A little advice to aspring sports writers: if it's hot at the baseball game you're covering, mention it in the lead. No matter what—even if the heat affected both teams equally, or not at all—don't let three paragraphs go by without pointing out how hot it was. You were there. It was hot. The people need to know it was hot at the baseball game. That's your hook. Baseball game + hot weather = !!!
Like so, from MLB.com,
"As if the pressure to get rolling again wasn't enough heat on the Tigers, they arrived in Texas to the midsummer heat wave. It was enough to make the steamy days in Detroit earlier this summer seem mild by comparison. Monday's first-pitch temperature was 100 degrees."
Or like in these 15 other examples:
"Amid the heat that settled thickly inside Citi Field late Saturday afternoon, Dillon Gee seemed the epitome of cool." — New York Times
"A triple-digit number at a baseball game usually creates a whoosh, a smack and a buzz from the crowd as soon as a 100 mph fastball kisses a catcher's mitt. The three digits registered last night in Huntington Park - a first-pitch temperature of 100 degrees didn't cause as much excitement for the Clippers, the Norfolk Tides or the 7,488 fans." — Columbus Dispatch
"Standing in the dugout and looking out at the turf from field level, South Bend Silver Hawks players can gauge the heat without a thermometer." — SouthBendTribune.Com
"Phil Hughes fought the 95 degrees on the thermometer with zeros on the scoreboard." — AP
"Paul Iseman says it's never too hot for baseball, 'It's baseball we don't care about the heat we just like going out and playing on the field. We enjoy the heat.'" — CBS3 Memphis
"Tim Hudson knew it would be difficult to pitch in record temperatures. Falling behind by four runs in the first inning hardly helped. "I was going to pitch as long as I could," he said. 'It wasn't exactly a great first inning.'" — AP
"For the first time since 2006 the Cardinals started a home game in 100-degree temperatures Friday." — stltoday.com
"I spent two days in sweltering Durham, N.C. watching the start of USA Baseball's annual Prospect Classic, in which the collegiate national team and the trial roster for the 18U team are jumbled up on two rosters and play a pair of exhibition games, followed by two more exhibition games with their normal rosters." — ESPN.com
"On a scorching day at U.S. Cellular Field - with a first-pitch temperature of 99 degrees that hit 102 by the fourth inning - Quintana (4-1) walked one and struck out a career-high eight." — AP
"Ryan Zimmerman was pleased to escape Atlanta's insufferable heat with another series victory over the Braves." — AP
"Gio Gonzalez knew he wasn't going back to the mound after throwing 102 pitches in 101-degree heat." — CBSSports.com
"A long, hot day got off to a very good start for the Yankees as starter Freddy Garcia, a right-hander who grew up in similar weather conditions in Caracas, Venezuela, gave the Yankees everything they needed at steamy Fenway Park." — New York Times
It was extremely hot when the Marlins played four games in Milwaukee earlier this week. The conditions were even hotter on Friday for the start of a weekend series in St. Louis. — MLB.com
"The 106-degree heat didn't seem to bother Lohse." — AP
"While fans endured sweltering heat, Ubaldo Jimenez looked at the thermometer and just smiled." — CBSSports.com
It's probably going to be hot all summer, summer being a season very closely identified with warm weather—often uncomfortably warm weather. So you can probably give it a rest, baseball writers—maybe mention the weather the next time it gets cold in July.