CB Bucknor has a long track record of being a terrible home plate umpire – for many, many years. He is inconsistent and players and managers have complained year after year covering different generations. SU asks: why put him behind the plate for a playoff game in 2020? The answer is probably seniority as I believe that is how umpires are assigned to these games. I mean, even Angel Hernandez is working the playoffs and he is equally bad.
If you watched last night’s Yankee game, there were so many calls where the pitch fell outside of the TBS box on the screen. Now, SU says that the box is hard to see to begin with, and after a while, I could not tell if the “red” circle meant the pitch was in the box or the yellow one was as Bucknor missed so many calls. Of course, the announcers declined to discuss it in any detail. But let’s be clear: that is NOT the reason that the Yankees struck out 18 times in this game. It was the Rays’ pitchers who seem to all throw in the upper 90s. Bucknor made those at bats more difficult but the Yankee hitters are fully capable of flailing on their own.
SU says the bigger story was Aaron Boone and not allowing Garcia to pitch beyond 1 inning. He brings in Happ to start the 2nd inning instead of starting the game, and lost what was probably his best long relief option in Garcia after 1 inning. That led to having to bring in Loaisiga in the middle innings and he allowed 2 key runs in combination with Ottavino who is painful to watch this year. As SU has said frequently, Boone is not a good in-game manager and this move really back-fired. This means that game 4 will have Montgomery starting or an opener – neither is ideal against the Rays. The Yankee bullpen is not set up this year for an opener scenario. The better move was to let Garcia go as long as he could last night. Happ was clearly not happy in his post-game comments but did admit that his lousy outing was on him – as we all know it is.
The Generational One is on fire. SU must admit that he is, by far, their best offensive player now and the Rays will start to pitch around him. The problem is that both Judge and Voit are cold. Judge, in particular, looks out of synch. Sanchez should not start tonight – but SU is pretty sure he will be in there with Tanaka on the mound.
SU continues to be puzzled by the reliance on the all-right handed line-up. Only Hicks is in there. Gardner has been benched and the only conclusion is that he can no longer get around on a 95+ mph fastball. Frazier can hit those – but only occasionally.
Tonight is the key game. We are in a 2 out of 3 game series and Tanaka really needs to be economical with his pitches tonight. Boone has to let him face the line up for the 3rd time through. His bullpen is not good enough to justify taking him out.
It is an interesting series. The Rays are feisty, younger and put the ball in play. The Yankees are all about home runs and strikeouts. The good news is that there is a 7 pm start tonight and SU can avoid dozing off for 15 minutes in the middle innings.
Thoughts on Bucknor? Boone? Electronic umpiring?
Sports Update Intergalactic 
I am a firm believer that MLB should move to the “Mac Cam” approach for balls and strikes. Umpires can change the course of a game, and that’s not the point. It can be done instantaneously, so no argument about delays of the game. And it’s impartial. Getting the call right is the most important thing
There are two umps whose names an average baseball fan knows: CB Buckner and Angel Hernandez. And they are well known because they are terrible. Ask the average fan to name two good umps and see what you get…
The sooner they do this, the better.
Going to Happ was probably not an in-game managerial decision. I’m sure that Boone (probably with input from his coaches, the stats team and Cashman) thought that a surprise opener approach is the right call in a short series when you haven’t really done it before. I don’t really get it. We know Garcia can pitch more than an inning and we know that Happ isn’t that great. So what’s the strategy there? If Happ completely shuts The Rays down for 2-3 innings, maybe they decide to start burning through pinch hitters early. But that’s two big question marks. Chances are that Happ isn’t going to shut anyone down. And chances are that the Rays will be patient early in a close game and go with the hitter they have, even if the lefty/righty matchups aren’t perfect. I just don’t get it at all. If Happ throws 5 scoreless innings, we’re having a different conversation but that’s highly unlikely.
Weren’t they tracking the performance of home plate umpires with balls/strikes? I know this was a controversial development a few years back but I haven’t heard about it in a while.
I’m in favor of it. I believe the averages will go up if they put this in the game. I’m wondering how the electronic Umps will deal with pitches thrown high and tight, balls thrown that just graze a hitters uniform, tossing out players or managers mouthing off at the Ump.
I say zap em all with their stun gun
In my quote last night, I singled out Boone for his stupidity. That was my fault. It is also Cashman’s fault. It is not enough for Cashman to be a GM, where his teams have won 1 WS in 20 years, despite a payroll that is three to four times the size of Tampa Bay. He also needs to act as manager as well. He is not very good at either position. Their lack of faith in a generational talent like Garcia might cost them this series. If it does, their jobs should follow. But it won’t. They have more job security than anyone in the teacher’s union.
If you thought the umpiring was bad last night, it was incredible compared to tonight . Pitches to Voit with the bases loaded out of the strike zone being called strikes, a blown strike three call that erases a double play and leads to a Kiermair three run homer and pitches to Stanton that are clearly inside being called strikes. If the cowardly owners were not afraid of the umpires union, they would do the right thing and make all calls electronic. It’s done in horse racing. Does anyone complain? Enough of games being determined by something other than the players.
I would not resign always injured Paxton, Tanaka, Happ and Gardner, and go after Trevor Bauer, a tough kid who would fit perfectly in NY.