Marlins opener delayed by rain for 16 minutes -- despite retractable roof (with video)

Call it the first big Marlins error of the season.

Monday's season-opener against the Braves was delayed for 16 minutes in the bottom of the second inning because of rain. Marlins Park of course has a retractable roof, so that made the whole ordeal a little extra embarrassing. 

Team president David Samson said Marlins officials -- he included among a group of three -- monitor the weather using applications on their phone whenever the roof is open. In this case, Samson said, he guessed wrong about which direction a storm cell was headed. 

"I tried to predict a cloud would go north and it went south on top of us, and the roof closed as quickly as I could get it closed, short of me pushing it," Samson said. "

"So we had a 16 minute rain delay, which is the first ever at Marlins Park. All the fans got to enjoy a rain delay and I did not. So, I can only say we made a memory and we always promise we're going to make memories. So I want to thank everyone. I've enjoyed my 14 seasons. It's been a pleasure. I submitted my resignation to [executive vice president of events] Claude Delorme. Because it was either him or me. And I'm happy to wear it. It was one for the books. That's for sure."

Samson was visibly embarrassed by the snafu and kept making jokes with reporters to try to make light of the event. Owner Jeffrey Loria, Samson said, wasn't pleased.

"I [told Jeffrey] 'I think we're going to have a rain delay,'" Samson said. "He said 'I thought we had a roof.' I said, 'That's a reasonable answer.' And I quickly left."

Asked if the Marlins will have the roof open the rest of this week, Samson replied: "I expected it to be open every day, but I'm a little gun shy now. I made a mistake and I'm so unhappy there was a rain delay because its not great."

Normally whenever there is rain in the area the Marlins shut the roof to avoid any delays. Samson gambled and lost Monday.

"The criteria for leaving it open is not having a rain delay," he said. "It's No. 1 in the manual we wrote in 2012. No matter what happens -- no rain delay. So I sort of skipped to part five which was predict the weather at your own peril. And that's what happened. I predicted the weather."

Rain delay inside #MarlinsPark. Yep, you read that right pic.twitter.com/hxAcmu68Xt

— Manny Navarro (@Manny_Navarro) April 6, 2015