I think Huff missed the hit and run sign. Millar was looking over his left shoulder at the batter while stealing, a very good indication that the hit and run was on.... Huff at least should have been swinging.

Here's a question: are the players allowed to ask the umps to call for the tarps if the conditions are bad? Cause I don't see why Ray just didn't just go to the home plate umpire & ask for the tarps to be brought on, unless that's just something you don't do.

Oh, and why will Mora have consequences from the commissioner's office for his comments? Shouldn't the commissioner look at the situation and see whether or not favoritism was showed?

Or... in all fairness to Huff, it's possible that Millar thought the hit and run was on when it wasn't... But my guess is it was on.

Thought: maybe Millar was taken out in the 7th because Trembley was afraid he might try to steal home!

I'm really starting to like Dave Trembley. The man just seems to know what he's doing. Maybe he hasn't won a ton of games in the minors. Did anyone realize most of his managerial career was spent in the Cubs and Orioles organizations? Not exactly the recipe for success, now is it? He really seems to know how to run a clubhouse and a team. He saw the situation with Bedard not talking to the media, and addressed it. We may have to listen to some very generic quotes, but at least Erik will be talking. I have one final point to make: Joe Torre didn't win much, either, until he took over the Spankees. I'm liking Trembley more and more each day!

I have to agree with JPA that the umps performed poorly and don’t necessarily have an agenda. The Yankees stink and aren’t going anywhere this year. It’s hard to put any belief behind a conspiracy revolving around a June 28th rainy baseball game in Baltimore.

Now, I have a hard time saying this where the Yankees are involved because, like many people here, I still have vivid memories of the infamous 1996 ALCS and just how blatantly ridiculous that was, during the game when it happened and the media coverage of it afterward. Jeffrey Maier and Rich Garcia were treated like the heroes of some sort of goofball sports comedy with the unwitting Tony Tarasco as the stumbling fool. There were good laughs had by all, particularly on the morning tv talk show circuit (all of which are based in New York City). They should have been treated more like criminals and, if the teams had been switched, you can guarantee there would’ve been a national outrage led by the media. Instead of goofball comedy we’d have had serious courtroom drama. Full half hours dedicated to the umpiring crisis in baseball and perhaps its time for our lawmakers to intervene.

But I digress. There needs to be more accountability for umpires and the league office should be willing to review and overturn what has transpired for the sake of fairness.

Anyone see the comment in the previous blog about the NY "fan" hurling a beer bottle at an O's fan for cheering??? Then he gets let back in by the Usher!!! Complete BS! Several witnesses be damned....
That rankles me as much as the Umps letting the Spanks back into the game during a monsoon. I wish I had been there. I would have gone over to that fan & placed that beer bottle in a very personal, secure spot for the jerk & make sure it didn't get thrown again.... & let the Usher have a problem with that!!! How can the O's let a jack@ss like him remain in the stadium? Do they need the Spankee fans that much? Bunch of classless jerks, all of them.

Any word as to why the hell John Parrish is still on the team?

Sometimes I think Melvin Mora needs to keep his mouth shut, but this is not one of those times. After Roberts had a ball practically washed out of his hand by the torrential downpour and Damon got a "stolen base" by walking to second because Paul Bako couldn't see him or the base from behind home plate, there was absolutely no excuse for continuing the game, especially after they had stopped an Orioles' rally mid-inning for less rain. At the very best, the actions of the umpires in last night's game were gross incompetence, and it's certainly not hard to come to the conclusion that they were favoring the Yankees given their actions. No way should Mora be disciplined for saying what was obvious to everyone else in the stadium who didn't have their head up Derek Jeter's rear end.

That being said, the umpires couldn't have thrown the game to the Yankees if Dave Trembley hadn't given them John Parrish to help execute their devious plans. He needs to go back to the minors. NOW!!!

Why was this game being played? Before Jeter even stepped into the batter's box they should have stopped. I can't blame Chris Ray for this one. The ball was wet and had trouble gripping the ball even after asking for another ball. You can't blame Melvin Mora for questioning the Umpires for the late decision. It doesn't matter who is batting or who is winning, when game conditions get to be dangerous and you can't see the ball like Mora said he couldn't you stop play immediately. Now with Mora out the game and when it resumes expect Gomez to be moved to 3B and Ramon Hernandez plaing 1ST base. I was sitting at home watching and I couldn't even see the ball and my face was just inches away from the tv. It only goes to show that whenever the Yankees play that favoritism is always going to be shown their way. It's like you already lose the game before stepping on the field.

While I agree that the umpires interests in letting play continue were probably more selfish (making flights, keeping restaurant appointments, getting out of the ballpark, etc.) than conspiratorial (handing the Yankees a win), I am not so willing to let the umps off the hook.

In general, baseball umps have been the least professional, least prepared and poorest performers of all of the major sports. And this includes the NBA refs.

There are a number of good ones that get lost because of the Tim Tschida's of the game. In fact, it is easier to name the bad ones then the god ones - and that has to be a major problem.

Still, it seems whenever the Yankees play the O's the umpires play a prominent role to the Yankees benefit - and not just the media favorite 'fat boy turns out into HR" story.

I believe the umpires know which side their bread is buttered. The media capitol of the free world is in NY. The league offices are in NY. Make a call that hurts the Yankees and your name is all over 1/2 dozen papers and journals and suddenly the league is looking over your shoulder. Don't make the call and the stir is minor and passes quickly.

Instead of complaining to the umpires, why didn't Mora or Ray just call time before potching to Jeter and conference at the mound until the umpires finally called for the tarp? Seems clear to me that the Orioles did not exercise good judgement in managing how to handle a situation like this.

If it was obvious to me( just a fan sitting at home) what to do, how could a bunch of major league ballplayers not know how to handle that situation. Do you think Weaver, the Robinsons, Palmer, etc. wouldve screwed this up? I doubt it. Remember when Weaver instructed the Ground Crew (after a rain delay) to dump the water that had accumulated on the tarp into left field to make the field unplayable, thus forcing the game to be called and negating the Yankee runs in the top of the inning so the Orioles would win. That's how you manage a rain situation - you take control; you don't complain or ask the umpires to stop the game.

The Oriole franchise has sunk so low and the handling of the 8th inning in last night's game is just another example.

They ought to let me manage the team and we'd be a lot better off.

1st on John Parrish - he seems to have good stuff, but the walks...please....it's getting ridiculous. If he can't throw strikes, he's no good to this team even if he has good stuff. Oh, and last night's rain - come on, I can't remember watching a game with so much rain - and that's the key...watching a game with that much rain, when instead there should have been some alternate programing during the RAIN DELAY (a rain delay is when the intelligent umpires see that it is raining hard and stop the game for the good of everyone - fans and players). Are those umpires crazy? Do they think it's a soccer or football game? It was just plain ridiculous! Melvin, I salute you for saying what we all were thinking!

The umpires are awful, have been for years, and I just don't get it. They have inconsistent strike zones, they call balls 4-6 inches off the plate strikes, they refuse to call the strike that's in the rulebook because they say that pitch is "high." They have a terrible attitude, they have short fuses, they're way too anxious to get in a player's face at the slightest hint of disagreement with one of their calls.

Many, many years ago a wise man pointed out that the fans don't pay their way into the ballpark to see the umpires. But the umpires still haven't gotten that memo. And apparently, they don't have sense enough to get themselves out of a driving rain, much less show any concern for the well being of the world class athletes who are trying to perform under unacceptable conditions. Roch, you're closer to the game than the rest of us. I know it's a tough job for those guys but what's up with the umpires, what's their problem?

As to not stopping the game during the hard rain, my take is why didn't Trembley come out to discuss the issue with the umps? Doesn't he have the right to speak to the ump and say, hey the conditions are awful, I'm concerned about the safety of my players, could you reconsider your decision to keep playing, pretty please Mr Nice Umpire, could you think about maybe stopping this thing for a while?

As for John Parrish, hasn't he been given enough chances to show his stuff? Let's get him out of here.

Roch - I have a question. If players that left the game before it was suspended are ineligible, but new players added to the roster are eligible, what happens if one of the players that left the game is no longer on the roster? Then there would be an extra eligible player (whoever took their place on the roster), and that wouldn't be fair.

And what if we hadn't had another home game against the Yankees? Would they have had to make a special trip to Baltimore to play 1 1/2 innings? This whole suspending the game thing is just insane, in my opinion.

Also, on the subject of obnoxious Yankees fans and the ushers not controlling them - how are Yankees fans allowed to bring air horns into the stadium?!? I got really sick of hearing that whenever they scored a run. It should have been taken away after the first time.

I agree, GK. Ray could have called time and brought out Bako, or spend a little time cleaning his spikes. Anything to delay the game so the umpires would call it before pitching any further. Why can't the manager just call his team off the field? Tell the umpires, "Hey, I don't want my players getting hurt". Even if the umpires forced the players back on the field, it would have take some time for that to occur and the game probably would have been called by then. However, like always, it's easy to second guess the situation after it happens.

GK has a good point. These guys need to think more creatively in these situations. I remember another situation a few years ago, I think involving Robbie Alomar. There were 2 outs, the rain had started, the O's were behind, and Alomar kept stepping out of the batter's box to adjust his glove, the helmet, and whatever until the rains forced play to stop. A long mound conference, or the need to repair a glove (or whatever) certainly would have come in handy.

Off topic but I need some help with it. Why is everyone against Rick Dempsey being an O's manager. I have to say I like what Trembley is doing but just cant figure out why everyone is against it. Everyone says no but no one says why? I heard something about something happening when he was coaching the minors but again no one will say what. Didnt he do well there and supposely was on the fast track to the majors. What happend and why is everyone against it????

BTW- that crew last night needs to be looked at. The umps really blew it.

Off topic but I need some help with it. Why is everyone against Rick Dempsey being an O's manager. I have to say I like what Trembley is doing but just cant figure out why everyone is against it. Everyone says no but no one says why? I heard something about something happening when he was coaching the minors but again no one will say what. Didnt he do well there and supposely was on the fast track to the majors. What happend and why is everyone against it????

BTW- that crew last night needs to be looked at. The umps really blew it.

The umpires should be fired for collusion. Just more proof that the umpires will always get the Yankees back. What's worse is that the Orioles capitulated by not slowing down the game. A good leader would have had the Orioles waste some time until the inevitable rainout. Yes the umpires screwed us, but we happily bent over for it. I'm tired of the O's playing the part of the hapless victim. Take charge guys, you'll never be a winning team until you do.
Kudos to Mora for saying what was on every Orioles mind!

Roch:
Do you know if this game is going to get reviewed? I mean, if Melvin is being honest about speaking to the crew chief and the words sent back to him, this should totally be looked into.

I also wonder, like some of the viewers, why the game wasn't put on hold before the 8th inning started. The storm was still in the area and it was known that there was going to be a series of rain coming back in. It then would have been declared a game once it starting pouring again a few minutes later.

PS. Parrish has obviously fallen off the tracks after April and I think that he needs to not be in the bullpen. I like a comment that I read here saying that Ray would be a good setup man and we should looking into having someone else as our closer. Possibly, Doyne.

I didn't get to see the game last night, but this all just reminded me of another incident involving the Spanks, and what should have been a rain delay called much sooner. The O's arent the only ones to have dealt with this kind of BS while playing the Spanks.

I live in Seattle now, and was watching the Yankees and Mariners play on TV sometime last year. I believe it was in NY, too. The Mariners were winning in the ninth, and J. J. Putz was in to close out a tight game. The rain had started a few innings earlier, and progessively got worse. By the time Putz was on the mound, it was pouring. My roommate at the time and I were like, "They need to call this game." But I added that they probably won't because they'll give the Spanks every chance to come back and win, or at least tie the game. Putz was clearly having problems gripping the ball, and trying to take his time on the mound. Sure enough, the Spanks ended up tying it. Only THEN did the umps call for a delay. The Mariners were pissed, especially Putz. I wasn't entirely suprised, but I was miffed. Not because I care at all about the Mariners, but because of the bias to the Spanks yet again. My roommate (A Mariner's fan) was fuming. All I could do was pat him on the back and say, "Sadly, I know just how you feel." Heh..

Peter Schmuck's column today was brilliant. It is so true that milestones mean nothing in this inflated era. Does anyone really believe that Barry is a better ballplayer than Willie Mays? The biggest factor, in my opinion, isn't steroids, it is the shrinking strike zone. How many homers would FRobby have hit if he could have focused on a 6 inch area?

Another factor has to be the prevalence of middle relief pitchers. Even a tired Palmer was better than a fresh Parrish.

Question: Where was Trembley last night as the rain was pouring down? Does anyone old enough to remember have the slightest doubt that Weaver would have been out there in the umpires' faces as soon as it was clear that the weather conditions were hurting his players? He'd have caused enough of a delay to ensure that play couldn't continue, if not before Damon's hit then certainly after.

Trembley needs to start asking himself: What would Earl do?

They also lowered the pitching mound to help the batters out. Not only is the strike zone getting smaller, its moving around all over the place. Each umpire is going to have their own strike zone. Nothing can be done about that. But, you have to be consistent and not call the same identical 6 pitches as 4 balls and 2 strikes.

Just a though - Are the umpires from last night officially on the Yankees 25 man roster? If so, they would be eligible to finish the game on the 27th to make sure we can't come back. Those guys were a disgrace and need to be fired.

Just a though - Are the umpires from last night officially on the Yankees 25 man roster? If so, they would be eligible to finish the game on the 27th to make sure we can't come back. Those guys were a disgrace and need to be fired.

they need to send parrish to AAA for some seasoning - he could use some more opportunities to pitch and figure stuff out - and bring up Hoey or Doyne. But not Birkins...

GK - RE: the game called for unplayable conditions - you are close, but that was not exactly correct - see my post on the "Sorting through...." topic.

The issue was not that Earl had the ground crew dump water into left - this was the Yankees claim - but that the umps called the game after a brief delay and, shortly after the game had been called the rain stopped and the sun came out.

The Yankees alleged that Earl had the ground crew delay putting the tarp down. The field was already pretty unplayable - Earl was mad the game even happened but they wanted the gate.

It was obvious last night that the umpires wanted play to continue. They just wanted to get the game over and get out of there. Since they have absolute control, what could Trembley done? Stand in front of the plate and not let play continue?

If the O's had a mound meeting for the purpose of causing a rain delay the ump could order the pitcher to throw the ball. If Ray had not he could have awarded the hitter a ball. He could have continued to do this until Ray threw.

He also could have ejected Ray and anyone else he felt was interfering with play.

It is not as easy to get a game stopped. Trying to force the game to stop after the umpires have control pretty much amounts to anarchy and not many umpires are going to tolerate that. Not just that night, but down the road, too.

This is easy to second guess but I do not think anyone could have done any more than what Mora did - and we see how that worked out.

So, are we just waiting for the press conference to be called to announce that John Parrish has been DFA'd? I mean, seriously, he's not STILL on the roster, is he?

Whatever happened to delay tactics? Leo could have come to the mound, Ray could have acted uncomfortable with the mound conditions, he could have thrown to first, etc. Don't leave the game in the umps hands...let em get their butts soaked real good and they'll decide to call the game.

Is there any accountability for umpires? Any retribution for such deliberate misconduct? They decide to pull a stunt like this and we are forced to accept it?

When Patterson is not in the game, the defense in center field and left is deminished
and of course his speed on the bases and
bunting ability is really missed . noting that he wasn't in the game last night until late I hope his injury is not to serious .. We need him in there . Dan

Ok, here is one for the true baseball geeks. What if the O's and the Yanks make a trade. Could a player who played in last nights game as an Oriole, play in the game when resumed as a Yankee? Or what if he did not play but was on the O's roster, could he then play for the Yankees? Has this situation ever happened in baseball history or lore? I remember something like this with Rick Monday, the Cubs and the Dodgers, or it might just have been a baseball hallucination.

TOM M - I love Earl, too. I have his books and a few aboout him.

But why would Trembley be asking what would Earl do? Trembley is not Earl and he should not try to be Earl.

Trembley should be asking himself "What woudl Dave do?" Period.

What a short margin of error we seem to have!

All the guy has done is win 5 of the 8 games he has managed (.625), brought some excitement to the players and put up an offense averaging over 5 runs a game and already we are second guessing him to death.

Why don;t we see what he looks like after, oh, 10 games? 15? Or did we expect him to make up 11 games in 1 week?

I'm still at a loss for what happened during the part of last night's O's game when it was raining cats and dogs.

ROCH -
I'm actually heading to Pawtucket in a little bit... have tickets to tonight's game against the Tides, in which Garrett Olson is pitching.

I'm curious to see this kid live. If he is awesome tonight, you may end up seeing more comments from me on here saying "Why isn't he in the Majors yet?!"

Take care...

I have to throw my 2 cents worth in here. I just got back from a work-related road trip in a remote Northern Ontario town and my only choice for 'entertainment' on Thurs night was to watch the O's/Yanks game.
Rain aside, everything was going well until Parrish came into the game. I have never seen such a poor performance by a reliever(which says quite a lot give the truckload of bums we've seem wearing the Orange & Black over years). You could have hauled in a drunk from the stands or a slug from Boog's BBQ pit and they could have thrown more strikes!!
Trembley left him in far too long and I guess we can cut him some slack for now. Sammy critics would have been all over the same move...
How can we ever hope to compete if we operate with half a pen? Parrish & Baez should be shipped out ASAP-never mind worrying about the next manager-let's get rid of the roster deadwood first and give however is in charge a least a fighting chance!!
There-my rant is over!!!

Last night's game should be played under protest. Those umps should be fired and shipped to the WWE where they would feel right at home as "referees."

Read your article about Danys Baez rehabbing. You said he started throwing at 60 feet and moved back to 90 feet. I think a lot of your bloggers and readers would like him to move a lot farther back than that...like maybe to Guam.

I don't know if this is a manager decisions, or Chris Ray's, but, after Damon got on last night, shouldn't Chris Ray have been playing catch, so to speak, with Chris Gomez, in the hopes that the game would be called while stalling. If you can't grip the ball, and you can't see it, why are you pitching it when there are more than enough ways to stall the game.

Tom D.

There were plenty of other things that could hae been done:
- Bako visits the mound to discuss pitch selection (pefectly legal)
- Mora or Roberts visits the mound to discuss defensive stragegy (perfectly legal)
- Leo Mazzone visits the mound (perfectly legal)

At some point during these visit, the umps return to sanity and stop play.