Quote:
Originally Posted by Nevadaref
I'm not a baseball umpire. I frequent two other forums on this board.
I would like the opinions of the experts here on these points:
1. The ball was not caught cleanly. It hits the heel of the glove and rolls forward to the fingertips. You can see it at the tip of the glove and then Galarraga flips his wrist to roll it in more securely after the call is made. I wonder if the umpire had him bobbling the ball. Will the pitcher say that he didn't quite have control? (ESPN phone interview with him right now! Galarraga says he does know what the umpire saw. Didn't mention a bobble. He said that he did speak with Joyce after the game.)
2. Due to the manner in which the ball was caught, there probably wasn't a solid pop sound made when the throw reached the glove, plus the crowd would have been fairly loud. I'm told that on close plays at 1st the umpires sometimes watch for the foot hitting the base and listen for the ball hitting the glove. The lack of a pop sound could have tricked Joyce.
He turned gave a wry smile and let it go. He was very classy.
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Not from what I heard, he said that he simply thought the runner "beat the throw" so he did not and probably could not have seen the bobble from his angle.
This is a tough call because you don't have the best angle, I would think he would have moved a step or so more to his right, but I've also seen MLB guys stay right on the line for this type of throw.
Bottom line, in this type of situation, the umpire should give any doubt to the pitcher, just as you will with a Derek Jeter type throw at ss when he's in left field or a third baseman making a great bare handed throw on the run.
I feel for the guy, he's not going to be able to live that one down for a while.
Thansk
David