Hannahan has minor idea to punish bad umps
IT WAS the day after the mother of all blown calls by umpire Mike DiMuro and Indians infielder Jack Hannahan was still simmering.
Hannahan, who was ruled out by DiMuro on Dewayne Wise’s phantom catch in Tuesday’s seventh inning, had yet to get over the missed call and getting tossed when he argued an inning later.
He even hinted umps — like players — should pay for their horrible mistakes.
“When we players screw up or don’t do our jobs we get sent to the minors,” said Hannahan, “or get released.”
In case you were out of the country or hadn’t paid your cable bill and missed the call (like DiMuro), the screw-up happened in the seventh inning of the Yankees’ 6-4 victory Tuesday night. Hannahan was batting with two outs and a runner on third when he lofted a foul ball down the left field line.
The Yanks’ Wise raced in, tumbled into the stands, and appeared to make the second greatest catch of his career (his gem saved Mark Buerhle’s perfect game for the White Sox in 2009).
There was only one problem. Wise never caught the ball. In fact a fan recovered the ball while Wise’s glove remained empty. But that didn’t matter to DiMuro, who called Hannahan out.
An incredulous Hannahan, after watching the replay between innings, came out to argue his case with DiMuro, who eventually compounded his very forgettable evening by tossing Hannahan. Got all that? “He said you can’t come out here and yell at me like this,” Hannahan said before Wednesday’s 5-4 Yankees win. “I didn’t use any curse words."
Indians manager Manny Acta at first defended DiMuro somewhat, only to then hammer the beleaguered umpire.
“Mike’s a good umpire. I can live with the human part of it, not seeing the fan or not seeing the ball,” Acta said, before adding, “(But) this was the case of a guy just not doing his job and that I can’t live with.”
There were no further conversations between Hannahan, Acta and DiMuro Wednesday at the Stadium. In fact Hannahan wasn’t even in the Indians’ starting lineup and did not appear in the game at all.