Umpire Is Charged With the Error
October 13, 2005
Bill Plaschke
LA Times
CHICAGO — For those of you who stopped screaming long enough to keep scoring at home, here's how it went.
Error, blue.
Error, blue.
A double error. A four-base error. A Chicago-White-Sox-dancing-out-of-their-dugout-and-back-into-the-series error.
Don Denkinger, squared.
Umpiring the biggest series of his life, 37-year-old Doug Eddings made two errors in a span of two seconds Wednesday, mistakes that could change two team's fortunes forever.
Cut through all the replays and rhetoric and the core of Game 2 of the American League championship series is clear enough to make one think the White Sox's curse is gone, and the Angels' curse is back.
Read this, Angel fans, and weep.
In the ninth inning, the White Sox's winning run was scored by a runner who, with two out, reached base after being struck out and called out.
It's that simple. It's that outrageous.
The White Sox win, 2-1. The White Sox tie the series at one game apiece.
The Angels lose their composure. The Angels lose their minds.
It wasn't entirely the umpire's fault. The Angels' young catcher, Josh Paul, also contributed to the problem with a mistake.
But it started with the umpire's error, and when the history books are written, that is how it will end.
Just ask Don Denkinger, whose blown call in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series helped give the Kansas City Royals the championship.
"That's the great thing, and terrible thing, about this game," said the Angels' Darin Erstad. "Every day, you see something you've never seen before."
Here's how it looked from here:
With two out in the ninth inning of a tie game, with nobody on base, the Angels' Kelvim Escobar threw a split-finger fastball that caused A.J. Pierzynski to swing wildly for strike three.
Paul, the third-string catcher making his first appearance this postseason, caught the ball.
Eddings swung out his right arm in a "that's a swing" motion, then balled up his right fist in a "you're out" motion.
Paul rolled the ball toward the mound, and the Angels began running off the field.
Pierzynski, after taking a couple of steps toward the White Sox dugout, inexplicably began running to first base.
The Angels looked at him as if he were crazy. But, when Pierzynski reached first base untouched, it was the Angels who appeared crazy.
Safe, Eddings ruled.
What?
Safe, because Eddings had suddenly changed his call and ruled that Paul had trapped the ball and a catcher must legally catch a two-out strike.
Three pitches later, Joe Crede doubled into the left-field corner to win the game.
Somewhere, Scot Shields is still screaming and throwing his cap.
"You know what I think?" Paul said. "I think we should still be playing right now."
The mistakes here were many. Let's start from the moment the pitch crossed the plate, the moment that could change a season,.
The ruling that Paul trapped the ball? Wrong. Every replay I saw showed that he caught the ball. Even umpire supervisor Rich Rieker said later that it was, at best, inconclusive.
It was a close and difficult call. But just as this space would criticize a big-league player for botching a big-league grounder, so to must the umpires also be held equally accountable.
The second mistake was made by Paul. He claimed that, because he never heard Eddings shout, "no catch," he assumed he caught the ball.
Bad assumption. He should have tagged the runner anyway. On anything close, catchers should always tag the runner just to be safe. You see this done by veteran catchers daily.
Veterans know that an umpire who shouts "no catch" is strictly offering a courtesy. Veterans know that, no matter what they hear, they should take no chances and always tag the guy.
But Paul's mistake doesn't mitigate Eddings' first error of making the bad call, or his second error, which was this:
If you think he was safe, why on earth would you call him out?
The mechanics of Eddings' call would not affect Paul, because Eddings was behind his back. But the rest of the Angels in the infield, including their first basemen, saw the "out" call.
"I rarely look up there, but this time I did, and I saw he was out," Erstad said.
If a veteran such as Erstad thought the runner was not out, he would have called for the ball as it rolled to the mound, and perhaps one of his teammates could have grabbed it and thrown it to him.
This is Scioscia's biggest complaint. The guy was called out, and the call was changed.
"Doug Eddings called him out, and somewhere along the line, because the guy ran to first base, he altered the call," said Scioscia.
Eddings claimed that his hand-slash-followed-by-balled-fist motion is his normal call for a swinging strike. He said it is not his call for a strikeout.
"That's my strike 3 mechanic," he said.
Say what? That is as ridiculous as saying that a common "safe" call is really an "out" call.
Missing the trap call is understandable. Explaining that an "out" call is a "not-yet-out" call is utter nonsense.
The Angels didn't play well. Vladimir Guerrero has disappeared in the frenzy. Chone Figgins has been swallowed by the moment. Scioscia agrees they didn't do enough to win.
But in the end, a bad call cost them a very big game, and there's no arguing that.
Calls of the wild
Some other controversial umpire decisions in baseball (umpire is listed first, followed by key players involved):
Cy Rigler-Sam Rice
Game 3, 1925 World Series
• In the eighth inning, with Washington leading, 4-3, Pittsburgh Pirate catcher Earl Smith drove a ball deep to right-center field. Hall of Fame outfielder Sam Rice leaped into the crowd and, after a delay of about 10 seconds, emerged holding the ball. Rigler declared Smith out. Pirate Manager Bill McKechnie protested that no one saw Rice catch the ball, but Rigler stood by his call. Washington won the game, 4-3.
Augie Donatelli-"Nippy" Jones
Game 4, 1957 World Series
• Jones, who played for the Milwaukee Braves, led off the bottom of the 10th with the Braves trailing the Yankees, 5-4. The first pitch went into the dirt, and Jones headed to first base, claiming he was hit by the pitch. Home plate umpire Donatelli called him back, saying he wasn't hit. Jones ran behind home plate to retrieve the ball and showed Donatelli that there was shoe polish on it. Convinced, Donatelli sent Jones to first. The Braves went on to score twice, winning the game on a home run by Eddie Mathews.
Larry Barnett-Ed Armbrister-Carlton Fisk
Game 3, 1975 World Series
• With a runner on first and none out in the bottom of the 10th, Ed Armbrister of the Reds bunted and hesitated breaking out of the batter's box; Fisk, the Red Sox catcher, threw the ball away and claimed his throw was impeded by Armbrister. Home plate umpire Barnett refused to call interference. The Reds go on to score in the inning, winning the game, 6-5.
Don Denkinger-Jorge Orta
Game 6, 1985 World Series
• Possibly the most controversial call in baseball history. The St. Louis Cardinals led the Kansas City Royals in the World Series, 3-2, and were ahead in the ninth inning of the sixth game, 1-0. First base umpire Don Denkinger called Jorge Orta of the Royals safe at first on a grounder to Jack Clark of the Cardinals, but TV replays showed that pitcher Todd Worrell, covering first base, had the ball and touched first before Orta got there. Kansas City went on to win and the next day won Game 7 and the World Series.
Rich Garcia-Derek Jeter-Jeffrey Maier
Game 1, 1996 American League championship series
• With the Yankees trailing, 4-3, in the bottom of the eighth, New York's Derek Jeter lifted a fly ball to right field. Twelve-year-old fan Jeffrey Maier reached over the fence and caught the ball before Baltimore right fielder Tony Tarasco could make a play. Right field line umpire Rich Garcia fails to call fan interference on the play and rules the ball a homer. The Yankees go on to win the game on Bernie Williams' homer in the 11th.
-- Researched by Houston Mitchell
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