The third batter of the American League Championship Series will be greeted by a chorus of boos by Yankees fans. Roberto Alomar won’t have a problem with that. All he heard were boos last Saturday, and he still single handedly won the series for the Orioles.

As a matter of fact, it may be a while before the fans in Oriole Park in Camden Yards stop booing Alomar, too.

Why? Because Alomar got very angry over a terrible third strike call and spewed perhaps the best spit pattern I have ever seen. The only problem was that it was directed at umpire John Hirschbeck.

For this offense, Alomar was given a five game suspension, and in the tradition of the game, he of course appealed the suspension.

The appeal would have led to a hearing after the season, and Alomar would have sit out the first five games of next year.

The umpires were very angry that Alomar did not have to serve his suspension this year in the playoffs when it “mattered.”

This did not sit well with the umpires, who decided to abuse their power to the fullest, and rather than say “this is wrong, let’s discuss this,” the umpires decided to boycott the playoffs.

Baseball promptly moved up the appeal date, and behind the advice of the players’ union, Alomar dropped the appeal, and decided to take the punishment first thing next year.

That brings us to today, where the controversy has overshadowed the entire playoffs.

I may be the first one to say this, but I hope I’m not the last. Isn’t a man innocent until proven guilty?

Roberto Alomar has become the poster child of abuse by the media. The problem is the public doesn’t even care enough to listen to Alomar, and the media keep on making the next Hannibal Lechter.

The situation is so one-sided that no one would dare take on the public relations fiasco that would ensue if they were to defend Alomar.

However, I remember after the game that Alomar said the umpire said some things that he could not repeat on television, and that it would be discussed at his hearing.

What was said? Alomar is no Albert Belle, who will fly off the handle if the clubhouse is five degrees too hot, so he was pretty pissed off for a good reason.

What I believe happened was Hirschbeck ran off his big fat mouth and spewed some racial comment, and Alomar became incensed. Who can blame Alomar for getting angry about another bigot that gets a chance to run his life by making terrible decisions?

Hirschbeck didn’t, and Alomar expressed his opinion saying that since his son died, Hirschbeck has become a very bitter man.

Alomar later apologized for those words, but only after hothead Hirschbeck went “looking” for Alomar in the team clubhouse.

Alomar even gave $50,000 to research for the disease that Hirschbeck’s son died of, and some are saying that he might have given more.

The problem is that the whole situation has become so huge it has passed poor Alomar by. At first, all Alomar probably wanted to do was clear his name, and now he doesn’t even have a chance to do that.

The players union used Alomar’s situation to muscle their way around the league, letting it be known that they are baseball’s gospel — what they say goes.

As for the league and the umpires, they unjustly accused Alomar of committing a terrible crime and getting away with a slap on the wrist.

Alomar didn’t make the rules, he just followed them.

Every organization in baseball has decided that what happened was wrong and has left Alomar as the scapegoat. So the boos rain down and Alomar is left alone to contemplate why he ever defended his own race.

Alomar doesn’t deserve any sort of suspension, but unfortunately the league will never pull its head out of its ass, and just give Alomar a chance.

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Cade Remsburg is a senior in journalism from Ames.