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With benefit of the replay, I also think it was a catch. But it was Merriweather, the RF line umpire that made the call. From his angle, he had no idea if Bradley pulled the ball out of his glove, dropped it on the slide, or reached for it and missed.
The only camera angle that was clear to me was the one from center or left-center field, and there was no ump in those outfield positions to make the call.
I am not faulting Merriweather. It was a tough call, one that had to be made immediately because of the runner, and he was in the worst possible place to see if the release was voluntary or not. But he made it, and he will not live in Don Denkinger infamy, becasue in the long run, the call made no difference. Suppan had returned to first when he thought it was a catch, and only went to 2B (to be forced out) when the no catch call was made. In either case, the Cards add one out and still have a runner on first. The only difference was WHICH runner was going to be out.
And what was LaRussa out arguing about? SOMEONE was out, and they only called one out, so what was he discussing?
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