If it wasn’t for bad luck, the New York Yankees wouldn’t have any luck at all.
The Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 4-2, on Monday at Camden Yards. But it was a game that New York had a chance of winning.
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An eighth-inning rally died when right fielder Aaron Judge was thrown out at third base for the third out of the inning.
Manager Aaron Boone then was ejected after arguing he didn’t have enough time to decide if he wanted challenge the play.
But YES Network’s Michael Kay and David Cone, who called the action Monday night in Baltimore, said Judge and Boone should’ve known better.
Kay: “Before we even talk about the challenge, or the lack thereof, you’ve got to look at Aaron Judge with a play right in front of him, a team trailing, and the old adage you just don’t make the final out at third base, David.”
Cone: “Yeah, you can understand he’s aggressive, Aaron Judge can run the bases very well, but yes, Michael, you’re right, you cannot make an out there. Not only did it end the inning, it prohibited a run from scoring, although erroneously in our opinion. We believe the run should’ve been allowed to score, but nonetheless, a ball down the left field line, everything right in front of you there, the last thing you need is to end that inning on trying to stretch it to third base on a play that with two outs, it was going to be irrelevant anyway.”
Kay: “Now as David mentioned during the game, Major League Baseball has given a directive to umpires to not let people take that much time reviewing the plays in the clubhouse and then getting it to the dugout. But I thought that was an extremely quick ‘No you can’t do this’ and I understand why Aaron Boone got thrown out. The whole idea of replay to me David, I thought was to get it right. Don’t you want to get it right, there? And the Yankees did have a right to challenge, and if they were three or four seconds too late, we didn’t put a clock on it, it seems you’re being counterproductive to what replay’s about, if you don’t allow them to look at it.”
Cone: “I agree completely with everything you just said, Michael. And what it does, it cries out for a change in the rules. I mean, we see the NFL has a flag that you can throw out, the red baggie that head coaches throw out. There’s no rule in Major League Baseball now. It’s sort of like, ‘Hey you didn’t look at me. You need to look at me.’ You only have 20 seconds. There’s no clock. Boy, this is just a mess at this point. You know, we’re starting to see more and more of this, where umpires are not allowing the managers to over extend and take too much time. But where’s the clock? And when do you start the clock? Just a thousand questions now that need to be answered and this rule needs to be revisited.”
Kay: “And you know the Yankee deserve some of the blame here as well. You’ve got to challenge. It’s the eighth inning. The game is on the line right there. You should be challenging immediately. Forget about what they’re saying in the clubhouse, what they’re looking at, what they see. Your job there is to challenge and just hope that it goes in your favor. What are you saving that challenge for?”
Cone: “It’s true. It’s even more important now, obviously, that they are being very stringent now in the count, however many seconds you have. So, yes, you’re right Michael. The later in the game, there’s no reason to hold back. Maybe early in the game, you know, you want to wait, you don’t want to be overzealous. But yeah, I could not agree more with you, Michael. The rule itself is ambiguous at best, right now, and managers are at a loss what to do. Umpires are calling it differently now this year, and yes, you’re right Michael, the incentive to hold back is not there. You should challenge at every point now, especially late in the game.”
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