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Really bad angle = Guess
I saw the game and this play. Base Ump was looking at the base, but there was no way he could see either a "touch" or "no touch" by Oswalt from where he was standing. he obsereved the play from position A. I'm not sure that moving a couple of steps into fair territory would have improved his angle on this play, but it certainly could not have hurt.
First base coach, Jose Cruz, made some sort of motions/pointing, etc. as Oswalt ran by, but not sure why or what he was trying to signal. ESPN had two different angles on the replay and it was impossible to tell for sure that Oswalt did not touch the base.
The umpire had to be influenced by the actions of Cruz. I suspect the Cards only appealed the missed base because of Cruz's actions, because it certainly appeared that Oswalt had touched the base... even in slow-mo replay.
I do not know how he could have ruled that the runer missed the base, when there was no possible way he could have seen it. He was simply guessing, and it appears that he guessed wrong. Tough call right or wrong.
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