This rule, unsurprisingly, seems to have basically applied to The Babe alone. But apparently it really happened. An ump would squint at a ball disappearing out of the Polo Grounds and assert that, when it came down in Westchester somewhere...it would've been foul.
That doesn't even excuse yesterday's bohos, especially home plate ump Adam Beck, who somehow couldn't see Judge's Ruthian shot disappearing through the trees.
But that call—and scorekeeper Bill Mathews' unprecedented, late change to spoil a no-hitter—bring to mind the dangerous game that Rob Manfred's MLB of Gimmicks continues to play.
By so thoroughly embracing gambling, baseball—and all other professional sports in America—have invited back in the room the devil that Babe Ruth did so much to vanquish from our midst. That is, the fear of a fix.
I'm not making any accusations here. No doubt, Mathews—who actually robbed a pitcher of a no-hitter with a similar bad call back in 2011—just has trouble seeing things the visiting team's way. Umpire Beck...should probably take a trip to the ophthalmologist, next town he's in. Hey, wearing glasses is no disgrace!
But there will be a time when someone's going to question whether bizarre calls and reversals like these stand to benefit someone. Someone who doesn't make a major-league salary, and has just had his wife's cousin make a bet not even on the final result of the game, but how many hits the starting pitcher will allow, or whether Aaron Judge will hit a home run.
So easy to do it now, right on your phone! As all those game-time ads keep telling us (and whatever did happen with Shohei Ohtani's translator and that $16 million?)
Again, that's not what happened Sunday. Just put it down to pure tomfoolery and literal myopia. But it could happen next time. Very easily.
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That fishy smell in Florida is just the body odor of Floridians, those useless pelican blowing, pig fuckers.
Here - Here - Hoss !
Thanks, AA!
Off to a helluva start tonight.
Looks like it got late early tonight.
Looks like Clarke Schmidt the bed a little bit.
I still don’t understand why a catcher is in the lead off spot.
Jizz Chasm made a Gleyber-like play at second allowing another run to score.
Especially one hitting .190 with an OBP of .274
Thanks for calling out the gambling thing, Hoss. Baseball and professional gambling are a recipe for scandal, fixed games and - yeah - fixed teams. Especially when the front office is in financial bed with gambling companies.
My point is not to condemn gambling, blame gamblers, the score keeper or even the Ohtani's of the world and their shady stupidies. I'm concerned about the Levine, Trosts and Cashman's of the world and the power of a front office, and/or all the other folks imposing themselves on a manager's decisions (like the analytics squad) to juke a game, a team or a season, for the benefit of their gambling contracts and kickbacks.
As for those calls yesterday (shakes head sadly), that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Alas, I didn't see the game. But I'll follow up with the highlights reel.
Thanks, Dr. T. And yes, like all classically bad organizations, the current Yankees never hire anyone who disagrees with the top dog and his prevailing mindset. HAL wants the payroll at a certain level. Cashman wants to do his idea of analytics. Anyone disagree? No? Good.
Jazz just coming apart. Batting .150, he gets up 2-0 on the count, looks at a curve on the edge of the zone, swings over a ball in the dirt, then swings and misses a fastball too far inside to do anything with.
His head seems about to explode, and he makes histrionic gestures after every at-bat. But of course there is no professional on the Yankees' bench capable of getting him to calm down and focus.
Tonight's official silver lining from Jeep:
Devin Williams will not be appearing in tonight's game.
Well, that's something, at least.
Jazz is really sucking badly. Wells is kinda sucking badly. (Another lameass player here) Is just sucking badly.
That HBP was bullshit
Mr. Clutch. Aw, the hell with it.
At least Jazz hit the mistake out. But yeah, not a great at-bat by Judge, and Wells looks awful.
4 of the starters in tonight’s game were under .200, a fifth barely above it. Tough to stage a comeback with that kind of hitting.
Agree with many of the criticisms leveled above, especially the overuse of analytics and the terrible coaching. We’ll eventually find out the impact of legalized gambling on the sport.
About 100 years had to pass before the powers that be forgot why there was a wall between gambling and sports. Why the regulations on the banking industry were there. Why fascism is a losing game.
Congratulations, we've lived long enough to see humanity about to relearn what we had already found out a century ago. Painfully.
It feels like Jazz and a few others are trying to hit home runs in every at-bat, leading to the legendary two-outcomes results. And streakiness at the plate seems to be affecting half the lineup. It feels like nobody took down the 'hit strikes harder' sign from the batting cage. Are the hitting coaches incompetent or is this the analytics department screwing up again?
Or both?
Yep, and mores the pity.
I think it's the stupid torpedo bats got into their heads. Think they're all big time home run hitting monsters like Aaron Judge. They need to stay within themselves. A good hitting coach would try to get that across into their thick skulls.
Amen Hoss! Late to party here, but I've been saying there will be scandals and fiascos that make the Black Sox Scandal look like child's play.
Couple of conspiracy theories here:
Think it might've been Cashman who asked the official scorer to change that to a hit? Because Max Fried might've had to get way up there with the pitch count to finish that game off. Might've actually been a good thing for the Yankees. I don't want Fried throwing 125 pitches this early in the year to try to get a no-hitter.
Second conspiracy theory: if Shohei Ohtani had hit that blast, don't ya think major league baseball's review booth reverses the call and says it's a home run?
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