Forecast, and the skies over the Bronx, brighten

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So much for the Great Playoff Storm of 2009.

At midday today, the skies over Yankee Stadium are cloudy but there’s more than a little blue sky peeking through -- far less ominous than the outlook earlier in the week.

Two days ago the National Weather Service was predicting Major League Baseball would be better served building an ark and gathering animals in pairs than trying to play baseball in the Bronx this weekend -- a forecast that, if true, would have caused massive scheduling headaches for the commissioner’s office and its broadcast partners and Fox and TBS.

But Friday’s opener of the American League Championship Series, which once had no better than a 40% chance of being played, went off without a hitch with nothing more than a slight drizzle falling for an inning under frosty skies.

As of late Friday, the forecast for the first pitch for Game 2 called for a ‘100% chance of rain.’ But 12 hours later, that forecast had moderated considerably and now the outlook is calling for just a 60% chance of percepitation with temperatures in the low 40s.

After Friday’s game, a laptop at Derek Jeter‘s locker was flashing weather radar for the New York area and teammate Alex Rodriguez admitted the team was closely monitoring the conditions and felt lucky to get the first game in -- especially since they won.

‘Hopefully we’ll play’ today, he added.

-- Kevin Baxter