SEATTLE -- A computer problem caused the Rainy City's first rain delay in 31 years. The Mariners are hoping to prevent it from happening again.

"It's nice to have a roof, but some things are unpredictable," team president Chuck Armstrong said before Sunday's game between the Mariners and Texas.

Saturday's Mariners-Rangers game had to be halted for 54 minutes, the first rain delay of a major league game in Seattle since Sept. 12, 1969, when the Pilots played at Sicks Stadium. Safeco Field's retractable roof wouldn't close when it began raining heavily and the umpires called time after three innings.

"I guess things like this happen," said Armstrong, who wasn't at the ballpark Saturday. "Sometimes your garbage disposal doesn't work. Sometimes your washing machine doesn't work. Sometimes your personal computer doesn't work."

The roof was expected to work at $517.6 million Safeco, the most expensive stadium in the majors, though.

Armstrong said he plans to hold a meeting Monday in an effort to make sure the Mariners can fix Safeco Field's roof problems on their own without having to make another call to the Ederer Inc., the Seattle company that designed the roof retraction mechanism.

The computer needed to be rebooted and the Mariners had to call on an engineer from Ederer to correct the problem.

"Our own engineer ought to be able to do that," Armstrong said. "But this is all new. This was the first time."

The Mariners' rain delay came in its 87th game at Safeco. The Mariners played 22½ years without being rained out at the Kingdome.

During Saturday's rain delay, the Mariners groundskeepers quickly covered the infield with a tarp. Armstrong said the Mariners might buy more tarps to cover the other dirt parts at Safeco in case of an emergency.

Under American League rules, the roof at Safeco must be opened at the end of innings, but can be closed during play. It normally takes from eight to 20 minutes to open.

Armstrong was stunned when he got the news of the rain delay. He was in Sacramento, Calif., waiting to board a plane.

"I called in to see if anything was happening," he said. "They told me they were in a rain delay. I said, 'What?' "

Safeco Field will be the site of the 2001 All-Star Game next July 10.

Saturday's rain delay was the first of a Seattle professional sports event since Jan. 5, 1986, when the Seattle SuperSonics' game with Phoenix at the Seattle Coliseum was halted in the second quarter when a heavy rainstorm caused the roof to leak. The game was completed the next day.