Anthony Volpe, the Home Run That Wasn’t, and Another Early Yankees Playoff Exit

Brad Penner-Imagn Images NEW YORK — For one brief moment, all had been forgiven. The unreasonable hope, the unbearable burden, the unfulfilled potential — it all had led to this point, when the local kid and lifelong Yankee fan finally made good. Anthony Volpe stepped into the box in the bottom of the sixth inning with a runner on first, two out, and the Yankees down by two and facing elimination in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. After taking a Griffin Jax sweeper in the dirt for a ball, the one-time second coming of Derek Jeter, who’d stalled and backtracked and flamed out in frustrating fashion, turned on a sinker running in on his hands and lifted a high-arching fly ball to left field that just cleared the wall for a game-tying home run. As he made his way around the bases, all the emotions of the last four years came pouring out of him. But just after he crossed the plate, the six umpires came together and called for a crew chief review. Reality set in as the replay repeated on the jumbotron in center field, showing different angles of the same disappointing event. Several minutes of deliberation made it official: The home run was overturned. A fan in the first row had reached over the wall with both hands and touched the ball before it rolled up his arms and into his lap.FanGraphs Playoff Coverage Is for MembersYou must be a Member in order to read our postseason coverage. You can read our announcement here, but it's not the only reason you should consider becoming a Member. Membership includes:✓Ad-free browsing✓Unlimited FanGraphs & RotoGraphs articles✓Historical & platoon projections✓Leaderboard & player-page stat heatmaps✓One-click data exports✓Customizable player-page dashboards✓Dark & Classic site modes✓Weekly Members-only mailbag✓FanGraphs Walk-Off, your year in review✓Optional homepage photo removal✓Gift articles to non-Members✓Full postseason coverage