PIRATES Weather forces teams to cancel series' 1st game

The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on July 2.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The opener of a three-game series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Pittsburgh Pirates was postponed Friday because of expected 70 mph winds and thunderstorms.
The game was called at 5 p.m., more than two hours before the scheduled first pitch. It will be made up as part of doubleheader on July 2 at 5:05 p.m.
The starters were pushed back by a day. Ben Sheets, coming on an 18-strikeout performance against Atlanta, will pitch for Milwaukee against Josh Fogg.
Weather problems
Even before arriving in Pittsburgh, wet weather had taken its toll on the Brewers.
Third baseman Wes Helms will miss at least two months because on an injured right knee. He was hurt Wednesday when he slipped on a rubber mat in a wet tunnel leading from the clubhouse to the dugout at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Helms is scheduled for surgery on Monday, manager Ned Yost said.
Yost feared that one of his players would get injured in the series, which concluded Thursday. He even kept second baseman Junior Spivey out of the series, because Spivey had been nursing a strained right hamstring.
"We had reports going down there that the field was very soft," Yost said. "Players who had gone down there were getting some leg injuries, so we were real nervous about the turf. Walking down to the dugout, it was real wet and humid and rainy, and that mat was just slick. I about fell down two or three times myself.
"Wes was just walking down there to go to the cage and just slipped. He hit his head real hard. I'm not sure it didn't almost knock him out for a second. He had a slight concussion and hurt his knee."
Helms has a five-game hitting streak and had hit safely in nine of his past 10 games. He was batting .302 with seven RBIs this month but is batting just .252 with two home runs and 12 RBIs overall.
Bad conditions
Yost isn't sure what else can be done to improve the playing conditions at Hiram Bithorn Stadium. There were several rain delays during the series, which didn't help matters.
"They're really trying," he said. "They've put $8 million into that stadium. They're trying a new turf out there, and it's just spongy. Our outfielders' legs were all aching and tight and hurting after three games, but a lot of that has to do with the weather out there.
"You know, they had the mats down there, they were just slick. I don't know if that's anybody's fault. It's just something that happened," he said.
The Brewers recalled third baseman Corey Hart from Triple-A Indianapolis, although Keith Ginter was scheduled to play third Friday before the game was postponed.
The Pirates play the Expos at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in a four-game series July 8-11.
Yost will play Spivey now that he doesn't have to worry about a slick field. Spivey has not played since May 2 because of his injured hamstring.