Fire is great for, among other things, getting rid of evidence, scamming insurance companies, and roasting marshmallows.  As far as I know, it is not so great for drying out a baseball field.

A grounds crew in St. Alberts, an Edmonton, Alberta suburb, was looking for a quick, efficient method for drying a soaked baseball diamond.

Their solution?  Fire…sweet, unrelenting fire.

“What usually takes a day, day and a half for Mother Nature to take care of, we did in half an hour,” Gerry Peterson said after his crew spread diesel fuel on the field and ignited it last week.

Yeah, suck on that one Mother Nature!  Sure, the ground crew probably contaminated the hell out of the field by dousing it in diesel fuel, rendering it virtually unusable by any and all teams looking to play on it, but there’s only a slim chance that that could happen…right?

Actually, that’s exactly what happened.  Once city officials got wind of what was going on at the ballpark, they sent a team to test the dirt, which of course showed that it was drenched in diesel fuel, thus making the entire diamond an environmental risk.  As a result, the ballpark could be shut down for weeks, meaning that many young ballplayers will watch their season..wait for it…go up in flames.

Maybe the Mets ground crew could try this next time there’s a rain delay…so long as the team is still on the field at the time.

/it’s easy to pile on the Mets, so I will

//waiting for Mets fans to rip me in the comments…bring it

[CBC]