On Wednesday of this past week the New York Yankees filed an official protest over their Tuesday night loss to the Boston Red Sox. A number of spokespeople for the league itself confirmed the rumors and noted that the commission received all of the necessary paperwork to put the complaint into full motion.
The complain revolves around the fact that no indication was given whatsoever in terms of the injury to Boston’s starting pitcher Josh Beckett, yet reliever Manuel Del Carmen was given all the time in the world to warm up and get ready. This had a huge impact on his performance considering that temperatures were low and conditions were damp.
At the time of the incident the Yankees were winning by a score of 5 to 0 and the filed a protest with umpire Larry Vanover. The Yankees went on to loss to Boston by a score of 7-6 during the AL East battle. MLB rules state that a replacement pitcher should only be given 8 pitches to warm up if there is no indication of injury, and even though Beckett was placed on the disabled list the next day New York feels that there was no indication of injury at that time during the game.
It is protocol for the league to respond to the complain within 5 business days.
While there is no real precedent on the matter, there is not expected to be a serious decision handed down and all that will probably come from the incident while be a deep look into the way replacement pitchers are used within games. Either way this is just another chapter to be added to the Boston and New York rivalry as both teams try to pick it up and beat each other to another pennant in 2010.
Drill Down:
New York Yankees,
Boston Red Sox,
Josh Beckett,
Larry Vanover
