Game 85, Gainst the Jays, interesting first inning...

Pettitte starts tonight. Also, Eric Hinski is to start today. Lets see how the guy plays in the Yankee setting.

Like I said the first inning was very peculiar. Pettitte takes care of the Jays, one, two, three, pitching only 6 in the first. The bottom is when it happens. Derek Jeter walks to start off the Yankee's side of the inning. He gets second on a balk, then is "caught" stealing third. The throw beats him by a couple feet, sure, but there's a problem..The gloved hand of Scott Rolen never touches Jeter till he is bending up to get up. Jeter was thrown out at third because "the ball beat him." That is the reason the third base ump, Marty Foster. Jeter was sliding into third, saw the throw had beat him and the tag was coming for his left hand, so he pulled his left hand back to avoid the tag and slide his right hand in to touch the base. The replay shows a great display of base running and avoidance, but the ump wasn't giving in.

After the call Jeter immediately got up and went to the ump to argue the call. Girardi came out and, while Jeter was calming down, got the explaination from Jeter about what Foster had said and that Jeter was never tagged. Girardi went to Foster for an explaination about being thrown out at a base soley on the reason that the throw beat the runner. Girardi didn't get an explaination at all, just got tossed out of the game. After the game "Girardi referred to 'baserunning errors' in the first inning as letting Romero off the hook early." Sweet.

Anyways, Pettitte gets the loss, the Yankees get a tough loss as well, almost coming back in the end, but coming up short 7-6. 5 of the Yankees runs were scored during and after the seventh inning.

Although this was a tough loss it did have some nice notes in it. It was Hinske's first game in a Yankee uniform and he did not disipoint, going 2-4 with a HR. He was the last out, however, with a strike out. But whatever, the game was cursed from the first inning.

The first inning mishap in this game is one of the many examples baseball onlookers are seeing as a reason to get the ump calls checked by replays. The umps already check home run calls, Yankee fans know that more than anyone, having the most home runniest park and the first replay was called in New Yankee Stadium.