Final Score in the Bronx:Angels Single Digit Yankees Double Digits
The tarps came out on the field in the top of the eighth inning during a sudden cloudburst of a blowout game ...and then eventually the Angels lost. But it wasn't what it seemed by then. The Halos had their momentum castrated by an umpire that you have to wonder is involved in Tim Donaghy like shenanigans.
The Angels had the bases loaded with one out when Tommy Field hit a sac fly to Left to score Chris Nelson from 3B to tie the game at four apiece - but wait, the umpire has signalled that Chris Nelson left 3B early, before the catch was made. Let's look at the replay - oh that's right, Major League Baseball doesn't have replay.
The umpire who made the call was the home plate umpire, whose vantage point from the 1B side of home plate was terrible, was David Rackley, up from the minor leagues because an umpire somewhere is on vacation.
The three veteran umpires in the crew let this egregious call stand, although to implicate them in a bookie-fueled conspiracy would be an overstretch in the climate of backing up a fraternity brother from the loyal order of the Moose-brained Umps. This culture of complicity, though, would seem to allow rogue umpires opportunities to influence games beyond interpreting the rules.
Instead of two outs in the top of the sixth inning with men on 2B and 3B and J.B. Shuck coming up to the plate in a 4-4 tie, it was the Yankees facing J.C. Gutierrez in the bottom of the sixth with a 4-3 lead.
The bullpen floodgates opened as they have so many times this season... and really last year too. If it isn't apparent to you that the single most important Angel player of Mike Scioscia's managerial tenure turns out to be... Scot Shields.
Meanwhile, Josh Hamilton left five men on base. Erick Aybar left the game with a sore calf and Andrew Romine was taken out of the game in AAA Salt Lake and may be with the team tomorrow night in New Jersey or wherever the humid sewer the Yankees call home is located.