Uninspiring loss for Yankees; (co-)starring role for homeplate umpire

The Yankees played the first game of a three game series in Anaheim against the Angels.

C.C. Sabathia pitched 7.1 innings and allowed four runs on six hits which is not that bad. But Sabathia took the loss once again. It must be said that Mike Trout was a plague for the Yankees in this game. Not only did he drive in a run for the Angels, he also took a couple of extra base hits away with leaping catches and some fine defense.

It says a lot that the Angels scored four runs on six hits while the Yankees scored only one run on eight hits. It says a lot that Didi Gregorius had the best batting average in this game with .667 (2 for 3). It is not my intention to write anything bad about Didi, but despite the fact that he is showing some improvement, he doesn’t belong to the best hitters of the Yankees roster yet.

Of course the performance also depends on how good the opponent’s pitching is. In this case C.J. Wilson was pretty much unhittable. Also the Angels’ bullpen didn’t give up many hits. Besides that, the defense of the Angels made some miraculous plays.

Co-starring role, next to Mike Trout’s starring role, was played by homeplate umpire Manny Gonzalez. Both teams complained about his very variable strike zone. Arguably the worst call that I have ever seen was the third strike that Mark Teixeira got in the top of the eighth. The pitched sailed across homeplate below Tex’ knees but Gonzalez called it for a third strike. Umpires like this should be demoted to Single A short season.