April 10, 2010

Red Sox And Yankees Comment On Joe West

Players from both Boston and New York offered their thoughts on umpire Joe West's comments that the length of Red Sox/Yankees games are "pathetic and embarrassing" and a "disgrace to baseball".

Kevin Youkilis:
I don't know if he got fined or whatever, but if we ever called an umpire pathetic and embarrassing, it would be the end of the world. We'd get fined and we'd deserve it.
Anonymous Yankee:
What would happen if we called their crew pathetic and embarrassing? We would get fined, big-time. I hope the league takes some action against him, because what he said was just out of line.
Terry Francona:
When you have someone in charge of running the game without bias, and then you hear those comments coming out pretty strong, it probably worries you a little bit.
Joe Girardi:
We're not going to ask our hitters to change their approach to speed the game up. ... We're trying to win games, not trying to see how quick we can play.
Dustin Pedroia:
Does somebody have dinner reservations? We're playing baseball. It's not a timed game. There's not a shot clock. ... If those guys have an issue with that, it might be time to pick a new profession or talk to the umpires' association about not working any more Yankees-Red Sox games.
Mariano Rivera:
It's incredible. If he has places to go, let him do something else. What does he want us to do, swing at balls? ... He has a job to do. He should do his job.
Derek Jeter:
You can't control the time. You can't do one thing because every game is different. ... If it's 20 minutes shorter, it's not pathetic or embarrassing? At what point is it not embarrassing? You'd have to ask him. If you go over 3:12, it's embarrassing?
Jacoby Ellsbury:
The biggest thing is the TV. [Nationally televised games require 2:25 for commercial breaks every half inning, roughly 30 seconds longer than a NESN or YES game, which adds about 10 minutes to every game.] I'll go up for an at-bat, and I'll have to wait a minute and a half. ... Leading off a game, I don't know how many times I've had to wait. The pitcher is ready, I'm ready.
Youkilis:
It seems every time we're ready to play the game, there's an umpire at second base holding a stop watch waiting for TV.
Bonus! Twins manager Ron Gardenhire:
Over three hours is pretty much normal in baseball. You want to cut it out? Cut out the 2:25 between innings for TV. See if that's going to happen. Ain't going to happen, right? That's where they make their money.
The Post's George King reveals that West himself unnecessarily delayed two of the three games in the series:
CC Sabathia confirmed that West made him change shoes in the second inning of the Opening Day game at Fenway Park. West told Sabathia he had to change his gray shoes because there wasn't any blue, a Yankees color, in them, even though the grey shoes matched the gray Yankees uniform.

The next night [actually, it was two nights later; the teams were off on Monday] West told Marcus Thames he had to take tape off his wrist because it didn't match the uniform. And West stopped reliever Joba Chamberlain on the way to the bullpen to check his shoes, but told Chamberlain his cleats were OK because there was blue in them.
Players' quotes from Herald, Globe, ProJo, Post, Daily News, and MLB.com.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Also:

On the radio broadcast, Castiglione said it was "quite the coincidence" that they recently received a press release from Joe West's publicist announcing an upcoming book that Joe West wrote. I can't find any info about it online, but if it's true, it really is quite the coincidence.

laura k said...

Excellent player quotes! I'm really pleased to see the players so strong on this. That is respecting the game. Great stuff.

laura k said...

Re West's book, 9Casey mentioned that, too, I think in the gamethread.

an upcoming book that Joe West wrote

I'm sure he "wrote" it, too.

Section 36 said...

The Yankees can't wear cleats that don't have blue in them? That's a rule? Can it be any shade of blue? Do the Red Sox need to have Red on theirs, or is blue ok?

Sarah S said...

Schilling chimed in as well..

Former major league pitcher Curt Schilling, now an analyst for ESPN's "Baseball Tonight" and ESPNBoston.com, on Joe West's comments:

"Watch Joe West during the game. He never lets the catcher throw a ball in play. He rushes everything, and calls a small plate. He's decent behind there, consistent, but smaller than he can be. If he wants to pick up the pace he should get the pace of the game going by calling more strikes ... strikes.

"Not to mention he often times acts like he'd rather be any place in the world other than the field.

"... Part of the reason the games are slower is because their offenses are so deep, and so good. Hitters never give away at-bats. Every pitch matters, on both sides, for nine innings.

"The reason the games are slow is very clear, and one not many will print -- TV. Ad revenue has gotten to the point that TV is allowed to dictate pace of game, not the game itself."