Vanover and his minions strike again

In June Larry Vanover blew an easy call and cost the Yankees a game. I thought that Vanover should be replaced by a competent umpire. However, it seems we need to go further. Vanover's entire crew needs to be sent down to AAA or below.

Remember that there are thousands of umpires officiating big games (high school, college, and in the minor leagues) and less than 100 reach MLB. These umpires officiate together in "crews", which are groups of four, throughout the season. Crews travel from city to city to officiate a series (usually a 2, 3 or 4 game set) before going to the next series. And during the series the umpires rotate rolls. On one day Vanover might be a 1st base umpire while another will call balls and strikes. Then they change rolls later.

I don't know what this crew's problem is. But the home plate umpire during the 20-11 game was awful, and there's no doubt the umpire for the 14-1 game was similarly clueless. And since Vanover is part of this crew, we can surmise that they may have a poor work ethic.

Conclusion: Fans should revolt if this hapless crew is given any work in October.