Yankees frustrations justified thanks to damning umpire scorecard

Matt Sullivan

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Yankees frustrations justified thanks to damning umpire scorecard image

To kick off September, the New York Yankees and Houston Astros began a series that could be a postseason matchup in the first round. After winning 7-1 in game one, the Yankees fell 8-7 in game two.

But the loss wasn't a normal loss, but one where the Yankees fans, players, and coaching staff all expressed frustration over the umpiring. From poor balls and strikes to an infuriating balk call on Camilo Doval, it was a game marred by poor calls for New York.

The next morning, the Umpire Scorecard from Umpirescorecards.com, which details how accurately an umpire called a game from behind the plate, and the team that was favored, proved to be damning evidence that the Yankees were justified in their frustrations.

Yankees Justified Over Brian Walsh Frustrations

Brian Walsh was behind the plate for the second game of the Yankees and Astros series in Houston. In the 8-7 loss, Walsh's umpire scorecard was proof that the Astros were significantly favored in the game.

Houston was favored by 1.4 runs, which is more than the difference the Yankees lost by, further justifying their frustrations over Walsh's game behind the plate. This also doesn't include the controversial balk call on Doval, which gifted the Astros another run.

His called-strike accuracy on the year is 94.1 percent, and his consistency is 94 percent. He also, on average, has a Favor of 0.61 runs per game, a bit higher than the average umpire.

In the Yankees-Astros matchup, Walsh had a 90 percent overall accuracy (93 percent called ball accuracy and an 85 percent called strike accuracy) and a 90 percent consistency, every number being below average.

While his accuracy numbers weren't the worst seen this season, those inaccurate calls were in favor of the Astros, as evidenced by the 1.4 runs of Overall Favor that Umpire Scorecards measured from Walsh's performance.

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The highest Overall Favor from a game on Wednesday was a 0.68 in a 7-5 win between the Baltimore Orioles and the San Diego Padres. But that matchup was decided by two runs, and the favor for Baltimore didn't decide the game.

But for the Yankees, the 1.4 Overall Favor was the difference between a tie game and a loss. Adding the balk call, and the Yankees could've had a better chance to win the game instead of losing it.

It was a frustrating game for the Yankees, as Aaron Boone was ejected along with Devin Williams due to arguing balls and strikes. Based on the scorecard, their frustrations were justified, as the Astros were heavily favored, so much so that it made the difference in the outcome of the game.

New York will look to bounce back in the final game of the series on Thursday night, as the Yankees have a chance to win the series despite a frustrating game two against the Astros, where the home plate umpire favored the Astros significantly during the game.

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Matt Sullivan

Matt Sullivan is a freelance writer for The Sporting News, predominantly covering MLB. Matt is a native of Pennsylvania and has worked with Athlon Sports, Last Word on Sports, and other outlets.