Bust Out the Brooms... Er, Mops

NFL Europa officially folded today. Darn...

It was a travesty. A sham. A mockery. I'd go as far to say it was a travashamockery. What happened during last night's rain postponed O's/ Yanks game is just further proof that I am not wrong when I say there is definite New York favoritism in all sports.

It was a balmy night in Baltimore. Two teams were battling back and forth. The O's managed to take a 6-4 lead, scoring four runs in the seventh inning, when the rain started. Brandon Fahey was at the plate, with an 0-2 count, and 2 outs. At that point, the umpires stopped the game. No big deal. The delay lasted 18 minutes.

After the delay, Fahey grounded out, and the Orioles' biggest inning of the night ended. The eighth came around, and the Yanks were returning the favor. Then the rain started falling harder than before. Chris Ray is taking his time before pitching to Derek Jeter, in hopes that the massive monsoon will delay the game. The umpires decide that play must continue. Big deal. Huge deal. Jeter singles up middle, two Yankees score, and then play in stopped again, this time with the Yankees ahead.

It all seems so innocent. The umpires didn't stop the game, and the Yankees capitalized. It was not innocent. It was calculated. It was premeditated. It was a friggin' conspiracy. And what's worse, the Orioles knew about it.

Quoth Melvin Mora: "He just tried to make Jeter hit so they can score one run and they can get out of here. That's what I think."

Quoth Chris Ray: "I've never pitched in rain like that before. I was just trying not to throw the ball to the backstop. When they called it in the seventh inning and we had something going and it wasn't raining nearly as hard, and then it's pouring down rain and we're just out there in terrible conditions."

Quoth Dave Trembley: "I think everyone here's smart enough to realize a little bit of what happened here tonight."

Naturally, all three of them are going to get fined (or worse), from the Commissioner's Office for exposing the truth. But now that we know the story and the conspiracy that makes this a story, let's look at the ramifications.

The game will be resumed July 27th, the next time the Yankees are in town. The last inning and a half will be played before the regularly scheduled game. The Orioles cannot use anybody removed from the game, but may use people who are not currently on the roster. Therefore, we are without the services of Daniel Cabrera, Paul Shuey, John Parrish, Kevin Millar, Jay Gibbons, Freddie Bynum, and Melvin Mora. Why no Mora? He was ejected for pointing out the obvious to the umps (he told the third base ump that he couldn't see the ball anymore because of the rain, and the ump went off on him and ejected him. You can read the full recounting of he tale on the Sun's website). So without our usual third baseman, the O's will probably shift Chris Gomez to the spot, and end up using Ramon Hernandez as the first baseman, since Aubrey Huff was already in the game as the DH. To say the least, we're going to be short staffed.

Naturally, all of this occurred after the O's lost the lead. Had the Yankees not been able to take the lead one batter before the game was stopped, it would not be a huge deal. But why was Fahey's at bat stopped mid-count, but Jeter's was allowed to continue? And why did it take so long to stop the game in a downpour when the ball could not be seen, but the game was stopped in a hurry when the rain first started and was still manageable? And why was the third base ump so quick to eject Melvin?

The answer is the conspiracy.

This conspiracy dates back to at least 1978. In the same situation in 1978, the Yanks were ahead at the rain delay, but when the game was called, the rules stated that the game be reverted back to the last completed half of an inning, which put the Orioles ahead. That prompted a rule change that took effect in 1980, since surely the Yankees cannot be given that injustice. The rule was changed to just freeze the game, and that was it. Now the rules mandate that the game be finished, even though that's just silly. Personally, I like the last completed half of an inning thing, but if that was still the case, Chris Ray would have had to pitch until the inning was over, because surely the Yankees would be allowed to finish their inning.

Fast forward to 1996, and the Yankee Conspiracy continued with Jeffrey Maier (that rat bastard). So here we are in 2007, the conspiracy lives on, and it seems like the Orioles will be denied to the opportunity to sweep the Yankees at home. Way to rob from the poor, Major League Baseball.

To be truthful, it wouldn't be that big a deal if it wasn't the Yankees. Seeing as the Evil Empire always gets preferential treatment, this story has the chance to explode. If it was Kansas City or Texas, I wouldn't care that much. But it's the Yankees, and those heartless soul-suckers are going to steal from us, yet again, and this time in our own yard.

Peace.