A's Lose Umpiring Travesty 6-1

Let me say this as with as little hometown bias as I can: The umpiring in this game was a complete farce, in every sense of the word.

Trevor Cahill had his usual great stuff tonight. He breezed through the first two innings without even allowing a ball to get out of the infield. The problem? You guessed it. Umpire Mike Winters. Winters decided that Cahill needed to place the ball in a strike zone the size of his belt buckle. Cahill lives off of throwing a sinker that starts outside and falls in at the last second. It's what he does best. But when he's forced to neatly set a pitch right in the Yankees' collective wheelhouse, bad things are gonna happen. Like a grand slam to our least favorite centaur.

But that wasn't all. Down by four runs, the A's managed to load the bases in the bottom of the fifth. Sabathia had become rattled at that point, and had walked the last batter. Luckily, the A's had the ultra-patient Daric Barton up at the plate. With a full count and two outs, Sabathia threw a fastball that started outside the zone and ended up a full two inches outside. Strike three.

It doesn't help that for every Yankee game this year, the Coliseum has turned into Yankee Stadium West, but for once, that's the least of my worries.

The A's and Yankees do it again tomorrow at 7:05 PM. In other news, the umpiring crew will rotate. Praise the lord.