ANAHEIM, Calif. — The An gels have three monster problems: Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia and the umpires. But they will be put out of their misery shortly.
After last night’s 10-1 loss to the Yankees, they’re looking out over the Laguna Cliffs, down 3-1 in the ALCS. Sabathia, starting on three days rest, stifled Mike Scioscia’s offense over eight innings by mixing in more off-speed pitches than the Angels expected.
Rodriguez continued to be Mr. A-Rod-tober, hitting his third home run of the series. He also did the little things, getting a great jump off third base to score the first run of the night in the Yankees’ three-run fourth.
Torii Hunter, the honest Angels center fielder, put it in perspective, saying, “The Yankees got their money’s worth on all their players, trust me. And with A-Rod turning it up a notch, look out. He’s shortened his swing, and that has made all the difference. CC pitched better on three days rest. He kept us off-balance all night.”
As for the umpires, they continued to miss calls at an alarming rate. Jerry Layne’s strike zone was sushi small for Scott Kazmir, who had his own issues. Second-base umpire Dale Scott missed a call at second when Nick Swisher was picked off in the fourth. Tim McClelland topped them all by missing a double play at third base in the fifth.
With Robinson Cano on second and Jorge Posada at third, Swisher hit a tapper back to the mound. The throw came home to catcher Mike Napoli, who ran Posada all the way back to third.
Cano came up to the third base bag, but never put his foot on third. Napoli recognized that and tagged Cano, who was off the bag, and then tagged Posada, who overran third, a clear double play.
McClelland never moved and thought Cano was on the bag. He called Posada out but Cano safe. This was an all-time blooper, and don’t be surprised if this double trouble of a blown call initiates a wider use of instant replay. McClelland also called Swisher out for leaving third too early on a tag. Swisher’s foot was still on the bag when Hunter made the catch in center.
“Obviously there were two missed calls,” McClelland said.
Mark this down as the postseason of poor play and poor umpiring. From a fundamentals standpoint, baseball has never been worse. It seems only the entertainment value of the game matters. The common-sense aspect of baseball has been lost.
Once again, the Angels made a dumb fielding play, this time by a different second baseman, Howie Kendrick. Maicer Izturis threw to the wrong base to lose Game 2, and this time, with Rodriguez on third and the infield up, Kendrick went home on Cano’s slow roller instead of taking the out at first. A-Rod beat the tag because the throw was high.
Just another costly decision by the Angels.
The postseason used to be about crisp play. Now it’s about mistakes from the ballplayers and the umpires, and over-managing. Can’t anybody here play this game? Or ump it?
In the end, A-Rod and Sabathia saved the day. The Yankees’ big talent is about to take them to the World Series for the first time since 2003. Teams like the Angels can only dream of such stars and success.