GLENS FALLS * File this one somewhere between implausible and just plain bizarre.

Darkness postponed an NYCBL game Tuesday night at East Field, the stadium ringed by a tower of lights. Glens Falls led Bennington 4-3 after three innings, when umpires called the game at 8:25 p.m. The field lost its power shorty after 7:30, and the teams continued to play except for a 20-minute break when lightning was spotted. Players, officials and some fans waited around until 9 p.m., hoping the lights would flicker on, but no one was rewarded.

“I really thought they would come back on, ” Eagles owner Darin Williams said, surveying a dark field some 30 minutes later. Williams said the teams will finish the game on July 27, the last day of the regular season and Bennington ’s next trip to East Field.

The first-place Golden Eagles (21-4) entered having lost only twice since June 15, winning 17 games in that span. Against Bennington, Tommy Meagher, who has grown into the ace of the league ’s finest staff, allowed three runs in the first inning, then seemed to settle down.

The Eagles scored all four of their runs in the second inning. Casey Larson and Brad Johnson ran off consecutive bases-loaded singles.

Glens Falls went down in order in the third, just before the game was called.

NOTES: The Eagles didn ’t charge admission Tuesday and drew a season-high crowd of 402. Williams, citing a relentless radio and print advertisement campaign and a winning product, said he expected a much bigger crowd. ... Opening-day starting catcher Mark Kelly will not return from his home state of Illinois, where he went to receive treatment for a wrist injury. Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg (Florida Atlantic) and Johnson (Norther Kentucky) have been added to the roster. ... Because three players left the team after July 4, the Eagles will finish the season with a 20-man roster. The league maximum is 25 players.SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Thomas McTygue stood in Congress Park on Tuesday afternoon and gazed out at the newly unveiled Italian Gardens, looking like a man watching a scene come to life after having imagined it in his mind for so many years.

“It hasn ’t looked this beautiful since the 1930s or ’40s, ” said McTygue, the city ’s Commissioner of Public Works, as clusters of tiger lilies erupted from the earth around him, accompanied by begonias, pentas and colorful impatiens.

“I ’ve had the opportunity to work here in Congress Park for the past 32 years. Look at these treasures: the Spirit of Life. Spit and Spat. The Katrina Trask stairs, Day and Night (vases) and the War memorial.

“When we started having discussions about the Italian gardens, boy, I ’ll tell you, was I excited, ” McTygue said. “This is the final treasure of Congress Park that we ’re unveiling today. ”

The garden, based on the papal palace in Rome, first opened to the public in 1905. The combination of time, vandalism and the harsh winters of the Northeast eroded much of the garden ’s original landscape.

Tuesday ’s ceremony brought back the distant era, unveiling a quartet of 8-foot statues flanking a sundial that dropped shadows on a marble base engraved with the 300-year-old prose of English poet William Robert Spencer: “noiseless falls the foot of time, which only treads on flowers. ”

A few yards away, the pair of fountains endearingly nicknamed “Spit and Spat ” playfully sputtered water at one another. Only the carnival-like sounds from the nearby carousel and the parade of modern-day mommies pushing their toddler-filled carriages were reminders of the 21st century.

Current Mayor Valerie Keehn praised DPW workers for tending to the park and hailed them as “the backbone of the city. ” Lewis Elia, a volunteer for the Saratoga Springs History Museum, helped coordinate the garden effort.

Elia described the historical background of the four towering statues. The one depicting the god Pan, Elia said, was created with big ears and a sinister look on his face to reflect the early Christian influence that demonized him.

“Pan was a popular god. He spent most of his time drinking wine and chasing nymphs around, ” Elia said. “He was sort of the Hugh Hefner of ancient Greece. ” The statues of female figures are followers of Dionysus, he added.

“In this peaceful place, we come together to celebrate the transformation that has taken place, ” said City Historian Mary Ann Fitzgerald. “In this garden that we hold so dear, and that we missed so deeply, and that we are so pleased to have once again, a masterpiece of art has been recreated and artfully landscaped for all to enjoy. ”

Local officials credited the David B. Silipigno Foundation and other area organizations for helping to make the Italian Garden project possible. The ceremony came on a day when two visiting judges of the national America in Bloom contest were in town. The judges, Norm Kleber and Melanie Riggs, attended

Tuesday ’s event as part of their three-day tour of the Spa City.

The contest pits Saratoga Springs against the similarly populated cities of Beloit, Wis., Kirkwood, Mo., Norwich, Conn, and intrastate rival Ithaca for best floral displays throughout their respective cities.

Kleber said award winners of the national contest will be announced in late September.