Oakland Athletics pitcher Chad Gaudin works out during snow flurries at Comerica Park in Detroit on Thursday. The A’s play the Tigers today in Game 3 of the ALCS. Associated Press Photo.

DETROIT - Rich Harden grew up in western Canada, playing baseball in sleet and freezing rain.

The Oakland pitcher is OK with bad weather. That's good, because he figures to feel it today when he starts Game 3 of the AL championship series with his A's trailing Detroit 2-0.

“I'm used to it,” Harden said.

Welcome to baseball's winter wonderland, where the frosty forecast is calling for fastballs, curveballs and ... snowballs.

“This is when the boys of summer turn into the men of fall,” Detroit pitcher Jamie Walker said.

For Athletics first baseman Nick Swisher, the freak October flurries at Comerica Park on Thursday were fun. He trotted out to right field, plopped onto his back and began making mock snow angels.

Only for a minute, though. Shivering, he put on his ski cap and retreated to the dugout when Detroit was hit with its earliest snowfall ever.

The Tigers and Athletics got somewhat of a break when today's start time was moved from 8:19 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

A combination of factors figured into that decision by the commissioner's office - the local conditions, a rainout that took away a travel day in the NLCS, and TV ratings.

“It's definitely not going to be baseball weather tomorrow,” said Dave Gurney of the National Weather Service in Michigan. “Around 45 degrees, wind gusts up to 35 mph and some snow showers.”

Detroit set a record for its earliest measured snow, breaking by one day the mark set on Oct. 13, 1909. The Tigers, coincidentally, played a World Series game on that afternoon, with Ty Cobb getting a hit and scoring a run in an 8-4 loss at Pittsburgh.

More like football weather, for sure. The Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills will play next door at Ford Field on Sunday - indoors, that is.

“It depends on how cold it is,” A's slugger Frank Thomas said. “It's going to be tough if it's under 40.”

Thomas is hitless in eight at-bats during this series. He flied out with the bases loaded to end Wednesday night's 8-5 loss at Oakland, where it was 67 degrees at gametime.

“I've been 0-for-8 maybe 20 or 30 times this season. I'm not fazed,” he said. “With me, you can tell they've done their homework. Even when I do get a strike, the pitches aren't in the same area code. But sooner or later, they're going to miss.”

The Big Hurt won't be the only one feeling the Big Chill in Game 3. Pitchers notoriously have a tougher time gripping the ball in chillier climates, especially ones that rely more on touch and feel, such as Detroit starter Kenny Rogers.

Fresh off his shutout effort against the New York Yankees in the first round, Rogers will be opposed by the hard-throwing Harden, a native of British Columbia who keeps hockey sticks at his locker in Oakland.

“Growing up in Canada, I played hockey outdoors and played baseball in this weather,” he said. “Back then, I was a center fielder, so it was more standing in the outfield and not moving. I think the worst was probably sleet and freezing rain and you get the wind coming.”

Only a few players practiced outdoors Thursday. The infield was covered with a tarp, so most of them hit in indoor cages.

“I'm used to playing in this from when I was growing up,” said Tigers leadoff man Curtis Granderson, originally from Chicago. “I have pictures from high school of us playing with jackets on in the snow. But when it is this cold and the wind is blowing, it doesn't matter if you are used to it or not, you still feel it.”

Said Tigers manager Jim Leyland: “I'm sure it's going to affect both teams somewhat.”