Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Why I hate the Yankees

A recent SweetSpot Blog post by David Schoenfield has the "Five worst umpiring calls in history".  The calls are all from playoff or World Series games due to their impact on important games.  You'll notice that three of the five calls, that's 60% of the worst calls in history, benefited the Yankees.  (And no calls harmed them).  These include:

#5 Mauer's Fair Ball being called Foul in the 2009 ALDS, where it was fair by several inches.  Note that one of Schoenfield's colleagues, Jim Caple, called this the second worst blown call.  The umpire (Phil Cuzzi)  was standing only 20 feet from where the ball landed, with a clear view, and with the specific duty of calling such plays.

#4 Reggie Jackson interfering with a double-play throw in the 1978 World Series.

#1 Jeffrey Maier interfering with Derek Jeter's fly ball in the 1996 ALCS.  Should have been an out, instead it was called a home run. Maier reached over the wall at least a foot, and the outfielder, Tarasco, immediately complained.  It wasn't even close.  And, in the interviews on the video link, Andy Petitte admits that it was a turning point in the series.


Now, all of these calls happened where?  In Yankee Stadium.  And, seriously, what do you think the odds are the three of the five worst calls in history "just happened" to benefit the Yankees?