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TAMPA – While Aaron Boone didn’t take issue with the scoring change that officially ended Max Fried’s no-hit bid on Sunday, the manager did have a problem when a clear-as-day Aaron Judge homer was deemed foul.
The moonshot in question came in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ 4-0 win over the Rays on Sunday. With nobody on and Eric Orze pitching, Judge clobbered a 3-2 pitch well beyond the left field seats and concourse at George M. Steinbrenner Field. While replay showed the ball was fair with plenty of room to spare, third base umpire Scott Barry signaled foul.
Replay officials in New York then upheld the foul call before Judge struck out looking.
At that point, a furious Boone earned himself an ejection from home plate ump Adam Beck, whose zone the manager already had complaints about. Then Boone made sure to yell at Barry before watching the rest of the game from his office.
“It was a fair ball,” Judge said, though he noted that the foul poles at Steinbrenner Field, a spring training and minor league stadium, aren’t as tall as they are at big league parks. “It’s not umpires. It’s a tough situation.
“I think everybody is kind of scratching their head, but nothing I can do about it. They missed it, and just gotta move on.”
While Judge didn’t want to blame the umpires, Boone couldn’t believe the call stood after replay review. With that decision made, Boone could only be mad at Barry’s original call for creating the situation.
“The audacity of the call standing is remarkable,” Boone said after rewatching the play with Yankees replay coordinator Brett Weber. “It’s a home run. It didn’t go our way, though.”
The home run that wasn’t would have been Judge’s eighth of the season.
It also would have been one of his longest dingers, though there were no official measurements on the blast.
“I did not have a good view of it,” Cody Bellinger said, “but it was probably the farthest ball I’ve ever seen hit.”
Judge’s non-homer was the call that angered Boone the most, but it wasn’t the only questionable one of the game.
The other occurred in the sixth inning when Rays’ speedster Chandler Simpson hit a grounder to Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Simpson was clearly going to beat Fried to first base, but Goldschmidt booted the ball and was charged with an error.
That kept Fried’s no-no bid alive for the time being.
But controversy followed as Fried took the mound in the eighth. With the Rays still hitless, their official scorer, Bill Mathews, changed Goldschmidt’s error to a hit for Simpson.
Boone and Fried didn’t know it at the time, and the latter quickly gave up a leadoff single to Jake Mangum. Neither the pitcher nor the manager had an issue with the scoring change ― Mathews ultimately made the right call ― but fans were understandably frustrated that the switch took so long to make and that it came with Fried six outs away from the history books.
“Look, we’re not gonna beat [Simpson] to the bag,” Boone said. “So I get it, but it makes it a little bit dicey when it’s within the game or, obviously, with a no-hitter going on. But the reality is, it was a hit.”
While Boone didn’t mind what Mathews did, he did take a few seconds to critique official scorers across the league.
While he appreciates official scoring is “a pretty thankless job,” he’s also often bewildered by how inconsistent those who fill the role can be.
“I scratch my head at the official scorers nightly,” Boone said. “They throw an error up on the board at Yankee Stadium, and then we go to these other places and they can fire up a hit with the best of ’em. It’s a different game in every other park. It really is.
“I mean, I’m sure there’s some that are similar, but there’s times I get involved in the year and am like, ‘What are we doing?'”
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The moonshot in question came in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ 4-0 win over the Rays on Sunday. With nobody on and Eric Orze pitching, Judge clobbered a 3-2 pitch well beyond the left field seats and concourse at George M. Steinbrenner Field. While replay showed the ball was fair with plenty of room to spare, third base umpire Scott Barry signaled foul.
Replay officials in New York then upheld the foul call before Judge struck out looking.
At that point, a furious Boone earned himself an ejection from home plate ump Adam Beck, whose zone the manager already had complaints about. Then Boone made sure to yell at Barry before watching the rest of the game from his office.
“It was a fair ball,” Judge said, though he noted that the foul poles at Steinbrenner Field, a spring training and minor league stadium, aren’t as tall as they are at big league parks. “It’s not umpires. It’s a tough situation.
“I think everybody is kind of scratching their head, but nothing I can do about it. They missed it, and just gotta move on.”
While Judge didn’t want to blame the umpires, Boone couldn’t believe the call stood after replay review. With that decision made, Boone could only be mad at Barry’s original call for creating the situation.
“The audacity of the call standing is remarkable,” Boone said after rewatching the play with Yankees replay coordinator Brett Weber. “It’s a home run. It didn’t go our way, though.”
The home run that wasn’t would have been Judge’s eighth of the season.
It also would have been one of his longest dingers, though there were no official measurements on the blast.
“I did not have a good view of it,” Cody Bellinger said, “but it was probably the farthest ball I’ve ever seen hit.”
Judge’s non-homer was the call that angered Boone the most, but it wasn’t the only questionable one of the game.
The other occurred in the sixth inning when Rays’ speedster Chandler Simpson hit a grounder to Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Simpson was clearly going to beat Fried to first base, but Goldschmidt booted the ball and was charged with an error.
That kept Fried’s no-no bid alive for the time being.
But controversy followed as Fried took the mound in the eighth. With the Rays still hitless, their official scorer, Bill Mathews, changed Goldschmidt’s error to a hit for Simpson.
Boone and Fried didn’t know it at the time, and the latter quickly gave up a leadoff single to Jake Mangum. Neither the pitcher nor the manager had an issue with the scoring change ― Mathews ultimately made the right call ― but fans were understandably frustrated that the switch took so long to make and that it came with Fried six outs away from the history books.
“Look, we’re not gonna beat [Simpson] to the bag,” Boone said. “So I get it, but it makes it a little bit dicey when it’s within the game or, obviously, with a no-hitter going on. But the reality is, it was a hit.”
While Boone didn’t mind what Mathews did, he did take a few seconds to critique official scorers across the league.
While he appreciates official scoring is “a pretty thankless job,” he’s also often bewildered by how inconsistent those who fill the role can be.
“I scratch my head at the official scorers nightly,” Boone said. “They throw an error up on the board at Yankee Stadium, and then we go to these other places and they can fire up a hit with the best of ’em. It’s a different game in every other park. It really is.
“I mean, I’m sure there’s some that are similar, but there’s times I get involved in the year and am like, ‘What are we doing?'”
Continue reading...
