Midday Mailbag: Who’ll stop those Orioles’ rain delays?

Every weekday, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question, sometimes more. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.

Question: Who decides how long a rain delay may last? Five hours seems not to be in the best interest of players or fans. From: Barbara McCann

Answer: Barbara, last Wednesday’s rain delay was excessive. However, if it was postponed, there was the real chance that the game couldn’t have been made up until September, which wouldn’t be in the best interest of players or fans, either.

With the current schedule, it’s sometimes difficult to find mutual offdays for makeups that don’t require a great amount of extra travel.

There is no rule on how long teams can wait, and fortunately, the Orioles did offer fans a voucher for another game.

Question: The Orioles’ Triple-A Norfolk team is loaded.  How do you think the Triple-A team would fare in full season against major league teams? From: Rick Millward

Answer: Rick, I don’t think they would fare very well. While they have some outstanding prospects — Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad, Coby Mayo, Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers — those prospects are hitting against minor league pitching. Conversely, Norfolk allowed 11 runs when they scored 26 and 10 runs last Friday, and that would indicate they’d allow more against major league hitters.