Sox vs. Yanks Ortisz Steal

[Atl Blue]

When the salmon gets there he dies.

True, but he does "spawn" first!

[gordon30307]

Originally posted by Atl Blue
When the salmon gets there he dies.

True, but he does "spawn" first!

Touche'

[WindyCityBlue]

You ever see salmon spawn on the Discovery channel?

They swim all the way upstream, braving bears and fishermen just to add their essence to a bunch of gravel! No hot, young salmon love goddess waiting for 'em...just a bunch of stones and they've got to do it themselves.

So much for bustin' your tail and swimming against the stream.

[mcrowder]

Foot, Hand ... it's all the same in the vaster universe of extremities.

My bad.

But I was extremely surprised (to put it mildly) at the call, even when it was in full motion. It was even worse in slowmotion. Hard to decipher what U saw to call the out. Tag was late.... and tag was nowhere near touching the runner. (And, with the poor throw, as mentioned above, SAFE was the "expected" call, and you've gotta be pretty sure of yourself to call the unexpected call).

[Rich Ives]

Originally posted by WindyCityBlue
In my experience, it is usually the opposite, Gordon.
At the younger levels, if the ball beats the kid to the bag, the coach wants and expects that the runner will be called out, regardless of the tag.

At college and above, most of the coaches I've encountered recognize that a whole lot can happen. The fielder may swipe, but the runner went to the back of the bag with his right hand. If you've noticed Joe West during last night's BoSox/Yankees game, he was even coming in and leaning down for routine plays and toss backs. Nothing is taken for granted anymore. The coach may still come out and argue that it was agreat throw and it clearly beat the runner, but you can say, "Skip, I got a great look and it was a terrific slide to the back of the bag, it was the only way he could beat that throw and he did. I saw it the whole way."

Again, don't anticipate that it was a spectacular or horrible throw. Let the play happen and tell everyone what you saw.

I think you have to split up "younger levels" into 60' and 90' games.


If you are in the really younger games (60'diamond) you are most likely dealing with players, parents, and at least some coaches who have not yet learned the "expected call" bit. In addition, chances are good that the fans will be closer than the umpire on many plays and will have a better view. Even on calls where the umpire is on top of things, the fans will still be much closer than on a 90' diamond. Therefore you are better off calling what actually happens and saving the "expected" bit for JV and Varsity.


The MLB guys have gotten much "better" at the calls since the advent of multiple slow motion replays. Be glad, be very glad that your games aren't on TV.

[WindyCityBlue]

Good point.

The last time I was on a 60' field was when I was cutting through the park on the way to the 90' field. That was a long time ago, so I forgot how close a Dad with a camcorder can be.

[Dave Hensley]

Originally posted by mcrowder
Oh my god. Inconclusive? Did you have an entirely different set of replays from everyone else? 1) the "tag" was absolutely late - Ortiz's foot was on the base long before Jeter's glove was in the area, and 2) Jeter's glove was only IN THE AREA - he totally missed the tag.

This is classic. The fact is, as others have noted, the slide was headfirst, and it was the hand, not the foot, that first touched the bag. Second, replays did clearly show the tag made contact with the runner's back.

The slide was a pretty awkward belly-flop crash landing and the hand reaching out to touch the bag was later than observers who were anticipating the play might have perceived it to be.

The play was very, very close. I have no problem resolving the benefit of the doubt to the defense, because their miscues (high throw) were less severe than the runner's *******ization of a slide.

[DG]

Originally posted by mcrowder
Foot, Hand ... it's all the same in the vaster universe of extremities.

My bad.

But I was extremely surprised (to put it mildly) at the call, even when it was in full motion. It was even worse in slowmotion. Hard to decipher what U saw to call the out. Tag was late.... and tag was nowhere near touching the runner. (And, with the poor throw, as mentioned above, SAFE was the "expected" call, and you've gotta be pretty sure of yourself to call the unexpected call).

Ortiz went in head first. He was tagged. For the benefit of all of us who had the slow motion replay to review, the tag was late. The call was unexpected, as was Ortiz stealing in the first place.

[JugglingReferee]

As a baseball fan, I expect that an umpire put away what he thinks is a coaching mistake and rule on the play with the facts. The fact is that the tag was late. I don't care if it was Santa Claus trying to steal. Safe is the also acceptable call.

Kudos for the NYY/BOS home run and A-rod stichs though.