Aaron Boone was tossed from Wednesday’s series finale against the Guardians following a tirade on the umpiring crew after a catch by Aaron Hicks was reviewed seemingly well after the allotted 15 seconds for Cleveland to decide to challenge.
Boone was still clearly bothered by the decision after the game, even with the Yankees coming back to win. Boone said the rules weren’t followed in terms of the time allowed to challenge, and that the umpires “bailed out” the Guardians by giving into the environment in Cleveland after fans went ballistic once they saw the replay on the big screen beyond center field.
Plenty of Yankee fans voiced their displeasure as well, but Sal Licata didn’t want to hear any whining.
“The Yankees announcers made a big deal about it during the game, it was all the talk postgame. Here’s the thing. Why is replay in sports? The answer to that…is to get the calls right,” Sal said. “Replay has been put into sports, and I hate it, for the record…to get the calls right. So stop with the bitching and moaning about the Yankees getting screwed because it technically took Cleveland too long to challenge the play.
“You guys get on the umpires for getting everything wrong. Now they get it right.”
Indeed, the call was the correct one in terms of what happened on the field, as the ball did temporarily leak out of Hicks’ glove and touch the outfield grass, but MLB’s new rules, with pace of play at the forefront, gives the other team 15 seconds to decide to challenge, or the game moves on. That didn’t happen, but Sal says the focus should be on the fact that the call was ultimately the right one.
“The ball bounced in. It clearly hit the ground,” Sal said. “And everybody is talking about how [Terry] Francona and Cleveland didn’t challenge in the 15 second window, instead of that they got the call right…so stop with all the crying.
“I understand why Boone was upset. He did the right thing. He’s supposed to argue…but if they were on the other end, they would want to get the call right.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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