He's another classic example of an umpire who thinks the fans are coming to see him. That finger wagging and dismissive hand waving last night was completely ridiculous. He's an arrogant buffoon and hopefully Girardi does talk to the league about his actions.
You should never even notice an umpire, yet this clown is trying to make the game all about him. He killed Gardner's at-bat and then squeezed Kelly on a better pitch. There needs to be accountability, but baseball's higher ups are so ball-less, I bet nothing at all is even mentioned.
Late in the game score tied 1-1 Yankees have bases loaded with nobody out & Gardner is up. The count was 1-0 the next pitch is down near Gardner's ankles, Diaz calls it a strike. After watching bad calls all night Girardi says something from the dugout & Diaz waves his finger at him in a scolding motion (Dekembe Mutobo use to do after a blocked shot) and Girardi says something else & is thrown out. Girardi does a George Brett & bolts from the dugout and has a VERY verbal comfrontation with Diaz. After the dust settles instead of the count being 2-0 its now 1-1 & Gardner ends up striking out. (You still with me Steve?) Jeter then lines into a double play & no score. Bottom 8 the Yankees pen blows & walks in 3 runs. When Kelley (I think) is leaving the field Diaz shoos him away (like he's telling a dog to go back home) mouthing the words "Keep walking, Keep walking". Before Diaz throws him out. Anyway the Yanks lost 4-1.
...Gardner has a propensity for striking out...the called strike in question was borderline. And it still does not excuse Gardner for watching the next pitch (strike 2) go by and then swinging at the next pitch (strike 3) which was well inside and up in his eyes...also does not excuse Jeter trumping Gardner's failure by then GIDP. If Jeter does his job there, the Yanx score 2 runs.
I agree on Gardner, To many times he looks like he's either dozing off & swatting flies. In fairness to Jeter it was a hard hit ball, unfortunately it was right at someone. But yes this team has just not been performing well at all with RISP.
...rick, things are just going bad right now, it happens...hell, look at the Braves. They're a good team but they've managed to lose 7 in a row and in those games they've scored 0, 3, 4, 1, 1, 1, and 3 runs. And the last game they won, they won 1-0 vs the Reds. ...both teams are better than they have shown lately and they will improve...and IMO, a lot of the posts I've read recently are over-reactionary and are a bit over the top.
...btw, concerning Jeter, a lot of people ridicule him for hitting into so many DPs...but the fact is that if you are a good contact hitter it stands to reason that you're going to hit into a lot of DPs. ...of course, career longevity is also a factor but just look at the names on this list; http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/GIDP_career.shtml
Being just a little over a month into the season it is a little early for anyone to start panicking. By season's end I expect the see the following............. McCann & Ellsbury with 15-20 HRs with McCann being over 260 & Ells near the 300 mark. Jeter will finish above 270 while playing in only 120-130 games. Beltran will be a 275 plus hitter with AT LEAST 25 HRs & Sori & Tex will be in the range of 30 HRs & 100 RBI. Roberts will continue to suck & Gardner will be near 150 strike outs. Aside from Tanaka I have no guess's on the pitching.
...for me, Roberts has been one of the biggest disappointments, offensively and defensively...just doesn't look like the same player.
I love wikipedia. I was able to go right in and edit Laz Diaz' profile (kept it clean so it might have longevity), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laz_Díaz …scratch that, it's down already. Laz Diaz and Joe West need to be replaced. Tons of guys who would love to do that job and do it well and honestly.
...yeah, I'm sure he was trying to fire his team up...it's too bad they let him and themselves down. ...btw, did you see Rothschild in the dugout when all the walks started coming?...I thought he was gonna blow out a vein.
That ump is protected by the union and no one has the balls to fire or suspend him simple as that. As previous stated he is arrogant and I will use the word racist. If MLB looks at the game film they will find this out and he is also a distraction swinging his hands. Where did MLB find this idiot he is far from a MLB ump.
