Fair Ball Is Ruled Foul, Helping Yankees Escape

As Joe Mauer’s fly ball twisted near the left-field foul line in the 11th inning, Melky Cabrera dashed across the outfield to try to snare it. The ball nicked off Cabrera’s glove in fair territory and should have been ruled a fair ball. But Phil Cuzzi, the left-field umpire, called it foul.
While Mauer later singled and the Minnesota Twins eventually loaded the bases, Cuzzi’s missed call ended up being critical. If Mauer’s ball had been ruled fair, he probably would have had a double and, if the Twins had hit the back-to-back singles that followed, probably would have scored the go-ahead run.
Instead, the Yankees squeezed through a bases-loaded, no-out jam and then celebrated after Mark Teixeira’s homer gave them a 4-3 victory in 11 innings at Yankee Stadium. As Teixeira raced around the bases, Mauer, who had his catcher’s mask perched on top of his head, watched Teixeira while slowly walking back to the third-base dugout.
The Twins had a two-run lead in the ninth and closer Joe Nathan blew it, they had the bases loaded after Cuzzi’s blown call and did not score, and they stranded 17 runners. But Cuzzi’s mistake, which was glaring, dominated the conversation after Game 2 of the division series.
“I think everybody here knows that the Yankees caught a break in the next inning,” Nathan said. “I think everybody saw it on TV. I hope everybody’s going to go ask the umpire about that call, too. I wasn’t the only one who blew one tonight.”
Tim Tschida, the crew chief, said the umpires reviewed the videotape after the game and it was clear that “an incorrect decision” had been made. Mauer was more subdued than Nathan as he noted how the Twins had numerous opportunities to win and failed. He was more critical of Minnesota’s lapses than of Cuzzi’s miscue.
“They make mistakes, too,” Mauer said. “They made a mistake there and we just got to live with it.”
Major League Baseball uses six umpires during the postseason, two more umpires than baseball employs in regular-season games. One of the extra umpires is stationed down the left-field line, and the other is stationed down the right-field line. So Cuzzi was closer to the play than he would have been during the season, but he still missed it.

“We got a little break,” Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said.
When Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire was asked how the game might have been different if Mauer’s ball had been called fair, he said: “Next guy got a single. You can figure that out, I think.”
In the ninth inning, the Twins were three outs from tying the series, but Nathan blew a two-run lead and might have blown the series. The Twins have dropped the first two games in the best-of-five series. It was also the fourth time in six games at the Stadium that the Yankees buried the Twins with a game-ending hit.
“It just seems like every time we’re walking off with our heads down,” outfielder Denard Span said. “It’s tough, especially this one. This is a game we know we had a chance to win.”
They had a chance in the ninth. With the Twins ahead by two runs, Mauer flashed the sign for a fastball to Nathan. There was a 3-1 count on Alex Rodriguez, a dangerous time to groove a fastball to a powerful hitter. Mauer wanted Nathan’s pitch to be down and away, but it caught too much of the plate. Rodriguez’s two-run homer tied the score, 3-3.
If the Twins were to have a chance at shocking the Yankees in this series, the belief was that they needed to get superb pitching and a stellar performance from Mauer.
Having Mauer at catcher is a definite edge that the Twins have over the Yankees. Mauer is the best catcher in baseball and one of the finest players in the game, so he has the edge over the Yankees’ Jorge Posada.
Still, as talented as Mauer is, his dominance as a player has not been enough to push the pesky Twins past the powerful Yankees. Michael Jordan could dominate a basketball game and guide an undermanned club past a better team. Pitchers, not catchers, can do that in baseball.
“I think when you talk about position players taking over games, I think most guys think of an outfielder or a third baseman or someone like that,” said Mike Redmond, the Twins’ backup catcher. “For us and what I’ve seen over the last few years, you’d be crazy not to pick Joe Mauer because of what he does.”
Mauer tried to take over the game in the 11th. If the ball he hit had been correctly, the Twins might have won. But the Yankees avoided letting Mauer and the Twins beat them, with some help from an umpire’s call.