Irate (Or the Emotion Wakamatsu SHOULD be Showing)
Bases loaded, two outs, bottom for the sixth, must-win game for a team facing nothing but must-win games from here on out. Yankees have been stalled at 4 runs and the Mariners are threatening to make a game of it.
Ryan Langerhans has battled his way to a 3-2 count. David Robertson's pitch comes in and Langerhans reads low...he takes it decisively and takes two long steps from the plate before he hears the emphatic strike three call. The proper response was given by Langerhans. The BS strike calls have been going against the Mariners all day long and Langerhans boils over, slamming the bat down in disgust and flipping his helmet like it's been shot from a cannon. Bucknor is among the worst umpires in the game's modern history. It's been well documented that his strike zone is not remotely close to consistent, nor particularly aligned with the rulebook zone (see the umpire review by the Hardball Times). But this was egredious bias...just like the egredious bias we faced September 1st, 2007 in the famous Washburn game which got out of hand upon the arrival of Sean Green and the blatant decision by the umpire to throw off the rules and screw the Mariners at all cost (remember? 11 balls called that were clearly strikes in one single half-inning? 9 runs scored?).
The fix is in...you should get angry. You don't get angry, you should get out of the game, because you're playing a man's game and you have the competitive fire of a 6 year old girl scout.
Don Wakamatsu should have been out there throwing bases and kicking up a cloud of dust they could see from outer space. His lack of a reaction was managerial malpractice and he should be ashamed of himself.