... the call in the 9th inning last night by Doug Eddings was the worst umpiring gaffe in a postseason game in twenty years, since game 6 of the 1985 World Series, when Don Denkinger called Jorge Orta safe at first base when replays clearly showed him out, and the Royals went on to win the game and the series.
Pierzynski was out. Eddings called him out. The ball didn't hit the ground, TiVO or not. Frankly, Pierzynski got away with cheating. I was surprised that Scioscia wasn't more adamant about it, or didn't ask for an umpire conference to "get it right".
Sure, if this had happened to the Cubs in a similar situation I'd be very happy that they were able to get away with it. But that still doesn't make it right.
The play actually reminded me of a play in this April White Sox game in Oakland, where Joe Crede attempted to step into a pitch and claim he got hit. Plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt correctly ruled that Crede made no effort to get out of the way of the pitch, and negated the HBP, and the White Sox lost the game.
Angels catcher Josh Paul was right -- he saw the out call and rolled the ball to the mound -- but in a situation like that, he probably should have tagged Pierzynski just to make sure. Incidentally, Tribune columnist Mike Downey was wrong in his column today -- Josh Paul wasn't the Sox player his teammates called "the Pope". That was another former Sox (and briefly Cub, as was Josh Paul) player, Donn Pall. Don't these guys ever check their facts?
Anyway, the White Sox got lucky. The game should have gone into extra innings -- they might have won anyway. The umpires got it wrong.
This is only game two of a seven-game series, and that play already elevates this series to legendary level. I look forward to the rest of the postseason, which up to now, frankly, had been fairly mundane.