I'm never one to place a loss on the umpires. That being said, Joe Torre and company had several complaints about C.B. Buckner's strike zone and several other calls by this crew. Here they are, and you make the call on whether it's legit or not.
-- C.B. Bucknor's strike zone. Torre and catcher Kelly Stinnett said it fluctuated a heck of a lot. One example that Torre pointed out was in the ninth inning, two outs, two on and Kevin Reese batting, representing the tying run. The count was 2-and-0 to Reese when a pitch that Torre thought was a definite ball was called a strike. Obviously there's a huge difference right there between 3-and-0 and 2-and-1, so you can understand their beef. Reese grounded back to the mound to end the inning.
-- C.B. Bucknor's foul-tip third strike call to Jason Giambi in the third inning. Here's the situation: two on, one out, Yankees up a run with Giambi up, and he's already homered in the game. An 0-and-2 pitch is inside, and Bucknor makes a delayed call saying it hit the knob of Giambi's bat before entering Victor Martinez's glove. Giambi says no way. The inning ends with a thud, as A-Rod is intentionally walked, loading the bases, before Bernie Williams grounds out.
-- The non-call by Mark Carlson in the bottom of the third inning when Victor Martinez may have made contact with third-base coach Jeff Datz while trying to stop his momentum. Torre managed to get the umpires to talk to each other on this one, but they decided not to overturn the call. It didn't amount to anything, as Wang got out of the inning, but the Yankees felt it was another example of poor umpiring. Bench coach Lee Mazzilli was especially hot, holding four fingers up from the dugout as his way of pointing out that four umpires missed the call.
Your thoughts?
Comments (13)
Poor umpiring can be expected at any given momment. It works both ways. I know players look for consistency even if its bad umpiring. The truth of the matter things are getting bad when we hold a team to 5 runs and do not win. The roll player at bats are starting to show their level of performance. Melky is down to .250, Andy is sliding down to .275. Bernie is hitting .100 in the last 45 at bats. Kevin Reese is chosen as a pinch hitter over Crosby which leads me to another point. Joe plays the player who is hot and disgards when the cooling period begins. This works for the most part. Bobby Murcer stated on TV that Crosby could be a guy who hits 20 homers if given the opportunity with some work with his hands through the ball. The HR total is high in my opinion. This is the same Crosby who Cashman was happy to enter the season with as the starting CF if no free agent was aquired. I believe Bernie is being over played at expense of the team. Bubba should go out there everyday for a month or rested against tough lefites and given a try. He brings defense and small ball to the table. This will help save runs and score them with one player replacement. He's not the answer long term but for now deserves the chance.
I'm not a relative of Crosby's just a yankee fan who watches the games.
You're right about Crosby, but Torre has never had any faith in him. You'll remember how he silently stepped up last September and brought his average up as well. He needs work to be able to work.
Last night the Yankees were tired, getting in at 4:30am, and their bats fell flat with all the bad umpiring.
Poor umpiring...Joe Torre never complained when Jeffrey Maier "caught" Derek Jeter's homerun !
I agree that Torre plays favorites to the detriment of the team. His continued reliance on Scott Proctor for example has led to several unnecessary losses. I also agree that given the opportunity, Bubba Crosby would add better defense and an element of speed that this team desperately needs. Bernie has been a great Yankee, but he no longer can perform if over used. He needs more rest to be effective and Bubba needs more at bats in order to be effective.
The umpiring was terrible, but it is part of the game.
Larry, I agree with you 100%. Bernie is killing us in the OF. We should give Bubba a chance. Even if he doesn't hit, he won't give away four runs in one game like Bernie did Sunday. And I think he will hit, with regular ABs. He always has in the past.
Every major league team is going to get a badly umpired game occasionally. What the Yanks consistently get are badly managed games. "Clueless Joe" lost this game for us once he posted the lineup card. The previous night A-Rod had a huge,confidence building game. The very next night, Torre bats Bernie 5th, behind A-Rod. Unless the bases are loaded, A-Rod is not going to get anything to hit all night. Basically, Torre took our hottest hitter out of the game. With our depleted lineup, there is no way we can have Jeter batting 2nd. You can throw that righty-lefty through the batting order philosophy out the window. Jeter should bat 3rd, A-Rod 4th, and Giambi 5th. When Posada is playing, I would still bat these 3 players in that order. And why hit for Green in the 9th? These are the game situations where you find out what a guy can and can't do. All Green did was homer the previous night. It's the managing that is killing this team, not the umps.
I don't believe that Bubba could hit 10 HRs, let alone 20, but Bernie is hurting the team with his defense, and his bat is slowing down.
I would call up Kevin Thompson, who is better than Bubba right now.
With the size of their payroll, why not buy the "Umps" as well?
The Yanks have the answer to the problem and it is Bubba.
Bubba stepped up last September and was one of the keys to the division title drive.
Twenty home runs? Who cares? He can hit more than adequately in small ball, run the bases and Bubba and Melky on the corners will stop runners thinking of turning a single into a double or more.
Bernie is a Yankee icon and has been a tremendous team player over so many years. He is worthy of every accolade. However he should not play regularly in the field; his skills are not what they used to be.
Bubba should play every day. His bat will follow suit.
Oh, right, the umpiring...
Bad umpiring is going to happen.
No excuses. But the Yankees hit poorly yesterday. Yes, they had to be tired from a late night game and then travel to Cleveland.
If anything this year's schedule seemed to have a decided anti-Yankee slant.
giambi DID foul that ball off. so thats a good call. the play at third no one saw. oh well. cant we hit. F the umps we have to hit.
Teams have to be prepared to have questionable umpires. Fans, players, and coaches should not even be allowed to comment on a call (I think) unless the umpires go against, or are forgetting a rule that is in the rulebook. All of this "Oh, he was safe!" Or, "C'mon, that wasn't a strike!" is just degrading to the game of baseball. I feel that the only thing that should be allowed to be argued, is strictly rules.
cb buckner is the worst umpire in the league. he doesnt know the difference between balls and strikes.