The Eric Hinske Era begins with a loss

Get off your knees, Blue...

The Yankees lost an immensely frustrating game yesterday to the Blue Jays, due in no small part to three horrific calls on the base paths. The picture above shows Derek Jeter's left hand blatantly planted on the bag prior to Scott Rolen's tag (oddly enough, Rolen was not injured on the play). Althought I have to ask - what the HELL was Jeter doing even making that attempt with no outs? (/blasphemy)

I am not going to go on a rant like my Grandfather did last night, calling for the arrest and execution of all umpires, but I will say this - umpires need to be held more accountable for their calls. The explanation given by the man in blue on this particular play was deplorable. He basically gave the "ball beat him by a mile" argument that you would here in an in-house Little League game. (Check out some other opinions here and here).

In the end, though, the umpiring didn't cause the Yankees to falter with RISP, and they sure as hell didn't make Eric Hinske swing at two consecutive balls to end the game. Umpires alone do not lose games in most cases, and this game was most certainly in the majority.

(hat tip to noMaas.org for the pic)