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The ump blew the call last night. It's happened before, and it'll happen again.

And again, and again, and again....because it's Fenway, and when you have 36,000 drunk chowderheads breathing down your neck every call, it's bound to happen on countless more occasions. Blowing a call is one thing....blowing two horrible calls in the same AB with the game on the line is another, especially when there are complaints on a regular basis about it occurring in the same venue repeatedly.

When Yankee Stadium is rocking, and Rivera is about to finish off another game, he gets a couple inches off the outside corner to lefties. I can't count the times I've said to myself, "Boy, I'm glad he called that a strike, but if I was batting I'd be really ticked."

There is a difference - when Rivera is finishing a game, there is usually no one on base and we are up by 2 or 3 runs. At that point, the ump probably wants to get home. That is not always the case, either. Just last night or the night before, Rivera had a 1-2 count on a batter with 2 outs and no one on, and ended up missing 2 close pitches to walk the guy. The batter was also left-handed.

Boston always seems to "luck out" when they are losing late and close or have a slim lead, which is more often the case. Heck, Rivera's cut fastball is probably a tougher pitch for an umpire to read anyway with it's late movement. The difference being, in Fenway, the umps deliberately call balls to EXTEND the game, rather than end it early. That works against the "get it over with" mentality an umpire would surely have toward the end of a typical 3 hour game in Boston. What also works against Boston is the spread of wins and losses at home and on the road. Mind telling me how Boston can be 3 games under .500 on the road, but have a better record than the Yankees at home? The spread for them is 34, for the Yankees, it's 17.

Trust me, if you see some questionable calls in the ALCS or ALDS, you will know why, especially if we end up playing them.