During Tuesday night's Indians-Yankees game, television cameras caught sight of something that an umpire refused to believe.
During the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium, Indians' 3B Jack Hannahan popped up into the seats in left field. Yankee LF Dewayne Wise leaped into the stands to try and make the catch. The ball glanced off the side of his glove and was scooped up by a fan five feet away, who proudly held it up in celebration.
Third-base umpire Mike DiMuro chased down the line as the ball was descending, and as he approached the scene, he ruled the play was an out, without checking Wise's glove to see if he even had the ball.
TV replays (which we cannot post here due to MLB rules, sorry) showed that Wise never made the catch, but DiMuro was unmoved by that. He later ejected Hannahan from the game for arguing the call, pointing an angry finger towards the Indians' player's chest before tossing him.
"I can live with the fact that he didn't see the fan two feet away from where Dewayne dove into stands, jumping up and down, excited he got a foul ball. I can live with that," Hannahan said. "But to not ask Dewayne to see the ball is absolutely inexcusable. ... I asked him about it, and he gave me an early hook, too."
Following the game, DiMuro saw replays and apologized for the blown call.
"I went out on the ball and saw the ball into his glove in his stands. He disappeared into the stands, and I believed that the ball was in his glove," DiMuro said. "In hindsight, I should have asked him to show me the ball, since he fell into the stands and out of my line of vision."
If you have seen the replay, you know that DiMuro is still not being 100 percent truthful, as the ball did not go into Wise's glove.
Will DiMuro apologize to Hannahan at this afternoon's game, as Jim Joyce did to Justin Verlander two seasons ago?
- Jeff Seemann
