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'You should be sickened'
Boston papers seething after Game 4 fiasco
Posted: Monday October 18, 1999 01:26 PM
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Bad calls by the umps in Game 4 had Boston fans in an uproar and Red Sox manager Jimy Williams pulling his hair out. AP |
BOSTON (AP) -- Newspapers reacted angrily Monday to blown calls by umpires and unruly fan behavior during the New York Yankees' 9-2 defeat of the Red Sox in Game 4 of the AL Championship Series.
"Robbed again," read the banner headline in the Boston Herald, accompanied by a photo showing Yankees second baseman Chuck Knoblauch missing the tag on Boston's Jose Offerman in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Umpire Tim Tschida called Offerman out, ending a Red Sox rally and marking the beginning of the team's deeper descent to its third loss in the best-of-7 series. Tschida later admitted he made a mistake.
"The very integrity of major league baseball is now in question, because it has detailed a six-man umpiring crew for the ALCS that a) can't get its calls right, and b) has lost control of what's happening on the field," wrote Steve Buckley of the Herald.
The Boston Globe focused on the Fenway fans' response to another questionable call in the bottom of the ninth, when Nomar Garciaparra led off with a grounder to third baseman Scott Brosius and first-base umpire Dale Scott called Garciaparra out. Replays showed he beat the throw.
"Red Sox -- and fans -- lose it," read a front-page headline.
Red Sox manager Jimy Williams was ejected after running onto the field to protest and throwing his cap. Play was halted while more than a dozen police and security staff took the field after fans pelted the outfield with trash, including bottles and a batting helmet.
The Globe ran a front-page photo of Williams turning away in disgust from Scott.
Yankees manager Joe Torre called the fan reaction "disgraceful." Torre was almost irate over security at Fenway Park. "The head of Red Sox security was screaming at my players about staying in the dugout. That was a disappointment and a show of absolutely no class whatsoever. I can't describe it because my kids may be [listening]," Torre told the New York Post. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino issued a statement Monday apologizing for the "inappropriate behavior."
Herald columnist Michael Gee said the fan conduct was "a disgrace."
"A certain number of the 33,596 fans at Fenway Park couldn't hold their liquor. Or maybe they were born pigs," he wrote. "Each and every person reading this should be ashamed for what some of his neighbors did last night. If you love sports, you should be sickened." The reaction about the Boston fans was shared by some of the Yankees. "They better hope they lose tomorrow," reliever Jeff Nelson told the New York Post. "Can you imagine what it's going to be like in New York for them?"
Globe sports writer Dan Shaughnessy described the game as "a hail of errors, bad umpiring, and worse conduct by Boston fans."
"It was scary," he wrote. "Police were unable to stop dozens of unruly spectators from tossing things and the reigning world champion Yankees cleared the field while officials weighed the merits of resuming the game."
He also noted that Babe Ruth's 82-year-old daughter was scheduled to throw out the first pitch Monday night "assuming she feels safe enough." She would be doing the honors before a do-or-die situation for the Red Sox. Kent Mercker takes the mound in Monday night's Game 5 against New York's Orlando Hernandez in a rematch of Game 1 starters. The Yankees' Andy Pettitte, who allowed two runs and eight hits in 7 1-3 innings in winning his third straight postseason start, is confident about his team's chances Monday night. "I'm sure El Duque's going to throw a great game for us. Hopefully we can close this thing out," Pettitte said. Boston must win the next two to give the ball back to Pedro Martinez, who stopped the Yankees' 12-game postseason winning streak with seven shutout innings in Saturday's 13-1 rout of Roger Clemens. "Can we come back? Sure we can. We did it before," Garciaparra said, remembering how Boston overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat Cleveland in the best-of-5 first round.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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