For years, New York Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge has been getting a rough treatment by umpires, who continually call low pitches out of the zone as strikes. This was evident on Wednesday night, perhaps as much as any game in recent memory.
The situation got so bad at one point that Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone was ejected by the home plate umpire for arguing balls and strikes against Judge. In the end, all those missed calls had an impact on the Bombers dropping a close 2-1 game and putting an end to their eleven-game winning streak.
Boone’s altercation with umpire Marty Foster was ugly, but he had been affecting Judge all night. Here are some videos of two different at-bats:
he's literally 6'7 pic.twitter.com/aAoSMJ4WoJ
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 5, 2022
Boone wants the ump to make an adjustment, a breakdown pic.twitter.com/hVHyM0ffP5
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) May 5, 2022
“I was upset a little bit there; upset with a couple of others,” Boone told MLB.com. “But nothing more than that. We’re playing for a lot. I just felt like there were a couple there in situations that didn’t go our way.”
The Yankees’ manager stood up for his star player
The Yankees’ outfielder certainly appreciated his manager standing up for him the way he did.
“I appreciate it,” Judge said. “I voiced my opinion to Marty during the game and let him know what I was thinking about the calls. At that point, that’s all I can do. That’s why I have a manager to stick up for me. If I get tossed in that situation, it’s going to hurt us. He stood up for us and for me, and I appreciate it.”
The Yankees will have to build another winning streak, probably with the help of Judge, who hit .357 (15-for-42) with eight homers, 17 RBIs and 12 runs scored in the recently snapped eleven-win streak.
“It’s just 11 games — we’ve got more work to do,” Judge said. “A lot of good things happened. It showed what this team is made of.”