It seems the Yankees Marlins game may not be over. It’s very complicated, but the Marlins messed up substitutions in the eighth, and if Girardi is right, the game may be replayed from that point.
Fredi Gonzalez pinch hit for Pinto with De Aza, then wanted to leave De Aza in the game and let Nunez the new pitcher bat first. Coghlan stayed in the game, however, instead of De Aza, so Nunez and Coghlan were on the field in the same batting slot. After Nunez threw a pitch, Girardi pointed out the error, at which point Hermida came in to left and batted in the ninth slot. Nunez was allowed to continue to pitch.
“They have never seen it before,” Girardi said, referring to the umpires. “So that’s why I protested it. We’ve got to clear up what the ruling is. You can’t look in the rule book for it.”
Gonzalez said he followed the umpires’ direction to bat Hermida ninth, adding that there was no reason to think Nunez was ineligible.
“Nunez stays in the game,” Gonzalez said. “Why are you going to penalize Nunez? He’s coming into the game fresh. It has to be one of the outfielders.”
I agree with Gonzalez here. Maybe the first pitch to Jeter shouldn’t count, or should be a ball (it was a strike). Coghlan was clearly the play in error, so he should be removed. I don’t think the protest will be upheld, but my guess is there will be a new section of the rule book dealing with this.
The problem with Girardi’s protest is that nothing about the mistake could be said to have changed the outcome of the game. One pitch was thrown, and the outfielder (the only player who shouldn’t have been on the field) wasn’t involved with the pitch. I would expect MLB to rule that while the outfielder was indeed on the field in error, the game does not need to be replayed.
Also, how lame is it for Girardi not to point out the mistake IMMEDIATELY rather than allow a pitch to be thrown and only then call “gotcha”? It’s like he was begging for an excuse to protest a game he was losing, rather than wanting to prevent a problem. If it were a legal case, he would have no chance in court under the doctrine of “laches,” because he didn’t act to stop the alleged harm when he could.
@Hudson: Actually, if you look at the rules about players batting out of order, it’s to the opposing manager’s advantage to wait to see what happens before calling the error. For example, if the batter gets a hit, the opposing manager calls out the problem and the batter is out. Joe was trying to get the pitcher removed from the game because he was improperly substituted. If the pitch isn’t thrown, he can’t do that.
I think you have it backward, Hudson. Until a pitch is thrown, nothing illegal has happened. Girardi did have to wait. (Compare the rule for batting out of order: in that case, the smart thing to do is to wait until the incorrect batter has finished his at bat before protesting.)
He was trying to get an advantage for his team, by using a rule that the other team had inadvertently violated. Why is that lame? Managers are supposed to do that.
Oh, I see David has chimed in with essentially the same point while I was writing this. Oh well.