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By Bill Contz
For the Mirror
Through the first two games of what has become a bi-annual post-season feud between the Yankees and Astros, it appeared New York's Bronx Bombers were certainly doing their part to live up to their gaudy nickname by swinging for the fences (and missing) at a near-record pace.
In a series dominated by Houston's starting pitching, way too many of the total outs recorded by the Astros occurred without the Yankees putting the ball in play.
Society hasn't encountered this many whiffs since Coco Chanel unveiled her No. 5 fragrance during the early days of Prohibition.
And unfamiliarity can't be the problem since this was the third time in the past five years these clubs have faced each other in the ALCS.
It is the baseball equivalent of the recent Clemson-Alabama matchups in the college football playoffs.
Futility at the plate notwithstanding, it didn't take long for more controversy to surface in the Lone Star State -- this time involving the Yankees' most prodigious bomber, MVP candidate Aaron Judge.
Last Thursday night's contest featured Judge bashing two long fly balls, which eventually found their way back to earth and into the gloves of fleet-of-foot Astro outfielders near the warning track of Minute Maid Park.
Yankee skipper Aaron Boone felt the ballpark's retractable roof (open at the time, enabling fans to bask in the sunset of a spectacular October evening) had a direct impact on one of the blasts.
Commenting on Judge's eighth inning at-bat, Boone was quoted as saying, "I think the roof (being) open kind of killed us. I think it's a 390-foot ball."
What? Now opposing managers are blaming the stadium? Aren't we all just now getting over the Astros' trash-can banging, sign-stealing scandal?
I've heard football coaches balk at near-unplayable field conditions -- I still have tiny flecks of green spray-painted dirt from Cleveland's old Municipal Stadium under my fingernails -- but unless this ballgame was played at Wrigley Field, I think Boone indirectly blaming the wind conditions is a little off base.
Can you imagine some NFL head coach complaining at a post-game playoff presser, "Well, my kicker would have nailed that 60-yarder in the final seconds had the stadium's roof not been retracted."
During the regular season, the home team makes the determination to open or close its stadium roof. However, for playoff games, that decision rests on the shoulders of Commissioner Rob Manfred.
NFL stadiums in Dallas, Arizona, Indianapolis and Atlanta all feature retractable roofs. What if one of those clubs hosted a playoff contest on a balmy January day and severe weather suddenly moved in at halftime?
Would football czar Roger Goodell exercise executive privilege to close the roof for the second half? If so, wouldn't that benefit the team with the better passing attack or long-range kicker?
This year, Judge flirted with baseball's triple crown this year as well as Barry Bonds' single-season home run mark.
Maybe Boone's next beef will be that his slugger would have easily achieved both had he played more games at a climate-controlled venue like the Miami Marlins' Tropicana Field instead of Yankee Stadium.
Unless it's either pouring buckets or 95 degrees outside, I contend that all ballparks with retractable roofs should let the proverbial sun shine in, but, hey, that's not for me to judge.
Contz was a starting offensive tackle on Penn State's first national championship team in 1982 and played six NFL seasons. He published a book in 2017, "When the Lions Roared: Joe Paterno and One of College Football's Greatest Teams."