Thursday, July 22, 2010

YOU'D ALMOST THINK I WAS A DODGER FAN

***BUT I'M NOT! NOT, DO YOU HEAR ME?***
Our 'friends' the umpires are screwing up again. Everyone knows that a manager has to remove a pitcher after the second visit in an inning. This is to prevent a parade of visits to the mound so the game will move along. I admit that I thought the manager (or coach) had to cross the foul line to deem the visit complete, not just leave the pitcher's mound. To prevent managers from changing a pitcher BEFORE he's pitched to anyone by 'visiting' the mound twice, there is a codicil to the rule: If the manager visits the mound twice in one inning while the same hitter is batting, the manager is ejected, the pitcher MUST pitch to one batter and then MUST leave the game. Apparently, this is what should have happened the other day. Broxton should have been allowed to face one more hitter and perhaps end the inning. Mattingly could have known the rule, but he didn't have to. It certainly makes no difference whether or not I knew. But the umpires absolutely, positively MUST know the rule. This mistake may have cost the Dodgers a game. Why aren't these guys punished when they make such a serious mistake? And I don't mean quietly chastised or fined "an undisclosed amount." I mean taken out back of the woodshed and beaten severely. Well, maybe that's a little overboard, but we're obviously not getting their attention.

***ON THE OTHER HAND...***
The umps did help the Yanks seal a victory by getting Gardner out of the game so Colin Curtis could hit the big three-run blast. Nobody still has any idea why Gardner was tossed, but there's nothing unusual about that. I notice that Matsui still has that Yankee Stadium home run swing. The Yanks fought their way to a 4-4 split of the season series. Now, on to greener pastures, outwardly known as Kansas City.

***THE RULE OF THREE?***
Bad week for the Yankees: we lost Ralph Houk, age 80, George Steinbrenner, age 90, and Bob Sheppard, age 100(almost). As faithful reader Judymaris said, "God must like round numbers."

CP-

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