So Much for an All-California World Series
One day after the Los Angeles Dodgers lost to the Philadelphia Phillies — giving the Phillies a 3-1 lead in the series — the Los Angeles Angels decided to do the same. They were absolutely shellacked by the New York Yankees, losing at home 10-1 Tuesday night. The blowout put the Yankees up 3-1 in the series and gives them the chance on Thursday to bounce the Angels from the playoffs and return to the World Series for the first time since 2003.
CC Sabathia was dominant once again and picked up his second win of the series. He pitched eight innings of mostly error free ball, allowing only five hits while tossing five strikeouts. His only blemish was allowing a solo home run to Kendry Morales in the fifth inning, but was otherwise untouchable. Alex Rodriguez also had an impressive outing, reaching base on three of his four at-bats and homering in his third consecutive game. Rodriguez has taken a lot of flack the past few years for his post season struggles, but with his recent performances he is making his case to be the next Mr. October.
With the game not close after the third inning, the most interesting part of the contest was the work of the umpires. They incorrectly called Nick Swisher safe at second base in the fourth inning during a pickoff attempt, then later in that same inning incorrectly called him out for leaving third base too early while attempting to tag up on a pop out. In the fifth inning the Angels once again received the shaft, this time when catcher Mike Napoli tagged out Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada but crew chief Tim McClelland declared that only Posada was out.
These three blown calls may get swept under the rug because the game was a runaway, but bad officiating has plagued the MLB playoffs and become a justifiable topic of debate. Don’t believe me? Just ask any Minnesota Twins fans who watched umpires foul up their chances with bad calls during their divisional series against the Yankees.
What do you think? Has officiating been that bad or has the media been over reacting? Is it time for MLB to extend the use replay?
Image Source: News Observer
