Boss Breaks Silence After Umpire’s Ruling in 12th

The Boss was in rare form Wednesday.

Yankee owner George Steinbrenner has remained behind the scenes for the most part this season--his team won 114 games, what was there to complain about?--but he was back in the eye of a media storm after a 4-1 loss to the Indians in Game 2, as controversial and opinionated as ever.

Steinbrenner fumed over umpire Ted Hendry’s decision to not call runner’s interference on Cleveland’s Travis Fryman in the 12th inning, and he criticized Hendry’s liberal strike zone, using the occasion to lobby for a new system for assigning postseason umpires.

Umpires for the playoffs are assigned by the National and American leagues on a rotating basis, and selection is not based on merit.

“You’ve got to get officiating under the commissioner’s office--the whole thing has to be re-organized,” Steinbrenner said. “Go with the best officials in the championship rounds. Seniority should mean nothing, just get the best umpires, and get them organized so there’s not two sets of strike zones. . . .

“Maybe this man [Hendry] wouldn’t have been umpiring this game if that was the case. The calls behind the plate were atrocious, both sides were complaining all night. . . . I’ll be fined by the American League office [for saying this], but so what. Hopefully a game like this will trigger [a change].”

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Wednesday’s game went into extra innings because both teams failed to cash in on excellent scoring opportunities, the Yankees after putting a runner on third with one out in the fourth and the Indians after putting a runner on third with one out in the eighth.

Yankee first baseman Tino Martinez, who is batting .132 (seven for 53) with no runs batted in in 13 career ALCS games, popped to shallow left and Tim Raines struck out with Paul O’Neill on third to end the fourth.

After Cleveland shortstop Omar Vizquel tripled to left with one out in the eighth, David Justice tapped a a 3-1 David Cone pitch a few feet in front of the plate and was thrown out, and cleanup batter Manny Ramirez grounded back to the mound.

With Cone pitching from a windup against Ramirez, Vizquel twice sprinted halfway down the third-base line before stopping, aborting his attempts to steal home.

New York had another chance in the ninth when Tim Raines led off with a single and pinch-runner Homer Bush stole second. But Shane Spencer struck out, and pinch-hitter Jorge Posada grounded into a double play.

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The Indians have lost eight consecutive opening games to start a postseason series dating to the 1995 ALCS against Seattle, but they are 6-2 in the second games and have won four of the last seven series after losing the first game. . . . Six Cleveland relievers--Steve Reed, Jim Poole, Paul Shuey, Paul Assenmacher, Dave Burba and Mike Jackson--combined to pitch 5 1/3 innings, giving up two hits and striking out six. . . . The Yankees had an 11-game win streak dating to Sept. 22 of the regular season snapped Wednesday. . . . Yankee left-hander Andy Pettitte (16-11) will oppose Indian right-hander Bartolo Colon (14-9) in Game 3 Friday night in Jacobs Field.