SULTANS OF S.W.A.T. Yankee Stadium turned into Fort Apache, The Bronx last night as cops stormed the field to protect the umpires from fans outraged over a controversial call in the Bombers’ tough 4-2 Game 6 loss to Boston in the American League Championship Series.
Several fans were ejected for tossing debris on the field in the eighth and ninth innings, and a phalanx of helmeted riot cops took the field to restore order after one projectile came too close to an umpire for comfort, police said.
Fans were incensed after an eighth-inning run scored by Derek Jeter was called back when batter Alex Rodriguez was called for interference. The call was made after a long on-field umpire conference after A-Rod slapped the ball out of Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo’s glove at first base.
The sense of euphoria that had permeated the Stadium turned to rage after the rally-killing decision was made. Baseballs and plastic bottles rained down on the field as the Red Sox pulled their team off the field.
The call was especially stinging because a long hit by Sox second baseman Mark Bellhorn was first called a double but later declared a home after an similar umpire meeting in the fourth inning.
Speaking of the A-Rod decision, John Foerch, 27, of Ridgewood, N.J., said, “It’s a horrendous call you can’t make a call like that in the big game.”
In the next inning, more debris came down and the game came to a halt as umpires turned to the Bronx police commander, Assistant Chief Thomas Purtell, near the Yankees dugout. Purtell and Chief of Department Joseph Esposito made the decision to sent a long line of riot cops up the infield walls on both side of the stadium.
“Deployment of officers onto the field at the top of the ninth inning was made at the request of umpires of major league baseball,” said police spokesman Paul Browne.
Public-address announcer Bob Sheppard called for calm.
Eventually, cooler heads prevailed and the cops were recalled to the stadium inside.
After the play, a large number of fans sprinted into the stadium concourse to see replays on snack stand televisions. Many of them admitted that A-Rod was really out.
John Drum, 33, Northvale, “It was a decent call he slapped it all the way,” said John Drum, 33, a Yankee fans of Northvale.
The loss means the two teams will meet one last time tonight in a climactic Game 7 rematch that will decide who goes to the World Series and who goes home.
It will also mean another bleary-eyed night for Yankees fans who have been saying up late to catch the games, some of which have extended past 1 a.m..
“It definitely has been affecting the workplace. People are taking the day off,” said John Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a job-placement consultant firm.
Nick Saricopoulos, branch manager of OfficeTeam, an administrative-staffing service, added, “We’ve been seeing some last-minute staffing needs. This is an exciting Series and people want to see it.”