Another Jeffrey Maier moment in the Bronx, but 17 runners on base?
Posted on October 10th, 2009 – 8:16 AMBy La Velle
I was in Yankee Stadium in 1996 when Derek Jeter sent a drive to right that Baltimore outfielder Tony Tarasco thought he had a chance to catch.
As he reached up at the wall, the glove of some kid named Jeffrey Maier reached down and caught the ball. Richie Garcia, the the umpire down the right field line that night, ruled it a home run. I joked in the Kansas City Star the next day that Maier played a single into a homer (a slight exaggeration).
Tarasco went nuts. But the call wasn’t changed. After the game, Garcia entered the media room and said, “Only I can get in trouble in right field.”
Exactly 13 years later, Garcia isn’t alone. Another outfield ump has blown a call. I’ll give credit to Garcia for facing the music. But Phil Cuzzi was nowhere to be found last night to explain how he blundered the call on Joe Mauer’s liner down the left field line. Crew chief Tim Tschida, St. Paul’s own, appeared instead.
What’s the point in having six umps if they are going to make mistakes, especially on such an obvious call? And can instant replay be expanded?
But I’m done with that. Folks, the real culprits on Friday were the Twins, who had 17 runners on base but couldn’t score more than three runs. A.J. Burnett walked five and hit two batters himself and was set up for a big blow that never came.
And the 11th inning, in which the Twins loaded the bases with no outs, will go down as one of the worst moments in club history, Delmon Young lined one right at Mark Teixeira for the first out but the other two at-bats were awful. Where are the Midre Cummings or Jose Offermans to get a pinch hit when you need one? Food for thought as the Twins work on their 2010 roster.
What also can’t be overlooked is that Joe Nathan fell apart in the ninth. He opened with three sliders for balls to A-Rod, then when he had no choice but to come in with a fastball, he grooved one. That’s five earned runs in two appearances against the Yankees for Nathan, both of which ended in walk-offs.
The Twins said the right things after the game about playing in crucial games in September and knowing they can bounce back. That’s what they are embracing as they try not to get swept on Sunday.
But they don’t have the power, on the mound or the lineup, to compete with the Yankees. That means they can’t blow scoring chances and can’t fall behind 3-0 to A-Rod in the ninth inning.
The Twins work out today at 10 am, followed by interview room sessions at around 11:30 that I’m pretty sure will be televised on the MLB Network. There should be updates on Matt Tolbert’s injury and Joe Mauer’s admission that he’s not feeling too good right now has to be a concern.
Carl Pavano will talk about facing the Yankees, the team he had four hugely unproductive years for.
67 Responses to "Another Jeffrey Maier moment in the Bronx, but 17 runners on base?"
La Velle, you’re 100% wrong. See my blogs on Howard’s column of earlier today.
I like how Carrey compared ARods first seeing-eye RBI single to Reggie Jacksons 3 hr’s. I miss Dick and Bert.
So. Very. Angry.
Still.
The ump stands in left field the entire game on that line. He has one job, stand around and wait for a ball like the one hit by Mauer. So basically he’s a spectator that gets to stand on the field and watch a good playoff game, because how often have you actually seen one of those guys have to make a call? And then when he has to make a call, he misses an obvious one.
P.S. La Velle- I follow you on Twitter and love the updates, but Brett spells his last name Favre. haha
Nathan is not a playoff pitcher. period. say what you want about small sample sizes, but there is a distinct and significant difference between is season numbers and playoff numbers.
absolutely unbearable.
I’m not a Minnesota fan, or even much of a baseball fan, but that was the WORST call I have EVER seen in any professional sport. What do they pay those guys for? It was easily three feet fair! I called it on a 13-inch black and white tv from across the room! A great game completely ruined. That call has turned me off of the game for years to come, something smells corrupt. Twins fans have every right to be up in arms today.
On a side note: How about Nick Blackburn? Way to step up like a real man again! As Dick Vitale would say “he is a PTPer”
Yeah, Burnsie’s been one to not let us down in big situations.
The Twins as a whole are a let down.
Agree re: the 11th inning at bats were ridiculous. Carlos Gomez is about the sorriest excuse for a major league hitter I’ve ever seen. Seriously. He’s nothing more than a glorified pinch runner. Oh, and his tripping over second base was priceless. Also beginning to wonder if Nathan is a modern day Ron Davis. Ugh. Wasted another great effort by Nick Blackburn; a real shame.
Is Mauer hurt? It sure looked like he was gimpy around the bases late in the game. I even questioned then why he didn’t go from first-third or second-home, but instead he just pulled up station-to-station. Something is not right.
As I watched Nathan warm-up, I thought to myself, “I wish we had Rivera on our side.” Before Nathan even threw the first pitch, I had a sinking feeling that he would not make it through the inning with a save. Cuzzi’s call was not the only reason for the loss (of course) but that was the worst call I have ever seen. Not even close. If I performed my job like that, I would be hearing from the boss. I am still so angry about that game. How are we supposed to beat the Yankees three games in a row, when we can’t even beat them once? And another thing…A-Rod (roidhead) is the one to hurt us? I am so disgusted! Well, off to enjoy my day. Thanks for letting me spew.
Although the Twins lost, it was a very entertaining game. To beat the Yankees you will need some luck, some calls go your way and mistake free baseball. Too many mistakes and missed opportunities by the twins. Blame them for blowing it. I hear the twins are starting to make reservations for their tee-times at the Golf Course. Batta, batta - swing - batta!!
Easy to rip the bench now. Some of us have been ripping it for more than a month. It’s inexcusable to have 5 mediocre middle infielders on your post season roster, along with three catchers (one of whom couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag right now).
This is on Bill Smith, 100%. No bench and terrible roster construction for this post season. Brutal.
The Twins would have had only 16 LOB if not for the umpire’s mistake. It wasn’t the only bad call of the night. The strike zone was insane.
If Gomez plays in a Twins uniform next year, something is just not right. He needs to spend an entire year in the minor leagues. He needs a good coach who speaks fluent Spanish in his ear 24-7. The Twins are absolutely wasting all of his athletic talent by allowing him to go out there as a know-nothing player. Send Casilla down, too. While he gets clutch hits, his play is incredibly inconsistent. The failure to tag up properly in the tiebreaker is only one example.
They should at least ban Cuzzi from ever getting to work the playoffs for the rest of his career. Mistakes that bad shouldn’t go unpunished.
Delmon Young’s at-bat in the 11th inning was not a disaster like Gomez’s. While they had pretty much the same outcome, at least Young swung at a good pitch and hit it hard. After Young’s at-bat, a long at-bat with a sac fly or something was called for. Gomez failed to hit the ball hard.
Gardenhire should have pinch-hit for Gomez there but failed.
Brendan Harris failed as well that inning.
As for Joe Vavra, once again, if the Twins hit only singles, they need three or four in one inning to score a run. That is why you need extra-base hits.
This year, the Twins have won a lot of games 9-2 getting their extra-base hits in chunks.
The Twins have lost a lot of games 4-3, 6-5, 7-6 and could not get an extra-base hit when they needed it at crucial times.
It’s frustrating. The players have the talent. They just can’t do it at the right time.
That is why I keep harping on the coaches. It’s the only constant in the last 10 years of playoff hope-dashing and futility.
Regardless of the bad call (which it obviously was), Mauer should have been able to score on the single; as someone pointed out, is something wrong with him?
And long before the bad call, you had the lead and blew it–it’s good to see most of you realize that.
It’s MENTAl. There are so many encouraging things about this team. The fact that there were 17 LOB is encouraging — I like that a lot better than 0 hits; 0 walks.
I don’t know what can change this team’s attitude about the Yankees. One thing I would recommend is that Gardenhire throw caution to the wind. Run as much as possible. Realize that “your best guy in this situation” earlier in the year might not be your best guy now. I felt the same when I saw Nathan come in last night as I felt when I saw Gardy putting Morny in the 4 spot in August and early September. My heart SANK.
You don’t have many more chances, boys. You’ve GOT to do something to take advantage of the encouraging things you ARE doing.
To a man.. the Yankee players HATE Carl Pavano.. Even Derek Jeter would make snide comments about him and Jeter is all class… I would be shocked if they don’t light him up like a Christmas tree by the 3rd inning.
Strike zone was the same both ways… Bases loaded no one out clutch up and get a hit…
Twins choked- their my squad but I am a realist..
Gardy gets the the Twins to the playoffs-but will a new manager actually get them past the ALDS round?
Someone needs to get these guys past the Yankees mental block they have.
Food for thought…
Good luck in game 3 Twins!
One might argue these extra umpires are counterproductive. They are so bored during the game with nothing to do, that when they do have a call to make, they are not actively in the game. Maybe a third base umpire would have ran down there and actively made a call.
LaVelle, I hope you aren’t “done” with the umpire fiasco. Push MLB. What punishment if any does he get? Are there plans to expand instant replay in light of this debacle.
Try not to just let the matter fade away and die because it happened to the Twins and not the Yankees.
*Sound of Twins choking*
(Motioning for us to perform the Heimlich)
*Sound of me turning the other way*
Yeah. Here’s to 17 LOB.
The umpires are on the Yankee payroll for quite some time now. This was no accident last night with the miss call. It was done on purpose. The umpires didnt want the Yankees to face the Tigers and that is why the Twins got the break with Inge. Its a lost case. If you think Aroid is the only one on steroids think again. Most of the team is on steroids even the savior who hit the homerun.
The Twins were unimpressive, but nothing changes the fact that without the blown call, we have the lead in the bottom of the 11th.
We didn’t do anywhere near as much as we should have, but we did enough to win this ballgame.
17 LOB. Shocking?…yes. Blown chances?…agreed. But the beauty of baseball is that each team has the same number of chances, i.e. three outs per team per inning. Every out is a blown chance. So the yankees had almost as many blown chances as the twins. It’s not like they beat us by 17 runs.
It may be true that some players/teams perform better in clutch situations. To me, that only means that they are not performing up to their full potential in the non-clutch situations. Maybe Harris should have saved his triple for the bases-loaded at-bat. After all,that was even more of a clutch situation.
This team has had one roller coaster week. Arriving in New York at 3:30 a.m. and playing the next night. Then they fly back from New York after a devastating loss get back in the wee hours of the morning and Gardy has them working out at 10 am? Let them get some rest. Work out at 2 or 3 o’clock. So stupid!
WOW that blew chunks! We can complain all we want about horrible calls but the Twins just didn’t shut the door in the 9th and made too many other mistakes to get the game to that point.
My opinion is the UMP saw the ball was fair but called it foul, and the other Umps went with it… I mean how can you not see where it landed being that close with no obstruction of view?? Yanks are supposed to win and will
Gardy has to use his whole team… i mean come on… casilla should have pinch ran for mauer… redman could have batted for any of the folloing hitters… after the bases got loaded… Gardy is afraid to use his team… and that is understandable… but he has to use the whole team… and who knows… someone might get lucky!
Go Twins
Three balls and then a strike that Jason Tyner could have driven out of the park. It was one of those I can’t watch but can’t turn away train wreck moments that have been all too familiar. Did that constitute cruel and unusual punishment? They should have played it on jumbotron at Guantanimo.
I’m perplexed by something. If we look back at all of Gardy’s playoff teams and their dismal record in the post season, I can’t help but notice a dramatic change in their play once they reach the playoffs.
It seems like all of these teams got to the post season by playing loose, taking good at bats, and just kind of being motivated by the pressure–or perhaps oblivious to it.
But once each of these teams has arrived in the post season, they tighten up, choke up, and perhaps even throw up!
Is Gardy doing something to contribute to this? Is he “over managing”? Is he tense, so they get tense? Is he changing his approach?
It seems like more than a coincidence as it has happened now several times with a variety of faces on the team.
And yes, I realize that in the end, when your behind the other guys in talent, it does contribute to all of these things. But last night was a gift that we not only refused, we repackaged and gave it back!
Maybe an angle for you to explore for me LEN..
Brent
After Nathan gave up the lead off hit. I hit fast forward on my DVR because I knew something bad was going to happen. The Twins play like scared puppies once they get a lead against the Yankees!!
LaVelle, I disagree with you about Delmon’s at-bat in the 11th. It was not a good at-bat.
With the bases loaded and no outs, you have to understand the pressure is all on the pitcher. There’s no reason to swing at a first pitch.
Gomez bat was awful in the 11th..AND he baserunning????? AWFUL.
Nathan was scared….
It is time for Billy Smith to resign or be fired!
Tampa trade…Young needs to go!
Mets trade…Gomez needs to go!
FL nees to go…trade him for a bag of balls!
Put JM on a diet!!!
Nathan is done as an All-Star clsoer…trade him for a third baseman or outfielder.
Please resign Caberra…like thenergy…hate the arm!
Still livid…
It was an exciting game and both teams blew chances to win.
I don’t understand why Nathan pitched so long when it was clear he was so ineffective. Doesn’t matter who is on the mound, if he’s not commanding the mound he has to be replaced.
Bottom line: the game was badly managed. The buck stops at the top and it’s the manager’s fault the Twins couldn’t pull this one out. Bases loaded, no outs and swinging on the first pitch????? After the 1st batter did that the manager should have clamped down on the 2nd.
I don’t know why Gardenhire gets a pass in all these comments.
Dave, thanks for your post at 9:10.
You Twins fans are all nuts! The umps wouldnt give the Yanks pitchers a strike all night!! You choked - Yanks rock - thats all. Happy golfing!!
LaVelle,
What happened to this:
Update: Just got done with Gardy. Jose Morales is not in the lineup tonight but the manager has no problems using him as a pinch hitter.
Gomez cannot be allowed to hit in the 11th, period. End of story. Gardy has to force the yankees hand with Morales in this spot. Gardy has been question able at best the two few weeks - Matt G. v. Granderson in game two in detroit, leaving Pavano in way to long in game 3 in detroit, now leaving you’re most hapless hitter in the game at its most critical at-bat. Pretty pathetic.
If mauer was sore and Gardy knew it, why wasn’t casilla running for him in the 11th? a non-hurt runner should have been able to go 1st to 3rd, OR 2nd to home on the two singles that followed him. Plus, Mauer should have been on second to start it off, but you can click my name to read about that.
Ya the Twins left runners on base, BUT they still did enough to win that game with the lineup.
Time for Joe Nathan to quit messing around with secondary breaking pitches and start cranking up the fastball again (like 97-98 of years past instead of 92-93 like last night). You CANNOT get to a 3-0 count against A-Rod with the game on the line throwing not even close to the zone sliders. There was a look of fear on Nathan’s face after Teixeira led off the ninth with a single that told me he was gonna blow it, so wheres the All-Star closer in this situation we know and love?!?
the world is a funny place. the red sox couldn’t beat the yankees in the big games until all of a sudden they could.
it’s good to get to the post season, but it would actually be nice to WIN in the post season.
Nathan sucked…ump jobbed us…no bench, where’s Randy Bush these days…on otherhand, still playing with house $$, going home, Yankees showed they can be had, although not by the Twins in NY…but its still home to the dome, and fans we need to give it these overpaid primadonnas, take a page from Fenway, dish the Minny nice and get after them, and get us a win tomorrow!
Let’s get our boys one more Win under the teflon!!!
1) Closers don’t nibble. Joe Nathan did against A-Rod. Not an acceptable approach.
2) Horrible call by the LF umpire, who was out of position. He’s supposed to be stopped and straddling the foul line; he was completely in foul territory and (I suspect) moving. Also gutless not to take the heat himself - I give the crew chief credit, but the LF umpire really should be telling his chief “I made this mess, I should face up to it.”
3) Delmon Young drilled that ball in the 11th. I’m more inclined to call it a mistake by the pitcher than a bad at bat by Delmon - the Yankees know Delmon’s not patient, there’s no way he should get a first pitch he can hit hard, but that’s what he got.
4) Carlos Gomez at bat is a different story. Another hacker with no discipline - not only is he swinging at a bad pitch, it’s a BAD swing at a bad pitch. Carlos is doing very little with his natural ability right now. I agree with the view that he ought to spend a year in AAA - there’s more than a “late inning defensive replacement outfielder” in there, but the Twins obviously aren’t doing what needs to be done to get it out.
Mr. La Velle, you got this one exactly right! Can’t waste a bad game by the Yankees.
Why didn’t Scott Ullger raise hell?
Let’s go Twins in game 3! Orlando for governor!
My my, how quickly the “Twins” fans turn. Such a fickle group. Seems just last Sunday everyone was on the bandwagon and now after two tough losses, you’re ready to fire Gardy and run Nathan and Gomez out of town. The Twins had a good year, they had a great last month going 17-4. Lets not overlook that. And they did it with 3 or 4 starting pitcher’s going down with injuries at one time or another this season. The guys we picked up have contributed far beyond expectations.
The bottom line is that the Yankee’s are a better team, period. They buy the best players money can afford and should be in a division with all the other huge budget teams. That is why they won 103 games.
Don’t blame the ump for a judgement call that didn’t go our way, over the course of the year they are going to calls. I’m sure we’ve had them go our way sometime this season and that ump missed a call in our favor.
We are not taking advantage of runners in scoring position. You can’t miss the opportunities and not drive those runners in, it will come back to haunt you everytime.
The Twins have a good core team. MVP and three time batting champ. They have good young starters and a solid bullpen.
What they really need is a right handed slugger.
It wasn’t as though that call was a close one made wrong. It was an obvious one made wrong. Mauer on second with nobody out is a big deal. That changes the pitchers approach. I don’t care about 17 LOB. I care about getting screwed by the ump in the 11th at Yankee stadium.
The blown call last night sucked, but in a way…it’s karma. After all, didn’t the homeplate ump miss Inge getting hit by a pitch that would’ve knocked in a 6th run on Tuesday?
It sucks, but the Twins blew their own chances as well. Hopefully the fact they hung in it last night will motivate them to keep it going at home.
If mauer was sore and Gardy knew it, why wasn’t casilla running for him in the 11th?
You do not pull your best hitter for a pinch runner when a game is deep into extra innings.
T: ” didn’t the homeplate ump miss Inge getting hit by a pitch that would’ve knocked in a 6th run on Tuesday?”
That one was at least close enough to have legitimately been missed, Mauer’s double wasn’t even close. Big difference.
“What they really need is a right handed slugger.”
Didn’t Michael Cuddyer hit 32 HR this year?
Even had the Twins won last night, they would most likely lose the series. The Yankees are a far superior team, and nine times out of ten, will take a best of five series from the Twins, You can say that they would then come back home and could sweep at home. In 2003 and 2004 they did come back home 1-1 with the Yanks and GOT SWEPT at home. There is the one out of ten chance they would win, but can we be happy with such chances?
Face it, until the cheap skate Pohlads and fat rear Bill Smith make significant moves to improve this team, it will never be able to compete with the Yanks on even a semi regular basis. Time to spring for a big time player to both fill a hole and show Mauer they mean business. Only way to keep Mauer too.
as far as the umps, that didnt cause the loss, and bad calls balance out over a year. But nonetheless, a major league umpire should NEVER miss a call that obvious. He should lose his job for something like that.
Scott Ullger held up at least 2 runner who could have scored this past game. And in the 1 game playoff did not get Casilla back on the bag to tag that is just poor 3rd base coaching. You can lay blame else where but our baserunning was terrible. With even decent baserunning we win this game.
The only problem I have with this column is the wishing for a Jose Offerman. The Twins led the league in pinch hit BA.
I don’t care what happened before that call, that call definately changed the game. NY had opportunities as well esp. in the 9th and did not win.
Inge did not get a hit either. Unbelievably baggy jeresy. There shuld be a rule that jeresys are tucked in he would not have been hit.
The call by the ump made was bad. The Twinns may not even be in the playoffs if the ump did not miss the call on Brandon Inge when he got hit with the ball. The replay showed he did get grazed, thats all it takes. A run would have scored and who knows what would have happened then. So quit whining about the calls and put the blame on the batters that cannot get the runners in with the bases loaded and no outs. Not to mention the lousey job the closer did.
I agree with kmdole (4:31 pm) that some Twins fans are fickle; many are also unrealistic. It was maddening for all us to lose Friday’s game, just as it was thrilling to win the 163rd game against Detroit. Both were great games with lots of great plays, tragic plays, and twists and turns - almost mirror-image games with different outcomes. However, many of the after-the-fact complaints on the blogs drive me nuts. A few examples: Just as winning the AL Central doesn’t make us the World Champions, losing to the Yankees doesn’t make us worthless. Gomez had a poor at bat in the top of the 11th yesterday, but nobody complained about it being a terrible decision to allow him to bat when he walked and scored a run in the 8th inning or when he got a hit and scored the winning run in the 12th inning on Tuesday against the Tigers. A-Rod has made some clutch hits this series. Should the Yankees have previously traded him as a washed-up player when he was 0 for 29 with runners in scoring position in the playoffs the last couple of years? And if the Twins had won yesterday’s game, would Mariano Rivera be considered “finished” as a closer because he gave up a run-scoring hit to Span in the 8th for a 3-1 Twins lead? This the kind of logic being expressed in response to the Game 2 loss. We’re all frustrated, but let’s keep it in perspective - even the best batters only get a hit a third of the time, every pitcher (even Mariano Rivera) will blow a lead occasionally, and neither the Yankees nor the Twins could put yesterday’s game away until Texiera’s home run in the 11th. Everyone on both teams is trying their hardest and nobody is perfect (except for bloggers). Whatever happens tomorrow, the Twins have given us a great ride this month and this season. I’m looking forward to the rest of the playoffs and to next year. Go Twins!
True Bird, we aren’t as worthless as some comments would suggest. Its just against the Yankees that we are worthless. Nathan’s choke is a microcosm of how this team has fared against the Yanks, especially in the playoffs.
*HOWEVER, this being said, this season (and 2006) have made me accustomed to the vampire-quality this team possesses - and I won’t ever say they are finished until the ‘F’ appears next to the score.
good post, bird.
don’t forget, the red sox couldn’t beat the yankees in big games until they could.
