Posted on 10/14/2005 7:57:37 AM PDT by nikos1121
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The world will have to end, I assume, before baseball finds a way to stop embarrassing itself. It should be ashamed, in October, to employ an umpire who turned what should be a clear, conclusive process into a vague, confusing guessing game of arm mechanics. It should be ashamed the same umpire, Doug Eddings, didn't provide some sort of verbal cue -- "No catch!'' -- allowing the Angels to make a fair play on future international spy Anthony John Pierzynski.
It should be ashamed, on the very day an iPod with video capabilities was hatched, that it doesn't have devices implanted in and around home plate that could answer many questions, including whether the ball brushes the dirt or not. And it should be ashamed, in sum, that the umps didn't administer the play properly even if Eddings was absolutely certain -- as he claims, though not under oath -- that the ball was trapped by catcher Josh Paul, sure to be grand marshal if Buffalo Grove has a White Sox parade.
But I refuse to buy a developing theory that Eddings was spotted the other night in a smoky Chicago backroom, cutting deals with a gel-haired Venezuelan manager and a 70-year-old owner wearing a black leather biker jacket with "SOX'' across the back. The South Side ballclub has a history of misdeeds that warrant apologies, such as the 1919 fix, yet this is not one of them. Commissioner Bud Selig should be apologizing for another Mr. Magoo moment, for allowing a critical playoff game to be decided so chaotically. The supervisor of American League umpires, one Rich Rieker, should be apologizing for contradicting himself and suggesting TV replays were "inconclusive'' while adding, "The ball changes direction, so I don't see how [the media] can say it's clearly a caught ball.'' Eddings should be apologizing for not separating his "third-strike mechanic'' gesture from a more definitive out call.
The Sox? They have nothing to apologize for, even if comments from some of the Angels insist they got away with murder. For once, they benefit from someone else's incompetence instead of tripping over their own.
Ozzie should just keep quiet
Not that Ozzie Guillen didn't do his best Thursday to throw a match on the flickering ashes. In remarks that probably won't be taken seriously by the Angels, in that he also praised manager Mike Scioscia for handling the Wednesday night episode with class, the Blizzard of Oz targeted Paul for blame. This came after Guillen tried to spin things by saying firmly, "The ball hit the dirt,'' when he really has no idea. Shouldn't Ozzie have kept his trap shut after getting away with the crime of the current baseball century?
"I think Josh Paul made everything confused,'' Guillen said. "Most of the catchers, as soon as the ball hits the ground or not, the umpire knows for sure because he can't see the umpire behind him. He didn't know if he was calling safe or out. Most of the guys tag the [runner], just for insurance. Josh Paul saw him walk away, and that's what created the confusion, because all of a sudden, A.J. don't feel when he touch him. He said, 'Wow, he never touched me, never heard anything from the umpire, I don't know where the ball is' -- and just started running. Josh created a little confusion there with the umpire.''
Yeah, and Paris Hilton is a misunderstood angel up there on the Sunset Strip. Rather than politic, the Blizzard should be thankful the Sox weren't the victimized party, whereupon he would have stormed around U.S. Cellular Field like the Tasmanian Devil. Whether the baseball actually hit the dirt or not will be debated for years, with no one entirely sure about the truth -- after 24 hours of replays -- except maybe Paul, who says he caught the ball cleanly but speaks with obvious bias.
"It was the wrong call,'' said Paul, whose distinction as a former Sox catcher and boyhood fan only adds intrigue. "When you know you catch the ball, you just roll it back to the mound and walk off the field. It's not my fault. I take no responsibility for that whatsoever.''
Now make use of huge break
Actually, Guillen is right about Paul in one respect. How many times do catchers unnecessarily tag batters after a third strike, simply to be safe instead of sorry? At such an important juncture -- Game 2, AL Championship Series, bottom of the ninth, 1-1 game -- I'm tagging out a batter on a third-out third strike as a precaution.
But that's Ozzie, always making news. He isn't happy that media and fans are jazzed by this story, figuring we should be applauding Mark Buehrle for his complete-game gem and the Sox for manufacturing their own charm. "Don't forget what we did to win the game,'' Guillen said. "I don't want to concentrate on the calls.'' He even shooed away his sons as they watched the replays in his office.
All Pierzynski's romp did, remember, was give the Sox a runner at first with two out. Joe Crede still had to deliver the game-winning double, which had nothing to do with the umps and everything with getting to Kelvim Escobar. The Sox should smile, shrug and give extra thanks to their personal gods, then prepare themselves the best they can to take full advantage of the gift and win this series. If they go on to lose now, after receiving a break of historic magnitude, they might never win a World Series.
"I feel sorry for the ump. I feel sorry for Josh. I feel sorry for me. I feel sorry for Crede. I feel sorry for everybody,'' Pierzynski said. "I feel sorry it happened. And I feel sorry it's turned into such a national story, because there are so many other good things that came out of the game that people should be talking about. Instead they're talking about a weird play that never happens.''
Sox lucky they're not down 0-2
Other than Buehrle, you can't say the Sox deserved to win Game 2. There were too many baserunning blunders, too many missed opportunities by Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko and a lineup that has managed four runs in two games against starting pitchers running on fumes. The Sox looked tight and restless at the plate and are fortunate not to be down 0-2 heading into Angel Stadium, a park that traditionally treats them rudely.
A.J.'s punking of the ump isn't unlike steroids and other issues in Selig's domain. Just once, I'd like to see Bud and his people proactively stomp out a problem -- even an umpire's arm mechanics -- before it infects the big picture. Shouldn't an official or umpiring supervisor be teaching the distinction between a fist-clench/arm-pump and a verbal out call? Baseball is complicated enough to leave a significant decision so vague when the world is watching so closely.
Naturally, one of Bud's guys was in a defense mode Thursday. Said vice president of umpiring Mike Port: "Doug Eddings, all things considered, did nothing wrong.''
Baseball, all things considered, laid a rotten egg atop a compelling series.
Frogjerk said "Just because the umpire calls the third strike and an out does not mean the batter cannot advance to first on an error by the catcher."
I thought the ump signaled a strike with the arm outstretched and signaled the out with the clenched fist.
Maybe I misunderstood. Maybe the individuality of the different umpires adds to the charm of the game. Maybe we should put microphones on the umpires so that everybody knows what going on.
I remember a lot of sex in Ozzie & Harriet esp down at Rick frat house and at Dave's law office.
I agree. Some FRs are saying the ump didn't follow the play. He clearly did.
I loved that show. Saddest day when Rick died in that playcrash. Did they ever determine what happened?
I loved that show. Saddest day when Rick died in that planecrash. Did they ever determine what happened?
The situation where the fielding team must produce a fourth out in an inning or else suffer adverse consequences?
I'm guessing men on first and third, two outs. Ground ball, thrown to second where a tag is applied to the runner rather that the second baseman or shortstop creating a force out by stepping on the base (actually, more likely a ground ball to the second baseman who tags the runner without there being a throw). Runner on third reaches home plate (big lead or speedy runner) before the tag is applied to the runner at second.
Third out? Yes, but the run scores unless the team in the field throws the batter out at first base, which is the fourth "out."
How did I do?
Those of us who are Cub fans don't like him much, either.
The pilots survived the crash. They locked the passenger out of the cockpit. The plane was in flames when it landed. The fire was in the cabin. Autopsies, according to the Nelson family, did not reveal drugs but if you see photos of Rick during that time he has all the appearance of heavy drug use. Sad. Some of his songs were truly ahead of their time, and his close friend and guitarist, James Burton went on to be a top studio guitarist for Elvis and others.
Interesting. Do you think maybe they were freebasing? I was unaware the pilots survived. They only thing I liked from him after the Lonesome Town/Hello Mary Lou era was Garden Party. It's sad though, he was so young.
The actual answer to the question has occurred, most memorably in a playoff game between Houston and Philadelphia. It goes like this:
Runners on 1st and 3rd, 1 out. Batter hits a sinking line drive into middling deep right center field. Neither runner thinks the RF will catch it, and both runners take off. RF does catch the ball, two outs. Runner formerly on 3rd crosses the plate before the RF's throw to 1st base doubles off the runner formerly on 1st. Three outs, right? However, if the infield position players of the fielding team all cross the baselines into foul territory without first making the appeal play at 3rd base for the runner leaving too soon, the run will be (must be, by rule) counted by the home plate umpire. Therefore, the 4th out is actually necessary.
This episode is recounted in the late Ron Luciano's book, 'The Umpire Strikes Back', and is an absolutely killer trivia q for the would-be ''rules expert'' one occasionally runs across... heh heh heh.
David said that they weren't, that it was a faulty heater.
This is a mistake most people make. It's more than likely a strike out and a wild pitch. Generally speaking, if the ball hits the ground before it gets to the catcher, the official scorer will score it a wild pitch.
Mariotti is about 4' 8, a good example of a person with a Napoleanic complex, and a moron. You know damn well he got his ass kicked all over the school yard back in the day.
Besides, he writes for the Sun-Times.
"This supposed "bad call" by the umpire did not enable the pinch runner to steal second and the next batter to smack a double..."
Amen...and if the rest of you don't like it...tough. It's over. GET OVER IT!
If was hard enough for us to get ex-White Soxer Graffinino to blow that play in Game 2 with Boston...
"Besides bashing the White Sox, he also enjoys bashing the White Sox fans, the Cubs, the Cubs fans, the Bears, the Bears fans, the Rush, the Rush fans, Northwestern, Northwestern fans............
He's really versatile."
Ya got that, but then again, it's the Sun-Times. Try reading Roeper if you really want to pike.
"pike"="puke"
Fascinating -- I'll have to remember that one.
However, my situation also results in needing the fourth out. Is it likely? No (neither was Dick "Dr. Strangeglove" Stuart, the worst fielding third baseman of all time, turning an unassisted triple play). There is a chance, however, that the man on first misses a hit and run sign, and the man on third doesn't and breaks for the plate. Or, the man on third mistakenly thinks he saw a hit and run sign.
If the second baseman bobbles the ball just a little, or it's a slow roller, I don't think it's "dubious" that that a runner on third would reach home before the batter is thrown out. It happens all the time, particularly with two outs and a full count, where the runners are breaking with the pitch. Men on third reach home before the batter is thrown out at first on a regular basis -- a slow roller, a bobbled ball, or one of those strange shots that hits the pitcher's rubber and caroms off in a different direction. A chopper off the plate.
A second baseman tagging the runner and throwing out the batter at first? I'll bet it happens once a week during the MLB season. I've certainly seen it many times over the last forty years of watching major league baseball. Why risk the throw to second if the runner's right there to tag?
I think I deserve a cigar, if nothing else for ingenuity. It may be unlikely, but my scenario is possible. As you requested, it's a case within the rules of baseball where the team in the field must register the fourth out or suffer the consequences. The fourth out is actually necessary.
With 162 games a year and so many teams, there are a boatload of things that happen rarely in baseball. However, they happen just because they're possible. The fly ball that hits a bird, the third baseman who makes FOUR errors on the same play. It's happened.
Let's not forget that the first major leaguer to hit a home run in Canada in a MBL game was Dal Maxville, all-glove, no-hit shortstop for the Cardinals. We're talking about a man who never hit above the Mendoza line. Weird things happen in baseball, much weirder than my scenario.
Your scenario is great, absolutely killer, and I will remember it for trivia use. Mine may be unlikely, but it is possible, and it is a case where the fielding team must register the fourth out or suffer the consequences. Right? It's unlikely, but not impossible. The facts work within the rules of baseball. I think it is a valid answer to your question.
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