MLB

Playoff umps look like chumps, again

ANAHEIM, Calif. — One, two, three miscalls, you’re out, at the old ballgame.

Tim McClelland’s umpiring crew might want to take those words to heart — and use a personal day for tomorrow’s Game 5 of the ALCS — after last night venturing into Fantasyland and further stoking the fire for the implementation of instant replay in baseball beyond home-run calls.

Nobody had a more controversial night than McClelland, a 28-year veteran who missed two plays at third base, but more importantly seemed guilty of issuing a makeup call to compensate the Angels for a blown call by second-base umpire Dale Scott earlier in the fourth inning.

Scott Kazmir made a pickoff attempt on Nick Swisher at second base with one out in the fourth. Scott ruled Swisher safe, but replays clearly showed that wasn’t the case.

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After Swisher reached third on Derek Jeter’s walk, Johnny Damon hit an apparent sacrifice fly to center field. Swisher tagged and crossed the plate, but the Angels appealed at third base and McClelland gave the punch-out for leaving early. Inning over. Again, replays didn’t jibe with the call.

But McClelland was just getting warmed up. In the fifth, Robinson Cano doubled Jorge Posada to third base with one out, bringing Swisher to the plate. Swisher hit a chopper that pitcher Darren Oliver fielded and threw home to catch Posada in a rundown between third and the plate. Cano went to third, but foolishly stepped back from the bag as Posada was on his way back. Mike Napoli tagged both Cano and Posada off the base — what should have been an inning-ending double play, except that McClelland called Cano safe.

McClelland later admitted he was wrong on both the Swisher and Cano calls. He did not take questions from reporters, but issued a statement.

“In my heart I thought [Swisher] left too soon,” McClelland said, referring to the tag-up lay. “And the play with Cano and Posada, I thought Cano was on the base. But there was never a situation where both were on the base at the same time.”

Last night wasn’t the first time this postseason the Yankees have been involved in umpiring controversy. In Game 2 of the ALDS against the Twins at the Stadium, left-field ump Phil Cuzzi blew a call that robbed Joe Mauer of an 11th-inning double. Mauer later singled, but did not score, and the Yankees won in the bottom of the inning on Mark Teixeira’s home run.

mpuma@nypost.com

In a postseason full of umpiring mishaps, here’s a look at the incorrect calls made in last night’s 10-1 Yankees win:

In the fourth inning, umpire Dale Scott called Nick Swisher safe at second after Swisher was clearly tagged by Angels shortstop Erick Aybar before he could get back to the bag on a pickoff throw by Scott Kazmir.

In the fourth inning, Swisher was called out for leaving third base too soon on Johnny Damon’s fly to center. Swisher was called out on an appeal, resulting in an inning-ending double play — though replays appeared to show Swisher did not leave early.

(left) In the fifth, Swisher hit a comebacker to Darren Oliver, who immediately threw to the plate and got Jorge Posada caught in a rundown. Mike Napoli ran Posada back to the bag while Robinson Cano coasted into third. Napoli ended up tagging both runners standing off the bag — first Cano, then Posada — but crew chief Tim McClelland ruled only Posada was out.