There's much reason for the Yankees to be happy about having Brian Bruney back from injury against the Orioles on Tuesday night. With Mariano Rivera getting a night off because he'd pitched three innings over the previous two days, Edwar Ramirez and Phil Coke did their best to blow a victory before finally slamming the door on the Twins.
Now they just have to make sure that they don't hit any controversial home runs before calling on him to pitch. Bruney says that a eight minute-plus delay to review video of a Jorge Posada home run on April 19th is to blame for the injury that's kept him on the shelf for nearly a month. He was warming up and, unsure of how long the umpires would take, didn't stop during that period.
"I could have quit throwing, I could have waited and started again,” Bruney said. “I don’t know if he’s coming out in 30 seconds or 3 minutes or 8 1/2 minutes. It turned out to be the latter. I mean, that’s a long time for a reliever to be throwing or any pitcher to be throwing."
It's too bad that Bruney got hurt, but that's no different than if he decided to keep throwing during an extended rally or an injury to a fielder during the inning. He knows his body, he knows what's too much stress for it to take and, in the end, only has himself to blame.
That said, eight minutes is far too long for any kind of replay of a home run. The Posada hit was called a home run, and it shouldn't take longer than a replay or two to find conclusive evidence that the call should be reversed. Absent that evidence, the call has to stand and the game needs to continue.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
