Rich Slams a Disputable Unwritten Rule of Baseball That Popped Up In the Red Sox/Yankees Game

Nothing in sports makes Rich angrier than the unwritten rules of baseball, and Sunday handed him a fresh case.

The setup was Yankees-Red Sox with the season series on the line, which surprised him, given that Boston's four-game sweep in late June sparked the 35-5 run that put them back in the wild card mix. Roman Anthony and Trevor Story both returned for the Red Sox, whose rotation is terrific even without Garrett Crochet.

Then New York broke it open on Ranger Suárez, and how they broke it open matters.

A Red Sox outfielder made a remarkable catch in center that was ruled a trap. On review, the call stood, because Major League Baseball requires multiple camera angles to overturn and there was no incontrovertible evidence either way.

Rich was fair about it. Watch it once and it is a catch. Watch it again and the ball may have touched the ground for a split second. Had it been called a catch on the field, that would have stood too.

What followed was human. The outfielder was melting down. Suárez was in his feelings. He left a pitch over the plate, and Ramos, who had not done much since arriving at the deadline, hit a three-run shot. David Cone called it coming on the broadcast.

But the broadcast everyone is discussing is the other one, because Red Sox radio announcer Will Flemming melted down, and it turned into an argument about a rule nobody ever wrote down.

Up 7-1 in the eighth, Jazz Chisholm stole second, because nobody was holding him on.

That, the argument goes, is the white flag. If we are playing behind you at first base, we are telling you to just play the game out.

Flemming's reaction on air was to suggest a Yankees hitter get drilled in response, and to call it selfish, stat-padding, bush league.

He has since apologized, which Rich noted before playing it, and Rich was equally clear that calling for someone to get beaned is out of line.

But the underlying rule is what set him off.

"You don't want him to steal? Don't let him get on base."

His objection is not philosophical, it is arithmetic. It is a six-run game in the eighth, and Rich has watched enough Yankee baseball to know six runs is not safe.

The rest of the inning made his case for him. The next pitch went into right field. The pitch after that got hit into right field by Paul Goldschmidt. Then Boston genuinely did wave the flag, putting a position player on the mound, who gave up two home runs.

Rich did learn something new from that, which is that the automated ball-strike challenge system is switched off when a position player pitches.

He also noticed that the same man hit into a double play the next inning, and wondered aloud who the last pitcher was to surrender two homers and then ground into a double play an inning later.

The desk pushed back that everybody knows the unwritten rules, and that a six-run game in the eighth is over.

"Is it really?" Rich said.

He was not close to letting it go. If the game is over, then end it. Call it, hand out orange wedges and send everyone home. If we are conceding, concede, so nobody blows out an elbow finishing a game that has already been decided.

He also pointed out he would take an eight-run lead over a six-run lead every single time, and asked anyone who disagrees to consider how many pop flies end up in the right field seats at Yankee Stadium.

The consistency problem cuts the other way too, and Rich flagged it. A Red Sox hitter did not run out a grounder to end the eighth, visibly, to the point that Chisholm hitched on the throw. So is that also a concession? Are we now reading effort as a signal about what the other team is allowed to do?

He reached for an old callback to explain what the sport actually needs here, which is the sarcasm font he once proposed to a former Twitter chief executive. Some way to make the message unambiguous.

He also raised the obvious counterexample, which is that the Reds scored seven in the ninth to beat the Giants last week.

Asked whether this carries into October, the room agreed it probably does, and that Chisholm likely wears one at some point, somewhere harmless. Rich, characteristically, said he will take the free base runner any day of the week.

The playoff picture, as he sees it: the Yankees do not catch the Rays, and nobody catches the Red Sox.

Which brought up the other game he watched, where Tampa Bay trailed San Diego 3-1 in the ninth, hit one to left, and watched the left fielder catch it, hit the wall, and lose the ball over the fence for a game-tying home run off Mason Miller. The Rays won it in the 11th.

"It's all working for the Rays right now," Rich said. They put the ball in play.

Aaron Judge is expected back September 10th.