Propaganda

Mike Francesa just played the tapes from the Yankee radio broadcast from Friday, when Randy Johnson was ejected in the second inning. I hadn’t heard it because I was watching the TV broadcast, which was just as bad (and Kay–who unlike Sterling is a third-rate hack even when not egregiously shilling for the Yankees–continued to whine about it throughout the game) but according to Sterling and Waldman it was a “disgrace,” “it didn’t matter what Johnson said,” and on and on, without any suggestion that Johnson bore the slightest responsibility. Now, perhaps the umpire should have let it go, but when you walk toward the plate screaming at the umpire about balls and strikes–especially after having been warned in the first inning–you run the risk of being ejected, and anybody who’s pitched in the major leagues for 17 years is perfectly well aware of this. And in particular the TV guys kept emphasizing that “people came to the park to watch Randy Johnson,” “it’s a pennant race,” etc, suggesting that therefore the umpire has to take whatever the player throws at him, which is silly. To the extent that these things are relevant, they mean that when the umpire takes of his mask you shut up so you don’t force your team to use its gassed bullpen for seven innings. You hear the same kind of argument in hockey and basketball–when in a key game when the referees stop calling anything, announcers will inevitably praise them for “letting the players decide the game,” and rarely hear anybody point out what transparent nonsense this is. You let “the players decide the game” by enforcing the rules, not by making an ad hoc decision to ignore them because the game is close.

Anyway, this reminds me of my favorite Al-Yankeezera moment this year. Kay and his color guys were having a discussion about the fastest players in baseball. Singleton (a very fine color guy, I should add) mentioned some obvious names–Crawford, Podsednik, Pierre, like that. Kay mentioned two names: Bubba Crosby. And Mariano Rivera. Say this for Kay; if the Yankees ever decide to hire a decent play-by-guy instead of him, he’ll have a job waiting for him at Tech Central Station…