Quote:
Originally Posted by MD Longhorn
Some mistake made late in a game (whether by umpire or player or coach) is no more important than the same mistake made earlier.
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That's just not true. A foul ball called fair for a two-run HR in the bottom of the 1st of a V-1, H-0 game leaves the visitors 24 outs to overcome the error. That same call in the bottom of the 9th puts an L on the board. You can rationalize all you want about the things the visitors "should have done" in their nine at-bats preceding the last-inning mistake, but the timing of errors matters a great deal in terms of importance.
I always feel worse ringing a guy up on a pitch out of the zone than I do if it's a lousy call for strike one.