Quote:
Originally Posted by jkumpire
First off, I'm not sold on all these video cameras Fox is using.
Second, Tim needed a couple more steps to get into a great position to see the tag. Was he wrong? Maybe, but see the post above.
Third, on the play at 3B, IMO two bad things happened.
A. he got straightlined by Posada when he steeped off 3B. There was little chance he could see the 2nd tag from where he was. Should he have moved further? Maybe, but at least he had the guts to call what he saw and assumed something happened that he didn't see.
B. The problem with his call on the whole play may be something all of us can learn from. Since I am not God, I cannot go into Tim's mind to find out what he was thinking. But I would almost be willing to bet that he assumed a certain normal call he has called hundreds of time was going on. Instead, there was a call that happens, what, once in a career?
The teaching point is that you can never assume what will happen at a play, you have to try and keep your mind focused on what is going on in front of your eyes.
I know a lot of us veterans will at times assume something like this: We think this pitch will be off the plate, so we mentally call the pitch a ball. But, then the pitch hits the corner, but we assumed it was a ball, so we ball it anyway.
How many times will anyone see that call in their career on the MLB level? Once, maybe. It was a weird play, and I'll bet you dollars to donuts he either didn't see Posada get tagged, or he made a mental mistake in assuming only R2 would vacate 3B when R3 returned.
Great play by the F2, he was on the ball, and U3 missed it.
BTW, the conversation with Sicosia and Jerry Lane was enlightening too, but I wish Fox had not broadcast it. That kind of inside baseball needs to be left on the field, and Lane was dead on right to let the Anaheim F2 he needed to give a look.
The later commentary by McCarver about it was nuts, some of the most stupid stuff I ever heard him say. "Yeah, F2 is thinking about what the HP umpire said, so he ends up misplaying a ball for a passed ball. Right.
Comments?
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McClelland's explanation was that he thought Cano was on the bag when tagged. I'm wondering if that would've mattered.
Posado was the lead runner. When Posado returned to 3rd, that bag became
HIS bag - not Cano's. The Angel's catcher, Napoli, elected to tag Cano
first. Cano was clearly off the bag -but- if he had been on the bag, didn't the bag still belong to Posada - even though Posada had overrun the bag?
Yes, I realize that there were never two runners on the base at the same time. But the issue is one of ownership.
WHO does the bag belong to? Posado had returned to 3rd and overran it. Posado needed to return to that base to be safe.
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that when Cano was tagged he was on the base and, for that reason, McClelland had called him safe. Posado is off the bag on the leftfield side of 3rd, after overrunning it. Where can Posado go to be safe? We know he can't run to 2nd. Can he go back to 3rd? Cano has already been declared SAFE at 3rd. Can he go home? No! Because he failed to touch 3rd.
Can Cano be safe at 3rd when tagged ... and if Posado returns to 3rd ... can Cano be re-tagged and be declared out?
David Emerling
Memphis, TN