AUBURN - The tarp was on the field. The fans were looking skyward and predicting. Puddles were becoming ankle-deep on the warning track.

Then came Mike DeForrest over the public address system.

"Attention Doubleday fans, today's game between Auburn and Batavia has been canceled due to rain," DeForrest said amidst groans of disappointment from the crowd. "The conditions in the outfield are unplayable due to excessive water. Unfortunately this game will not be made up."

Sunday's rainout didn't come as a surprise. It had been unbearably humid all weekend, and thundershowers had blanketed the area before the scheduled 6:05 p.m. first pitch. Fans who had already shown up had their umbrellas out. And the Doubledays and the Muckdogs had already taken their equipment out of their respective dugouts and headed back to their clubhouses.

As soon as DeForrest made his announcement, there was enough activity going on at Falcon Park.

Adam Kaufman, director of broadcasting and media relations, was on his cell phone notifying media outlets around Auburn and Batavia that the game was canceled. In the team office, Greg Bilazarian, the assistant director of media relations, was faxing out notices.

Doubledays General Manager Jason Smorol visited the party tent, where the Bass Pro Shops Company Picnic was still going on despite the rain.

"We paid for all this food, and we're here to make the best of a bad situation with the whole team at Bass Pro Shops," said Jeff Burdick, the operations manager for the store.

By now, Smorol is used to the sight of fans filtering out of the park before the first pitch. Sunday marked the sixth time that Auburn had been rained out this season.

"I've been doing this for 10 years, and three is bad," Smorol said.

Two of the games, one against Brooklyn and Sunday's game against Batavia, will not be made up. That means the Doubledays had to schedule four doubleheaders, two of which have already been made up. Another two will be played before the end of the week, a few short days before Auburn starts the postseason.

"Earlier in the season when we got rained out against Jamestown, both got pushed back and pushed back, and now we have to play two doubleheaders in the last three games before the playoffs," Smorol said. "It puts a tremendous stress on the pitching staff and the players in general.

"We went from a 76-game season to a 74-game season. It's got to affect the winning percentage one way or another."

Besides the obvious affect on the field, rainouts also affect the Doubledays financially. Tickets, including box seats, can be exchanged at a later date (except for Sunday's free tickets, since there are no more free-admission nights left). The Doubledays still have to pay the staff, and they don't exactly sell enough hot dogs and hamburgers to break even.

"It's killer. That's a quote. Killer," said Smorol. "By the time we cancel the game, we don't take in enough to cover the cost of opening the park."

That's not what bothers Smorol the most.

"The most annoying thing about (a rainout) is all the effort that goes in," he said. "The grounds crew busts their humps, the regular staff busts their humps. The fans that come out are disappointed. The players want to play. Then you get to a point where you can't do anything more. It's just the overall disappointment of not being able to do our jobs."

Staff writer Michelle Prego can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 257 or citizensports@lee.net