Oh, cry me a river, Yankees.

OK, my take on The Incident.

For those of you not completely engrossed by the American League Championship Series, this is what happened last night.

With Derek Jeter on first and one out, Alex Rodriguez taps a slow roller down the first base line. First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz and pitcher Arroyo both went for the ball, which had no chance of rolling all the way to first. Arroyo came up with it, and with Mientkiewicz away from the bag, Arroyo had no choice but to tag Rodriguez himself.

Rodriguez veered to the right of the base, and as Arroyo came up with the ball in his glove, Rodriguez chopped at the ball with his left arm, knocking it loose. First-base umpire Randy Marsh called Rodriguez safe even though, at that point, he had not yet touched first base. The ball rolled down the right-field line as Mientkiewicz and Arroyo both argued with Marsh, and Jeter circled the bases, scoring.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona shot out of the dugout to immediately plead his case, and Marsh gathered with the other five umpires for the second time in the game. Earlier, a Mark Bellhorn home run had created a controversy. It hit a fan beyond the left-field wall and came back onto the field. Bellhorn pulled into second with what appeared to be a double. But the Red Sox argued, the umpires huddled, and they corrected the call, ruling a three-run homer for Bellhorn.

This time, they got it right again, calling A-Rod out for interference and had Jeter go all the way back to first, a worse scenario than had Rodriguez simply allowed Arroyo to tag him out; which would have sent Jeter to second. Marsh credited home-plate ump Joe West for correcting the call upon seeing the whole thing from a better angle.

Here's the rule on runner interference, from Section 6.1 of the MLB Umpire Manual:

"While contact may occur between a fielder and runner during a tag attempt, a runner is not allowed to use his hands or arms to commit an obviously malicious or unsportsmanlike act."

So, how did New York react? The fans delayed the game by throwing things onto the field, and ARod stood there with a look that said "but I persoanlly make more than the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, how can I be out?" Things ended up requiring riot police along the foul lines.

Riot cops. Because ARod cheated and got caught.

Sorry Yankees, but you are in the middle of a spectacular flameout. Screaming about it won't help.

Wish I could see the Post this morning.

Quote of the day

From princeofcairo

"rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for Darth Vader. (Or, given Steinbrenner's dugout-packing, like rooting for Darth Vader, Rupert of Hentzau, Moriarty, Dracula, the Klingons, Draco Malfoy, and the rich fat kids camp from across the lake.)"