UPDATE (2:28 by jscape): I just received this email from a reader:
I'm a lifelong Yankee fan who moved to Southern California from NJ about 20 years ago to go to UCLA. My wife and I usually make the 75-mile trip from Thousand Oaks to Anaheim for every game the Yanks play in Anaheim. It's a lot of fun because she grew up in Orange County and is an Angel fan. (Not everyone is perfect.)
Originally, I was only planning on going to Game 5, but when the Yankees were leading Game 3 2-0, I decided to go to Game 4 hoping for a sweep.
I found a single ticket on ticketmaster.com for Section 132 on Tuesday night and went without my wife.
In all the years we've been going to Yankees-Angels games in Anaheim, the Angels have NEVER showed a close (much less a controversial) call on the stadium jumbotron, much to the chagrin of a lot of fans. As far as I know, I believe that MLB has a rule that prohibits teams from doing so. The Angels did not show ANY replays AT ALL on the jumbotron on Tuesday night.
I can understand why, however, it might have seemed that way to the viewer at home.
When I buy my tickets for Angel Stadium, like any fan, I try to get the best possible seats. Usually, this means sitting in Section 132, 133 or 134 as they are the only available field level sections on the first base side (visitor's dugout in Anaheim). However, last month, for the game on Tuesday, September 22nd, I found myself sitting in Section 229, which has the Club Level overhead.
What I discovered sitting there is that there are TV monitors placed on the underside of that overhang. Those monitors have the broadcast TV feed shown on them, just like the monitors that one would find at the concession stands.
That was the ONLY way anyone in the ballpark got to see replays of any plays on Tuesday night. In my seat, about 15 rows off the foul pole, I did not get to see a replay because it was not shown on the stadium jumbotron.
Now, what MLB really needs to do, aside from something about instant replay is ban those stupid "thunder sticks". I can't believe that they still let the Angels pass them out. Without them, I guarantee you would have been able to hear on TV all the Yankee fans that were there (and there were a lot of them) cheering for the team. Really, how sad is it that a team has to give their fans noisemakers to artificially create a home field advantage?
I'll be heading back down to Anaheim this afternoon to sit in Section 134 and I'm hoping for even more Yankee fans tonight. Go Yanks!
Tim McClelland to the Des Moine Register:
"It’s very humbling, to be honest with you," he said in an interview with the Des Moines Register. "You don’t want to make mistakes. And you certainly don’t want to see your mistakes on JumboTron and TV over and over again."
I asked the question during one of the 5 game threads on Tuesday night, why the heck are the California Angels showing replays of close plays on the JumboTron? In all the years I've gone to Yankee Stadium I've never seen a questionable call replayed, even when it involved a great play.
It's been the same when I've gone to Camden Yards and SkyDome and RFK (yeah, I know, I need to get to a few more stadiums). They'll replay diving catchings and jump throws and big strikeout pitches, but not the maybes.
Is it something different about this postseason? Is it a West Coast- East Coast thing I never noticed before? Were the Angels just trying to get their fans riled up (seems in bad taste to me)?
Anybody who has seen this before, please tell me I'm wrong.
PS. Take the two umps off the line, so we're back to a 4 man crew, and put them up in a broadcast booth in front of tvs with the 4 or 5 broadcast feeds and allow each manager 2 appeals per game on balls in play (not balls and strikes, not HBP). If the manager is correct he retains the right to appeal again, if not, he's charged with a visit to the mound.