New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge on Monday night against the Toronto Blue Jays created a controversy of sorts when he appeared to glance toward the Yankee dugout just prior to hitting a deep home run off of reliever Jay Jackson.
Here's the entire sequence of events:
On occasion hitters will attempt to steal a late look at the catcher in order to determine where he's setting up for the pitch, which is not against the rules. This, however, appears to be a quick look toward the Yankee dugout, and that led to speculation that Judge may have been doing so in order to, say, get a stolen sign passed along to him. After the game, Judge said he was merely distracted by some "chirping" in the visitor's dugout.
On Tuesday, however, the plot thickened just a bit.
While Toronto manager John Schneider indicated his team was working ensure they weren't unknowingly tipping off opposing hitters, the club also said they had asked MLB to look into whether Yankee base coaches were at times positioned outside of their assigned boxes in foul territory.
More:
Yankees manager Aaron Boone, for his part, said the team talked to the league office but does not expect an investigation.
Schneider also sounds as though he doesn't entirely believe Judge's explanation for his sideways glance:
As for Judge, one day later he sounds none too pleased that the Blue Jays' broadcast booth drew attention to whatever it was he was doing -- if indeed it was anything at all:
Whatever the truth of things, the flare-up has added intrigue to what's already a divisional rivalry between aspiring contenders. The Yankees and host Jays will play the second game of their four-game set on Tuesday night. The Yankees come in having won seven of their last 10 and are one game behind the third-place Jays.
