseum's problem: The playing field on the 47-year-old stadium rests 22 feet below sea level. The clubhouse level, which was the only part of the park affected, is 3 feet below sea level. The ballpark has been prone to frequent plumbing-related flooding but this, the San Francisco Chroniclereports, was a first:
Raw sewage backed up into both clubhouse shower areas, the umpires’ room and all bathrooms on the clubhouse level, as well as both managers’ offices and the Mariners’ training room. The umpires left without showering, as did much of the Mariners’ coaching staff and manager Eric Wedge.
That gives an additional meaning to "You stink, ump!"
Perhaps this will be the final straw — or scum — that helps get the A's a new ballpark in San Jose, a move that's been held up by commissioner Bud Selig for at least four years. In the meantime, the A's can look forward to some new carpeting after they return from a road trip that starts Monday. So there's that, along with another thing, reliever Sean Doolittle noted on Twitter:
That's the right kind of attitude. Especially because it's probably going to be at least another four years until the A's get a new home.
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