4-man crew, R2. Ball hit down the third base line, not touched by F5. Umpire in D (please help me with the correct terminology here) signals fair ball, at the same time PU throws up his hands and signals foul ball (couldn't hear if he verbalized or not).

Play continues, and R2 is thrown out at home. Offensive coach points out to PU that he signaled foul and play should be dead at that point. His response is to let the play stand.

What do you think?

Used to be, if an umpire called foul, it was foul, no matter what. The ball was dead. That was it.

Last year at a Mariners game U3, Joe Brinkman, I think it was, initially signalled foul on a shot down the line that then went into the corner. The fielder gave up on the ball, then the umpire changed his call to fair.

Manager Bob Melvin argued his case, but the play stood. The umpire argued that the play was not affected by his changing the call. (He hadn't seen the replay yet.)

What do I think? I think the new warm fuzzy approach to try to get EVERY call right no matter what sucks. As in this and other cases, umpires who second guess themselves and other umpires are very often not any more likely to be right than the original call.

Poor mechanics. 4-Man crew, BU has fair/foul when ball goes past 1B or 3B.

If everyone continued playing, play stands.

I have to agree with bluezebra on part of this. Haven't we all had it pounded into our heads that it is PU's up to the bag, and in either a 3 or 4 man, it would be the left side FU's if they were in "D".

But as far as playing on, NO WAY!!

once someone on the crew calls it foul, it dead! Put R2 back and start with one strike added.