Baseball is back with all its uniquely bizarre chaos — like home plate umpire Laz Diaz taking out his frustration on Gerrit Cole by popping a balloon.
Baseball can be a frustrating game. Fractions of inches can be the difference between balls and strikes, homer runs and deep fly-outs, wins and losses. That puts a lot of pressure on umpires who often have to use their own eyes and judgment to decide exactly where those fractions of inches fell.
Home plate umpire Laz Diaz appeared to miss a strike in the New York Yankees opener against the San Francisco Giants, and Gerrit Cole let him know he was frustrated with an audible “JESUS, LAZ!”
Cole throws a clear strike thats called a ball and you can hear him go "JESUS LAZ" lmaooooo pic.twitter.com/J6UARt3LCq
— gabe (@PlayoffTanaka_) March 30, 2023
No one likes to get publicly embarrassed in front of millions of people so it’s no surprise that set off a chain of bad vibes, without Diaz eventually taking out his own frustration on an inanimate object.
Laz Diaz punished a balloon instead of Gerrit Cole
In the sixth inning, a blue balloon with “Go Yankees” written on it in black marker made its way down from the stands and onto the field. Diaz grabbed it and popped it aggressively, perhaps imagining the balloon was Cole’s big, stupid head.
A few throat slashes after the balloon popping showed Diaz’s ego had been restored and the circle of life was complete. Back to baseball.
At that point, the Yankees held a 3-0 lead, thanks to a pair of home runs — a solo shot by Aaron Judge in the first inning and a two-run shot by Gleyber Torres in the fourth. Cole may have been robbed of a strike by Diaz but he’d still been able to dominate, holding the Giants scoreless on three hits, and striking out 11 across those first six innings.