Umpire's comments perplex Derek Jeter
Saturday, April 10, 2010
BY PETE CALDERA
The Record
STAFF WRITER
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Email this story Printer friendly version Decrease Font Size Increase Font SizeST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Derek Jeter found it astonishing that the Yankees and Red Sox were party to something "pathetic" and "embarrassing" because of the length of their games.
"I know they’re making adjustments, or trying to make adjustments to do deal with that. But this one’s a new one," Jeter said, reacting to veteran umpire Joe West’s critical statements in Thursday’s edition of The Record about the time of the rivals’ contests.
"They’re two of the best teams in baseball. Why are they playing the slowest?" West told The Record’s Jeff Roberts at Fenway Park. "It’s pathetic and embarrassing. They take too long to play."
Jeter wasn’t clear on West’s choice of words.
"Ask him what’s pathetic or embarrassing," Jeter said prior to Friday’s game against the Rays. "If [a game] is 20 minutes shorter, it’s not pathetic or embarrassing? If you go over 3:12, it’s embarrassing?"
According to a report on ESPNBoston.com, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia called West’s comments "ridiculous."
Red Sox manager Terry Francona called the remarks "troubling."
At Fenway, the Yankees’ opening two games of the season averaged 3 hours and 47 minutes.
During those games, Andy Pettitte noticed that West and Angel Hernandez, who each worked a game at home plate, did not grant some batters’ requests for time out.
"Obviously, you’re sitting on the bench going, ‘What in the world is going on here?’" Pettitte said. "I’ve never not seen them give a hitter a timeout before."
It got to a point where Pettitte nearly told some Yankees’ pitcher to deliver a pitch if a batter motioned for time.
By Wednesday, when Pettitte started the series finale, "I think everybody knew not to step out [of the batter’s box]," Pettitte said. As for West’s comments, "those are pretty bold statements … but I really don’t know what to say about it."
Manager Joe Girardi suggested that West might face a reprimand from Major League Baseball for his comments.
"Obviously he was upset with the pace of the game. It was his choice of words. He didn’t call me pathetic or embarrassing. He was not derogatory to me in a sense, or to the players."
But Girardi found the statements by West as curious as Jeter did.
"We’re trying to win games," Girardi said, and the Red Sox and Yankees "are two organizations that really focus on hitters that work the count.
"And when you have six starters [over the three-game series] that go an average of five innings and throw 100 pitches, the game is going to move slow."
Girardi has respect for baseball’s initiatives to speed up the game where possible – such as a manager making a pitching change on his way to the mound. But there also are inherent time lengtheners within any Sox-Yanks game, such as added commercial time during national broadcasts.
"The things we’re able to do, we’re trying to speed up the game," Girardi said. "But we’re trying to win games, not see how quickly they can go.
"We’re not going to ask our hitters to change their approach to speed up the game," Girardi said. "I’m not going to tell the hitter to go up and see one pitch and make an out or get a base hit, I’m in a hurry, I’ve got to go someplace."
Likewise, Girardi didn’t want to see a ball called on a pitcher who overran his allotted time by repeatedly shaking off his catcher.
While West admitted that taking pitches is part of the Yankees’ and Red Sox’ strategy, he also complained that "all of baseball looks to these two clubs to pick up the pace…The players aren’t working with us.
"This is embarrassing, a disgrace to baseball."
)....Still got half a game left so we'll see what happens. Price is tough though... Javy's throw the ball well outside of a few bad pitches. A few bad ones always wind up being the difference makers though it seems...Let's see if we can mount a comeback here.
