SO CLOSE: The Orioles’ Nate McLouth watches the flight of his drive down the line in the sixth inning last night at the Stadium. The ball was barely foul (inset) and was a pivotal moment in the Yankees’ 3-1 Game 5 win. (
)
So what’s the deal with the Yankees and Orioles and right field in the playoffs anyway?
Jeffrey Maier, the Yankees fan whose interference in right helped the team’s Game 1 ALCS victory in 1996, was nowhere in sight yesterday when Nate McLouth launched a sixth-inning bid for a home run against CC Sabathia. But there still was controversy.
And just like the 1996 incident, the ruling ultimately went in favor of the Yankees.
With Baltimore down 1-0, McLouth drilled a 3-1 fastball toward the foul pole and the upper deck in right. The umpires, including Fieldin Culbreth in right, signaled foul. The Orioles asked for a review, contending the ball may have glanced off the pole. Buck Showalter, being a manager, argued. So the umps, with crew chief Brian Gorman in the lead, reviewed the play — and stood by their call.
“I saw it go to the right of the pole,” Culbreth said through a pool reporter. “There is netting there and it didn’t touch the netting. It did not change direction.”
“We saw the same thing on replay,” Gorman said. “There was no evidence to overturn the decision.”
Even McLouth admitted he thought the ball was foul but he repeatedly said he did not see a replay. When it was suggested a particular replay supported a home run call, he shrugged it off.
“Things like that happen … I haven’t seen the replay. It was really close, I know that. When I was watching it running down the line, I honestly thought it was foul. I couldn’t tell if it hit the pole or not,” McLouth said. “They [umps] watched the replay and they didn’t think so.”
Neither did some fans in the stands in Section 208, although a TV report claimed an usher said the ball did hit the pole.
“It was foul,” said Mike Tortorelli from South Plainfield, N.J. “Not even a chance. We kept looking for yellow. Once we saw the ball the whole way, we knew.”
A.J. Eckstein, from Hoboken, N.J., may have been a tad off in his assessment — he claimed the ball was foul “by 10 feet” — but was certain the ball passed, without contact, on the foul side of the pole. Kirk Lester of Manhattan was more conservative in his estimation of the ball’s flight. He said the drive carried foul by “about a foot.”
So the score stood. McLouth struck out on the next pitch, and momentum stayed with the Yankees, who eventually nailed down a series-clinching 3-1 victory.
“They [umps] said it was foul. And I appreciate them checking,” Showalter said. “And there is something in place to double check. I couldn’t tell, I knew it was real close and obviously during the regular season or in the playoffs we would have had it checked.
“Someone said it nicked the pole, but that didn’t beat us. And I appreciate them using the system in place to get it right, but that’s what all the umpires did.
“And I tell you, this crew did a great job … We really appreciate that.”
— Additional reporting
by Mark Hale.