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ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Arizona Diamondbacks will avoid having to play a doubleheader in Texas. Except now they will have to make an extra trip later in the season to play a makeup game against the Rangers. Arizonas game at Texas on Wednesday night was postponed due to unplayable field conditions caused by a severe thunderstorm just more than an hour before the game was scheduled to start. During the storm that included lightning, gusty winds and heavy rains, the infield was soaked while the grounds crew struggled to get the tarp on the field. "We walked around, I was standing out there ... the field took a ton of water," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "They wanted to play a game today, we didnt want to play a doubleheader (Thursday), but it was just dangerous. It was really muddy on the baselines." Though the rain stopped and the grounds crew had been working on the field, Rangers officials announced the postponement just about an hour after the scheduled start. That decision was made after Gibson joined several Rangers officials, including CEO Nolan Ryan, general manager Jon Daniels and manager Ron Washington, to survey the field. "Third base and the third-base line was just entirely too soft," Washington said. "Out of the box down the first-base line, halfway where the umpires box is, its soft too. When I saw (the rain) I was watching them go under the tarp bringing the stuff that was on the field out. I didnt see the rain or the wind blow." Arizona and Texas will play a single game as scheduled Thursday, in what was to be the end of the Diamondbacks last scheduled trip to Rangers Ballpark. The Diamondbacks are scheduled to play Friday afternoon at the Chicago Cubs. The game postponed Wednesday will be made up at a later date, likely Aug. 15, a mutual off day for both teams. That is a scheduled day off for the Diamondbacks after an eight-game homestand and before a game in Pittsburgh. That is in the middle of what is already eight home games in a row for Texas. Rangers spokesman John Blake said there were no injuries reported during the storms, but that about 25 trees outside the stadium sustained damage or were toppled by the bad weather. Arizona swept a planned doubleheader against Texas on Monday at home. The teams had Tuesday off before the scheduled two games at Rangers Ballpark. Both scheduled starting right-handers for the postponed game are set to start Thursday. Brandon McCarthy (2-3) will pitch for the Diamondbacks against Justin Grimm (4-3). "I thought we were going to go, it was just a matter of when," said McCarthy, who never started warming up for the game. "It was a wasted off day for nothing." A few minutes after the postponement was announced, Grimm was out in front of the Rangers dugout throwing long toss to bullpen catcher Josh Frasier. Gibson said part of the field was OK, but that groundkeeper Dennis Klein said he needed to " get spikes in it, open it up and let some air get in there and dry it out. " More than a dozen grounds crew members were working on the field after the game was called, concentrating their efforts on the third-base line. During Arizonas batting practice before the game, an announcement was made that the area was under a severe thunderstorm warning. Fans were asked to leave the upper deck and all fans were told to seek shelter. When the Diamondbacks left the field a few minutes later, some field crew members rolled the batting cage out of the way while others starting pulling the tarp. While the crew tried to get the tarp in position, gusty winds caused the heavy covering to start flapping wildly and it wound up bunched together toward second base and in shallow centre field. Heavy rain fell during the several minutes it took to get the tarp under control and cover the infield, with the grounds crew joined by security and other ballpark personnel. Once the storm had passed, the crew prepared the infield dirt with drying dust and worked furiously to try to prepare the field for play. As planned, the tarp was then pulled back over the field -- with no issues this time -- with another storm in the area, though there was no more significant rain. Cheap Blues Jerseys .J. Jefferson has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. Fake Blues Jerseys . - Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not a fan of his teams use of the wildcat formation, saying "it makes you look like a high school offence. https://www.cheapblues.com/ . -- Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail Blazers against the Kings. Blues Jerseys China . Ferrer, trying to win his fourth title on Mexican soil, will next play South Africas Kevin Anderson, who eliminated American Sam Querrey,7-6 (2), 6-4. Also Wednesday, Gilles Simon (6) of France beat Donald Young of the United States 6-4, 6-3, Ukraines Alexandr Dolgopolov downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 and Croatias Ivo Karlovic defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (4), 6-2. Wholesale Blues Jerseys . Aaron Harrison scored a 22 points for Kentucky (6-1), which has won four in a row following a Nov. 12 loss to current No. 1 Michigan State. Julius Randle overcame a scoreless first half and added his sixth double-double in as many games with 14 points and 10 rebounds. SAINT-DENIS, France -- Football is a cruel game. Sometimes even for its winners.Cruel because Cristiano Ronaldo had to watch the victory of his life -- at least one of them -- from the sidelines.Portugals name, for the first time, is now engraved on a major trophy. But one of the enduring memories of the European Championship final will be that Ronaldo played too small a part in the 1-0 win against France for him to deserve being anointed as world player of the year for a fourth time. Truth is, Portugal played better without him.And cruel because France lost in the very stadium that suicide bombers attacked last November. After that horror there was a solid argument to be made that the French would have been more endearing winners, that a pick-me-up trophy could have helped speed their recovery from the trauma.And also cruel because in six games before they lost their scoring touch in the all-important seventh match, the French on balance played better football at Euro 2016 than Portugal.Wales, in the semifinals, was the only team the Portuguese beat inside of 90 minutes. Against France, it took them 109 minutes for Eder to burst through Les Bleus defenses, with a stunning strike.Lets also not forget that, in Portugal, Europe has a champion that didnt win any of its group-stage games and only squeezed into the knockout stages, with just three points, thanks to the more forgiving format adopted for this expanded first tournament with 24 teams. Critics who feel that the new systems addition of eight teams has come at the expense of footballing quality will doubtless argue that Portugals victory proves them right.But, as the French themselves say, cest la vie -- or, as English speakers would say, thats football. Because footballs stubborn refusal to follow the script is what makes it so compelling, this final again offering strong evidence of that.Who, after all, would have penned only a cameo role for Ronaldo, now the proud owner of one type of winners medal that Lionel Messi doesnt have, in Portugals Hollywood moment?As at Euro 2004, we again saw Ronaldo cry -- this time after his left knee buckled in a scrap for the ball in the 9th minute with Dimitri Payet. Normally, the French winger tends not to bother himself with the grunt work of tackling and defending. But Payet and his teammates were combative, even borderline aggressive, in the opening half where they quickly swarmed over Portugals defenses. France, a team that used to be bullied, most infamously in losing a 1982 World Cup semifinal to Germany, was the more physical side.To be fair to Payet, the injury to Ronaldo wasnt malicious, but rather just one of those things that can happen when one man clatters into another at an awkward angle. Portugals captain tried soldiering on. When he sat down oon the field, distraught, in need of treatment, a moth settled on his right eye, as if coming to dry his tears.ddddddddddddWith the knee strapped up, a sprint up field that finished in a hobble made it clear that Ronaldo couldnt continue. Referee Mark Clattenburg called on the stretcher bearers and that was it. Ronaldos final was over, after just 25 minutes.Liberated of their attention-grabbing superstar, no longer at the beck and call of his demands to give him the ball, his teammates played better, sharing the workload, getting into Frances box in numbers and giving French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris more to think about.For the French, this will be remembered as another final they should have won, like the 2006 World Cup final unhinged when Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi. Euro 2016 top scorer Antoine Griezmann twice came close to winning it. And Andre-Pierre Gignac saw what would have been a certain match-winner rebound off the post in injury time before the game went to extra time.But, with time, the if and buts will perhaps matter less than the fact that reaching this final was proof that France is now out of the long trough that followed its 2006 World Cup loss to Italy, with the nadir being a strike by French players at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.Going forward, France again has a team it can be proud of. All but one of its starting 11 against Portugal either play abroad or, in the case of Barcelona-bound Samuel Umtiti, are on their way overseas. The French domestic leagues bleeding of players to foreign shores proved to be Les Bleus gain at Euro 2016. Their street-wise football and their handling of the heavy weight of host-nation expectations owed no small debt to the experience and expanded world view players have picked up on their travels. Eder, Portugals match-winner, also plays overseas, for Lille in France.From France, football will now look, with some trepidation, eastward to Russia, host of the sports next major tournament, the 2018 World Cup. Then will come Euro 2020, which will be spread confetti-like across 12 host countries, followed by the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.All present logistical challenges for traveling fans. Although the quality of the football at Euro 2016 wasnt always much to shout about, it will be fondly remembered for easy French pleasures and for Frances security measures that helped keep the 31-day tournament safe from the threat of more terror attacks without souring the mood.For that, we can all be grateful.---John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org or follow him at http://twitter.com/johnleicester ' ' '