post-season play

ok, so postseason play is not up to last year...but certainly contraversial.....as witnessed by last night's angels/whitesox game......this excerpt is from the l.a. times.......i have read it over and over....read other commentaries.....expert ones........and i am still in disbelief that the white sox were allowed to win this game......

Angels Lose Game in Bizarre Ending
By Tim Brown, Times Staff Writer

CHICAGO — The Angels lost to the White Sox on Wednesday night after a bitterly contested ruling by the umpires that kept the ninth inning alive and gave Chicago a chance to score the winning run — which it promptly did.

It was tied 1-1 in the ninth. There were two outs and two strikes on the batter, Chicago's A.J. Pierzynski.

Then came the fatal pitch. It was low.

Angel catcher Josh Paul reached and caught it — or did he trap it against the dirt? Home plate umpire Doug Eddings waved his right hand and then clenched it, two gestures, he said later, that indicated a swinging strike. But he never called the batter out.

Paul, thinking the inning was over, rolled the ball to the mound and the Angels started to leave the field. But Pierzynski, realizing he hadn't been called out, sprinted to first — and was called safe.

Now the Angels erupted in protest. But the umpires refused to call Pierzynski out, and three pitches later, Joe Crede doubled home pinch-runner Pablo Ozuna from second base and the White Sox won, 2-1, to even the best-of-seven American League championship series at one game apiece.

Eddings later said that Paul had trapped Kelvim Escobar's pitch, a split-fingered fastball that became a swinging strike three to Pierzynski.

In that case, the out had to be recorded by tagging Pierzynski or throwing to first base. Paul instead underhanded the ball toward the mound. Pierzynski, sensing Eddings' hesitance, dashed to first after taking a couple of steps toward his own dugout.

"I didn't hear him call me out, so I thought — I thought for sure the ball hit the ground," said Pierzynski, a catcher himself. "I watched the replay 50 times and I still don't know."

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia argued that Paul caught the ball before it hit the ground, that Eddings called Pierzynski out, "and somewhere along the line, because the guy ran to first base, he altered the call. When an umpire calls a guy out and you're the catcher, and I've caught my share of them, he's out. He didn't call 'swing,' he rang him up with his fist and said, 'You're out.' "

Eddings said he called no such thing. He said he believed the ball was live, even after the two motions he made with his right arm.

Scioscia's on-field debate centered on Paul making the catch, and also on Eddings' gestures, which many interpreted as calling the third out. It was that call that caused the Angels to abandon their positions and Paul to relinquish the ball.

"My interpretation is that's my 'strike three' mechanic when it's a swinging strike," Eddings said. "If you watch, that's what I do the whole entire game."

While many Angels viewed the replay and concluded that Paul had wrapped the webbing of his mitt beneath the ball, and Pierzynski, for one, concluded there was no conclusion to be had, Eddings, his crew, and umpire supervisor Rich Rieker agreed that Paul had trapped it.

Using what Rieker called "some technology," the six-man umpiring crew viewed the replay and determined the ball had actually hit the dirt.

"We saw a couple different angles," Eddings said, "and if you watch it, the ball changes direction."

It is possible the ball ricocheted from the end of Paul's mitt into the pocket, but replays appeared to show a clean catch.

"I caught the ball," Paul said. "It was strike three. He was out…. It's not my fault. I take no responsibility for that whatsoever."

After his initial argument, Scioscia left the field, then returned after learning of the replay.

He appealed the call to third-base umpire Ed Rapuano, who would have had the best view of the pitch to the left-handed Pierzynski. After a short consultation with Rapuano, Eddings pointed to the ground, meaning they agreed, the ball had been trapped.


on the other hand.....it kinda reminds me of how dubya got in office the first place......................