[Carl Childress]

Originally posted by Mark Land
There must be something in the water. This week, there was almost another “changed” call at a University of Texas game. The game was against No. 1 Rice. The crew: Home: Steve Emerson 1st: Randy Christal 3rd: Jerry Goolsby

The play: Texas’ fastest player at plate. Strike 3 squirts away from catcher and heads toward the 1st base dugout. Batter gets poor jump, but takes off. F2 gives chase. U1 moves to foul ground (2nd base line extended) about 5 feet from the bag. F2 picks up ball, fires to F3. Throw is a little off line. U1 bangs out the runner on a VERY close play. As the defense sets for next batter, who is stepping in the box. Texas’ 1st base coach gets U1’s attention and complains to U1 that F3 came off the bag (which would have been directly toward U1).

U1, without hesitation, yells to PU, “Steve, did he pull his foot?”
PU: “Huh?
U1: “Did the throw pull him off the bag?”
PU: “No, he was on.”

Of course, Randy has done about 10,000 CWS games and is considered one of the NCAA's premiere umpires. Naturally, he was having a bad hair day. What he did -- asking after he made the call -- is clearly against the rules.

No one seemed to notice the exchange. The Texas coach seemed happy U1 checked. I am sure I am the only one in the stadium bothered by what happened. I refrained from heckling.

1. U1 missed an easy obstruction call when the batter runner rounded first on an extra base hit to left center filed. F3 clearly got B/R’s way as they “juke” each other a couple of times. U1 was heading to cover second and never saw it. The runner went have way to 3rd before retreating to second.

This is just horrible mechanics. If it was an extra-base hit, why wasn't U3 covering second? You are implying he went out when it wasn't necessary. Routine PRO mechanics: On any clear base hit, U3 covers second in a three-man crew. It's "regular rotation," as they say.

2. U1 seemed to have trouble getting an angle on plays at 1st. He always went into foul ground to make calls and was often closer to 180 than to 90 degrees.

Foul ground is probably best in a three-man crew since there's less likelihood of getting in the way of the second baseman going left or the first baseman taking a play unassisted. I know many umpires who prefer it, even in a four-man crew. That's mostly a matter of personal preference.

3. U3 failed to call interference on a pop up slide at 2nd during an attempted double play. A Rice assistant went berserk, pushing through U1 to get to U3. I was VERY surprised U3 did not eject him. The assistant told me after the game, “I guess he knew he blew it because he did not chase me.”

Nobody's perfect.

4. PU called batter interference when the batter stumbled into F2 during a throw on a steal of 2nd. (I agreed with the call, not that anyone asked.) That is the 3rd time this year batter’s interference has been called at UT games. All three were by different umpires. I have not seen that call three times in the last 21 years I have been watching UT baseball.

I'm glad they got one tough call right, anyway.