Sunday, November 01, 2009

Yankees Sleep With Whores

Recap: Cole Hamels has three-run lead, strikes Teixeira out, then gives up ball off wall to A-Rod. But since the Yankees have been paying off the umpires for the entire playoffs, they call it a walk and a home run. I love how they go and change the call without conclusive evidence and that's apparently allowed! And freakin' Fox, after all this talk for the last year about relays and getting home run calls right, goes and hovers a camera over the fence in fair territory! I feel like Joe Buck wanted to apologize but figured he'd better wait for the okay from the brass. Anyway, soon Yankees were blooping their little shitty bloops, and that was it.

Hopefully Philly fans (at least the ones who didn't sell their tickets to scalpers and leave their stadium crawling with Yankee fans) are realizing that when you play this filthy team, you not only have to beat the astronomical payroll that's nowhere near any other team's, but you also have to beat the umps.

But it can be done. It's only 2-1 here.

I noticed the following on Zack Hample's blog. He was at the New Loo trying to get someone to give him a ticket the other night, and...

The second guy was a Yankee employee -- one of those guys who stand outside with those signs that say "How May I Help You?" -- who said he had a friend who was selling bleacher tickets for $550. [...] When I told him that was way beyond my price range, he said, "I know a guy who can walk you in for two-fifty. Then you're on your own. Standing room only."

So not only do Yankee Stadium employees fraternize with the local sweatpants brigade, but some of them will take bribes and let you in to a World Series game. MLB people, you're always going around to every corner of the Internet, removing two-second clips of games from 1985 that no one's making money off of and that you'll never use anyway. What say you go check out the real criminals? (I know you're partnered with StubHub while still telling us right on your tickets that reselling them is illegal, but I think even you would admit "walking someone in for 250" isn't right....)

Oh, so I saw Steven Wright tonight. He was opening for Jimmy Fallon down at URI, and we've always wanted to see him. So we left a bowl of candy outside our door and headed down there, knowing we'd miss the beginning of the game. Wright was great--just non-stop one-liners as you'd expect. And Fallon was funny, too. There was also a "bonus comic," Wayne Federman. I thought he was really good, too. And now that I look him up, I see he not only wrote a biography of Pistol Pete Maravich, but was an extra in Black Sunday! Anyway, we left the show, got in the car, and had such a great moment (later shot to hell) when we heard Sterling say Pettitte had given up three. And we were shocked that it was only the second inning at 10:00, so we didn't miss much.

Comments:
He did get Teix looking, but come on, Slappy's ball went over the fence. Maybe by only an inch or two, but cheap dong or not, it cleared the fence.

And the Phils got a gift or two from the home ump too. Posada had walked in the seventh on a 3-1 pitch, but the ump called it a strike. Of course, Dumbo then singled, but that was still a blown call against the MFY.

If you're going to mention one shitty call, you got to mention them all, right?
 
Even Buck admitted it was "still a judgment call" even after seeing all the replays. It looked like it would have hit the wall had the camera not been there. That's debatable, but it wasn't conclusive evidence that should have made them overturn the call. I couldn't say it definitely would have gone over. The top of the wall is the railing, not the green padded part, right? If it's the green, then yeah it's way over, but I'm pretty sure it's the railing.

The umpiring's been crappy overall, but way more in the Yanks' favor.
 
No idea why Buck would say that. It hit the green covering of the camera, a bit above the lens, even. It was obvious on every single reply. It just *was*. It may have been about the cheapest fucking HR you can hit (outside the Bronx), but it was a home run.

it wasn't conclusive evidence that should have made them overturn the call

So you need conclusive evidence to change that call, but you are fine claiming (on no evidence) that the Yankees have paid off the umpires? I know you are probably not serious and merely venting, but ...

The umpiring's been crappy overall, but way more in the Yanks' favor.

To say this with any amount of certainty (without even approaching "conclusive" territory), you would need to have kept a detailed list of every debatable or wrong call (on the bases, in the field, at the plate) this entire post-season.
 
Ball was coming down toward top of fence. Camera was sticking out over fence. It hit camera, so we couldn't tell if it would have landed just over, right at, or just under top of wall. And the only angle that would give you any idea at all was the side one, which they showed, and which showed that it could have hit the wall or at least the top edge of it had the camera not been there.
 
ANd I have watched just about every inning of every Yankee playoff game this year. They're totally getting the bulk of shitty calls. This isn't a crazy Jere theory, this is like, an "even Yankee fans have admitted it" thing.
 
No need to go back and forth, but there was an angle along the track -- maybe the main CF camera? -- where you could see clearly that the fly ball -- if it had been unimpeded by anything -- would have landed beyond the top of the fence. By only a few inches, but it was obvious.

A far clearer call than the strike-3-that-was-called-ball-4 to Doucheira.

No matter -- series will be tied tomorrow morning.
 
It was a home run. The side angle replay showed without a doubt that it would have cleared the fence. Besides, it's irrelevant; the crew chief confirmed after the game that one of the grounds rules was that hitting the camera was a hr.

I agree that Teixeira should have been called out on strikes before it though.

The bigger issue is that the Phillies bullpen needs to do a much better job, and they haven't even gotten to Bad Lidge in this series yet.
 
If that's the rule, then it's a dong. (Why wouldn't the announcers know the ground rules?) (Also, terrible rule if the thing is hanging over the fence, which it appeared to be.) But as far as if it would have cleared, I wasn't convinced and BuckCarver didn't seem to be either.

If it had originally been called a dong, and I saw those replays, I would have said, Inconclusive, can't overturn. But it was called a non-dong, and I said the same thing. But again it that's the rule, it's a dong regardless.
 
Here's the video with the umpire explaining the ground rule:

http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=7109313&topic_id=7224332&c_id=phi

That also contains the side-angle replay at the 46 second mark which I think is conclusive.

More importantly, Charlie Manuel is an absolute idiot if he doesn't start Cliff Lee tonight instead of Blanton. The next two games are must wins...if they have to win 2 in the Bronx, they'll have no chance.
 

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