World Series notes

The New York Yankees staved off elimination for a day by winning World Series Game Four last night. They did so despite falling behind early on yet another home run from Captain Marvel Jr. and with no help from two guys in the right field seats that stole a foul ball out of the glove of Dodger right fielder Mookie Betts.

You will occasionally see a fan reach into the field of play to catch a ball; you will occasionally see fans and players both angling for a catch once a ball clears the wall and enters the "out of play" territory. You never, until last night, expect to see fans grab a players arm and pry a ball out of his glove. Only in the Bronx, man.

Those guys, who have been banned from attending the remainder of the World Series, give form and substance to the generalized image of the Yankee Fan: Obnoxious, rude, hostile, selfish, and all that is wrong with humanity. Well played, asshats. From The Athletic's account of the theft:

Austin Capobianco, 38, from Connecticut, was ejected after the incident in the first inning of the Yankees’ 11-4 win in Game 4 on Tuesday night. Another fan, who ESPN identified as John Peter, was ejected alongside Capobianco.

...

Darren Capobianco said his brother, Austin, is a Yankees season ticket holder. A team spokesman said that it has not been determined what — if any — further action will be taken regarding the future of their tickets. Austin Capobianco didn’t respond to text messages from The Athletic seeking comment Wednesday morning.

After the play, Capobianco tried arguing with stadium security that Betts’ glove had reached into foul territory.

It's that last bit that was really the chef's kiss of Yankee fan assholery, visibly arguing with stadium security that because Betts had reached into the seating area to catch the ball, he as a fan was entitled to forcibly pry Betts' glove open and steal the baseball. I looked for a still photo of the argument but couldn't find one; it was only on the Fox TV broadcast for a second or so, because Fox is terrible at broadcasting baseball.

Several times in this World Series has there been something of relative import happening on the field that the Fox crew—including the announcers, Joe Davis and John Smoltz, and either the director or the camera operators—failed to notice or acknowledge. Game One had the catch-and-throw by the Yankee outfielder that resulted in runners being awarded a base that you'd only be aware of if you (a) knew the rule about having to reenter the field of play before throwing the ball, and (b) saw the gesticulations of the third base umpire in the background of the camera shot in the second or so it was onscreen. Game Two had something I now don't remember the details of but commented on in real time, Game Three had a defensive replacement we weren't made aware of, and last night there was several seconds in which the home plate umpire was having a confrontation with someone about something, but damned if anyone watching the broadcast knows what it was about or who the confrontation was with because the Fox director chose to keep the closeup shot of Garret Cole in the dugout onscreen for the entire time.

Also, Smoltz is ridiculously bad at this. It is fun when the players will do something 180° from what Smoltz said would happen a second prior, but really, dude, finish a thought rather than just let things hang there and maybe be less oblique when you reference something from your pitching career. Or just keep quiet, that'd be fine.

I am rooting for the Dodgers in the Series, but kind of glad the Yankees won last night because (a) more baseball is always good; and (b) the Dodgers went in with a planned bullpen game, and bullpen games when they are not necessitated by immediate circumstance are stupid and any team that deliberately plans to have one—or several!—in the postseason deserves to have it bite them in the butt.

LA is heavily favored tonight despite the fact that Cole will be pitching for New York because history decrees it to be so. Never, in 122 years of World Series (two years there was no Series played), has a team that lost the first three games come back to even force a Game 6, let alone brought it to the maximum length, let alone come back to win. They just became only the third such team to win Game 4. Still, to quote Mr. Spock, "for everything there is a first time," so all hope is not lost for those jerks in right field.