Monday’s game between the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees featured one of the strangest ejections in recent memory. A day later, Yankees announcers couldn’t help but have some fun with it.
New York skipper Aaron Boone was ejected in the first inning of Monday’s game after home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt thought chatter from unhappy fans was coming from New York’s dugout. On Tuesday, the roles were reversed with the A’s dugout getting yelled at.
An 0-1 offering from Yankees pitcher Marcus Stroman to Oakland’s Esteury Ruiz appeared to be well outside, but home plate umpire John Tumpane called it a strike. Tumpane heard some disagreements from the Oakland dugout. Tumpane didn’t like what he heard and while he didn’t eject anyone, he did yell at the A’s bench. Ryan Ruocco, calling the game for the Yankees on the YES Network, made the obvious comparison.
“John Tumpane — was that a Hunter Wendelstedt impression? There’s Hunter didn’t want to take ownership of that yesterday, either,” Ruocco said, referencing Wendlestedt’s defense of ejecting Boone while not acknowledging that the comments did not come from anyone on the Yankee bench.
“John Tumpane — was that a Hunter Wendelstedt impression?…Was it any of them or was it someone actually in the A’s dugout?”
Umpires are making all kinds of friends in this series. pic.twitter.com/USWoZDJsFJ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 24, 2024
Ruocco got one final jab in as the camera panned to the seats behind the Oakland dugout.
“Was it any of them or was it someone actually in the A’s dugout?” Ruocco joked.
[Photo Credit: YES Network]
