The Checked Swing
In case you missed it, here’s the “checked swing” issue from last night’s game – via Kat O’Brien:
Jason Giambi, whose pinch-hit two-run homer in the ninth inning gave the Yankees a 9-8 victory over the Blue Jays on Thursday, had a chance to steal the back page again. He batted against lefthander Ron Mahay with runners on first and second and two out in the eighth, but this time he was left frustrated.
Giambi tried to check his swing on a full-count pitch in the dirt – replays clearly indicated he did – but Royals catcher John Buck leaped at Giambi to tag him and plate umpire Ed Montague ruled he had gone around, prompting a brief argument from the stunned Giambi.
Giambi was calm after the game, saying: “It doesn’t really matter now. You can’t do anything about it.” He added: “I really respect and love Ed Montague. I’ll never say anything bad about him. It’s over now.”
Montague told a pool reporter he had not yet watched a replay and said of Giambi: “He said he didn’t swing. I said I had the ball passing the bat. And that was it. Checked swing. Close. I had him offering at the ball.”
This is interesting, as, almost three years ago to the day, on June 8, 2005, the Yankees were also involved in another heated check swing call – one going the other way. Via the Times, back then:
[Tino] Martinez and [Joe] Torre were ejected after Martinez complained that [Brady] Clark went around on a 1-2 pitch. The first-base umpire, Larry Vanover, threw out Martinez, and when Torre got in Vanover’s face to argue, Vanover ejected him too.
“Everything we haven’t been doing built up, and I took it out on the umpire, which I shouldn’t have done,” Torre said.
At that time, this is what I wrote on the matter:
On the “checked swing” thing, that was the most heated that I’ve ever seen Torre get with an ump. Personally, “checked swings” have been an issue for me for a long time. “Checked swing” is an oxymoron. There’s no such thing as a checked swing. Once the swing is started, it’s a swing. If these were called properly, in that they are all swings, it would make the game move a lot faster.
And, my opinion has not changed on this matter. So, put me on Ed Montague’s side for the play in question from last night’s game.
I guess General Joe was too busy sipping green tea to argue the call?
put me on Ed Montague’s side for the play in question from last night’s game.
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Regardless, it was a bs call, especially in context with Matsui’s checked swing an AB earlier.
Well, what does the rulebook say? Opinions are one thing, but if the rules say you can “check” a swing, then you can check a swing. And my interpretation of the rule would be that Giambi checked his swing.
Here’s another point I touched upon briefly at RAB: The Yankees really shouldn’t be in a position against the Royals where they’re depending on a bad checked swing call to keep their hopes for tying the game alive in the 8th inning. That’s just sad.