Skip to main content
Larry Brown Sports Tagline. Brown Bag it, Baby.
#pounditTuesday, December 24, 2024

Joe West hurts Yankees with blown strike call on Brett Gardner

Joe West

New York Yankees fans are furious with umpire Joe West for blowing a call during Brett Gardner’s final at-bat on Friday night.

The Yankees were trailing the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth and had one out with Gardner facing closer Ken Giles. Gardner had a 3-1 count and Giles threw a pitch that was a solid few inches outside. Rather than call it a ball and put Gardner on base as he should have, West called it a strike, leaving Gardner with a full count. He struck out in the at-bat instead of reaching base.

Here’s a look at the pitch:

The pitch was tracked by MLB (seen as pitch 5 in the graphic) as being over the far side of the white chalk of the other batter’s box.

Mike Ford followed by striking out to end the game.

Umpires should never be missing calls that badly. It stings even more when it’s a one-run game and your team is competing with the Houston Astros for homefield advantage in the playoffs.

comments powered by Disqus