Jays Wonder Aloud If Judge & New York Yankees Were Cheating

Subtle cheating allegations were levied against the New York Yankees, and specifically Aaron Judge by the Toronto Blue Jays' manager and broadcasters on Monday. The Pinstripes captain had a logical response with maybe questionable timing.

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The controversy surrounds Judge's at-bat in the 8th inning. Yankees' manager Aaron Boone had just been ejected for arguing balls and strikes. During the at-bat while in the batter's box, Judge's eyes divert from the pitcher and go to the Yankees' dugout. The Blue Jays want to know why. Toronto manager John Schneider commented to Keegan Matheson of mlb.com, “It’s kind of odd that a hitter would be looking in that direction. He’s obviously looking in that direction for a reason.” When in the batter's box, especially now with the pitch clock, hitters don't often take their eyes off the pitcher, except to check defensive alignments.

According to friend of The Drive with Charlie & Dan, Gary Phillips of nydailynews.com, Blue Jays broadcasters Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez also noticed the Yankees' slugger glancing toward his team's dugout just before launching a 482-foot shot for his second home run of the game. “You don’t wanna go throwing allegations around without knowing, but,” Shulman commented, while not finishing his sentence. Then Buck Martinez added, “He’s looking at something.” However, Judge had his own explanation for his darting eyes.

“I’m kind of looking like, ‘Who’s still talking?’ It’s 6-0,” Judge said to the post-game media when asked about his darting eyes. “Our manager got tossed. He did his job. Like, let’s go back to playing ball.” The captain told Bryan Hoch of mlb.com, “This is where we need to step up, especially against the best teams in the American League East,” Judge said. “Getting this first one against the Blue Jays is big time, but we’ve got another couple of tough games ahead of us...I said a couple of things when I was in the dugout, and especially after the game. Hopefully it won’t happen again.”