Umpires Beat Yankees for Rays, Here Come Red Sox

Today would have been my grandmother's birthday. She was from Queens, and a Brooklyn Dodger fan until they moved, and a Mets fan from their arrival until her death. She hated technology. Aside from cable TV, she didn't like it, and couldn't handle it.

The Luddites were a secret oath-based organization of English textile workers in the 19th Century, a radical faction which destroyed textile machinery as a form of protest. They may taken their name from Ned Ludd, a weaver from Anstey, near Leicester. The term came to mean "someone opposed to advancing technology." When Grandma found out what a Luddite was, she embraced the term. "That's what I am," she said.

And yet, I think she would have said, "I, for one, welcome our new robot umpire overlords." Every now and then, she would say, "The umpires are getting too big for their britches." And she didn't mean they were fat, although many of them were, and are. She meant they were trying to make the game all about themselves. She would have agreed with the saying, "Nobody ever bought a ticket to see an umpire."

The umpires have been squeezing the the Yankees for years. But in this 4-game home series with the Tampa Bay Rays that just ended, it was especially egregious.

In yesterday's matinee finale, the plate umpire was named Chad Whitson. Those of us old enough to remember the 1980s, when the Yankees had Ed Whitson on the mound, got it nasty flashback upon seeing the name. (As far as I can tell, they're not related.)

Gerrit Cole started for the Yankees. Brett Gardner gave him a 1-0 lead with a home run in the bottom of the 3rd. But he gave up a home run to Austin Meadows in the top of the 4th. In the bottom of the 4th, Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough threw Clint Frazier five pitches, none of them in the strike zone, none of which were swamped, but three of them were called strikes, and he was out.

Ordinarily, I would write the numbers as numbers. This time, for emphasis, I'm writing them out as words. Someone at MLB.com made a chart showing that Yarbrough got eight pitches outside the strike zone called strikes, Cole none (possibly one). No question about it: There was bias here. A two-to-nothing count could be a couple of mistakes. An eight-to-nothing, or eight-to-one, count is corruption. Whitson is corrupt enough to referee a Premier League match against Arsenal. (And I do mean "against" Arsenal.)

Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you. But so can bad calls by the umpire. Cole began the top of the 5th by walking Mike Zunino, on a 3-2 pitch. He got no benefit of the doubt from Whitson. He struck Taylor Walls out. Then Kevin Kiermaier grounded to 1st, and ran out of the baseline, and DJ LeMahieu couldn't tag him.

The 1st base umpire was Alan Porter. He called Kiermaier safe. The correct call would have been to call Kiermaier out, and send Zunino back to 1st: Man on 1st, 2 out. Instead, it was 1st and 2nd, 1 out. Instead, the umpires screwed the Yankees.

The dominoes fell. Cole struck Randy Arozarena out, but Brandon Lowe singled home Zunino, and advanced to 2nd on the throw home. Then Yandy Diaz singled home Kiermaier and Lowe. It was 5-1 Rays, the game effectively over.

Certainly, it was over for Cole. Manager Aaron Boone brought Nick Nelson in to relieve. This was a very stupid thing to do, as Nelson gave up 4 runs in less than 2 innings. Luis Cessa and Brooks Kriske pitched very well after that. As Phil Rizzuto would have said, "But the damage is done. I tell ya, Murcer, it's unbelievable."

The umpires had been bad all through this series, all four games. But yesterday afternoon was a new low. It got so bad that even Aaron Boone, not known for his outbursts -- the famous 2019 "savages in that box" incident to the contrary -- finally had enough. In the top of the 7th, when he came to take Nelson out, he yelled at Whitson, calling him out for his bias, and got tossed for his trouble.

Boone has been criticized by Yankee Fans for not showing enough passion. This time, he did, but it was more than a day late, and far more than a dollar short.

Rays 9, Yankees 2. WP: Yarbrough (3-3, with a complete game). No save. LP: Cole (6-3).

So the Yankees, really needing to win 3 out of 4, only got a split -- and were maybe 1 key hit on Tuesday and another on Wednesday away from getting swept.

And now, we have to face the Boston Red Sox, in 3 night games, including the ESPN Sunday broadcast. Anybody think the umps will call a series between the Yankees and The Scum fairly? If you do, I'd like to sell you the Macombs Dam Bridge.