WarrenW

I don't even follow baseball but I thought this was just crazy. The game is rigged in favor of the Yankees because MLB knows the Yankees, like Ferrari in F1, will always have a huge following so they can get away with anything.

Twins’ misgivings about umps were justified

MINNEAPOLIS – One by one, they scurried up the tunnel to witness the latest umpiring disgrace. By now, the Minnesota Twins are used to crucial calls in the postseason going against them, though that doesn’t make them any less masochistic about it. When one happens, they want to see it.

And so they exited the dugout, took a right turn, then a left into the room that houses the BATS Video Coaching System. It replays pitches from any number of camera angles, and it affirmed their first impression: Hunter Wendelstedt, the umpire whose strike zone would’ve been bad for a Little League game, had indeed blown the most important call of the night. The tailing fastball from Carl Pavano(notes) had crossed home plate, and it should have been a called third strike on Lance Berkman(notes) for the second out of the seventh inning.

When Berkman slammed the next pitch over Denard Span’s(notes) head in center field for a go-ahead double in the New York Yankees’ 5-2 victory at Target Field, the Twins couldn’t help but lament their fortunes. Last postseason, a muffed call by umpire Phil Cuzzi cost them in an eventual Yankees sweep in the American League Division Series. After falling behind 2-0 in a best-of-five series that heads to Yankee Stadium, a similar fate seems to be chasing these Twins.
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Rest of the article at the link. The Yankees could lob balls to the plate and the umpires would probably call them strikes.

JP Money

And Posey should have been out in game 1 in the Giants-Braves series to end the inning, but he wasn't and he scored the winning run on the next batter. Instant replay! Maybe not for ball and strikes but at least catches and close plays at the bases.

turbo_pwr

No mention of the fact that Golson caught the 3rd out in the bottom of the 9th inning in Game 1 and the umpires blew that call in favor of the Twins?

tonerockyhorror

How does one bad call signify a rigged game? Did the ump know the next pitch would be a double?

The ump was bad all-around, all game, and it affected both teams. The Yankees took advantage of the bad calls that went their way, the Twins did not...end of story.

vader1

While I thought the balls and strikes calls were inconsistant and and tended to favor both Sabathia and Pettite, it did not make much difference becaue my Twins are made up over jelly spined wimps who pee down their legs when a game actually matters.

Its been that way for years and it starts with Joe Mauer. Sure he's a great player and a leader on the team but he panics come playoff time and the rest of the team follows his example.

Umps (and MLB for that matter) favor the Yankees? Yes. Does it matter if the Twins are the opponents? No.

S2KNJ

yes ever since the 1900s MLB has been on the side of the yankees and responcible for the 27 WS wins...

you've uncovered some crazy info there, don't tell anyone and hopefully it will be contained to the twin cities and S2KI

Go Yankees...

...and Ferraris.

AZDavid

Baseball . The only thing that made the game somewhat exciting was roids.

newyawkballa

The Phillies are winning it all...Put up some $$$$......I need to faten my paypal....

blkwidow

Why even come in here if you're not at least somewhat a fan of the game?

JonBoy

If you read the article, it states that the Twins had 17 pitches called for strikes that were actually outside the strike zone. So, it's kind of weird to highlight one strike that was called a ball and ignore the other 17 that went FOR them instead of against them... By comparison, there were only 2 balls called for strikes for the Yankees! Additionally, there were 13 strikes called as balls, so in the end, it was a +4 night for the Twins in terms of pitching calls. They still came out ahead.