The Yankees at Twins game took an unnecessary and weak turn in the first inning when the Yankees manager whined about Morneau's homerun and was awarded a review. The review resulted in overturning the homerun, and that probably changed the course of the game.

Did the Yankees need to pull those two runs from the Twins? Not really. They ended up winning by four runs. But the effect of the review and over-turned dinger was not just on the scoreboard.

The situation of the at-bat had changed completely. It was a two-out situation, and the 1-0 pitch to Morneau. He hit the ball, and it certainly went the distance. He waited, watching the ball. It clearly arced in the field off the bat, but made a wicked curve for the pole. The call was made and the homerun awarded, and the runners lapped the field.

I sit along the first-base line. The ball disappeared into the sky and never reappeared. The crowd over by the pole, well behind the seats, erupted in ball-catching activity. I couldn't tell if it was fair or foul. I assumed it had cleared the pole on its arc, as the first-base ump, who was standing on the line, is the one who called it a homer. He may not have been the only one, but he did signal without turning to see what the others were signaling.

The Yankees coach, Girardi, who sits along the third-base line, but who is both interested in the Twins not getting a homerun, and a little more to the infield than the line, trotted out and conferred with the first-base ump. We could tell it was a pleasant conversation, and moments later the review was underway.

The three umps who did the review came back and called the ball foul. A friend of mine might have said "it had the toward, but not the 'tween." Gardy came out, grumbled, talked to a couple of umps, and got ejected. He was clearly less polite than Girardi, but he had a little more vested interest in undoing a wrong.

I know, home team fan, losing side of the deal, whines the loudest. The thing is, there wasn't anything really concrete to overturn the call. They didn't show any replays on the jumbo televisions there (they never do for controversial calls), so we had to rely on what we saw after the game. There were a couple shots that showed it might have been foul, and some that showed it might have been fair. The one they showed the most was the same I had; the ball disappeared in the sky and the only evidence it landed was the activity in the crowd.

This was not a play that could be clearly seen as called wrong on the field. Add to that the fact that even the umps get the replay wrong, as evidenced by the replay try that went against the Yankees just a couple days ago. There, in KC, the ball hit the top of the padding around the outfield, but failed to clear the little bit of fence atop it, which at that field is the actual top of the outfield wall; that ball should have been called in-play. I'm a little glad that one went against the Yankees, but just because they bother me, not because I want the Royals to win (they're keeping the Twins out of last place in our division, after all).

In football, there needs to be clear, incontrovertable proof that a call was wrong. There didn't seem to be the same consideration here. There was in KC, and they still got it wrong. The system is flawed and broken, and while I'm all for getting it right, it shouldn't be done at the expense of just playing the game.

The ball arced. It was hit fair, it clearly flew between first and second base. It clearly landed just a little to the outside of the line, based on the crowd reaction there. It was hit very high, and was plummeting as it passed the outfield wall.  Did it pass fair or foul? We might never know. Because of that, the play should have stood as called.

Instead, the runners were replaced, the count adjusted to 1-1.

Now, he's a much younger fella than me, and in a lot better shape. He didn't race around the bases, but did a fair trot. He did have time to mill about in the dugout, have a thirst-quencing Gatorade, and catch his breath. Nonetheless, he had to return to the plate with a different mindset and physical condition than the moments before. He didn't have a chance.

A few pitches later Morneau struck out. You could tell he was not happy with the turn of events as he threw his bat to the ground, tossed his helmet to the bat boy, and skulked to first base to start the top of the second inning as a baseman, not work in the first as a base runner. Mauer was visibly unhappy, too, as he retreated to right field from first base.

Additionally, instead of being two outs with two runs bringing Thome to the plate, Thome lead-off the second inning. As wella as disrupting the flow of the game, the whole scope of how who gets pitched to changed. Thome, no doubt similarly impacted by the reverse, would have had a different at-bat had the homerun stood. Sabathia would have been behind by two runs, mentally dinged by the long ball, and it still would have been the first inning. He wouldn't be inning-fresh, and all of the other situational bits that one can imagine would have been different.

The whole attitude of the game changed. You know that those smug Yankees were elated that the umps like them better. The Twins, on the other hand, were defeated knowing the umps like the Yankees better. The attitude adjustment carried forward for the rest of the game. There were at least a handful of Yankees who were beat to the bag by the ball, but who were called safe anyway. There were a lot more strike-outs called than swung-at by the Twins, and only three either way for the Yankees.

I'll give you that Sabathia is a much better pitcher than Duensing. The Twins' pitching has probably been 2/3 of their problem this year. Starters can't go the distance, the bullpen can't hold a lead, and the closers have given up too many saves. Too many of the Twins starters don't catch their groove until the second or third inning, and as many (sometimes in the same game) loose it by the fifth inning.

The loss was in the 15 hits the Yankees had versus the 10 the Twins had. Three of those Yankee hits were homeruns, and the only homerun the Twins hit was overturned. The Twins offense tried to rally a bit, but the damage done to their moralle in the first inning, compounded with the other calls that seemed against them, set in too deep and they didn't believe any more.

The Yankees batters are a bunch of 1-4 hacks (all of their batting averages were around .250, give or take), with exceptional paychecks, and average (or less) fielding skills. They are tied for first in the AL East with 75 wins, leading all of the AL, while the Twins are like 15 games under .500. I don't know why there's such a disparity between the teams, or even between the divisions, but there is.