In the dirt or not?

[phillips.alex]

one more note. Any catcher that rolls the ball to the mound without looking back is in need of some serious teaching. I will fully agree that the catcher made a good choice by quickly moving towards the dugout. All decent catchers, just like all decent umpires want to sell their calls. Right or wrong, the catcher wanted to make it look like he caught the ball cleanly. As soon as the runner goes, however, he should have thrown the ball instead of rolling it towards the mound. The official cannot always be correct, but what he says is what is ruled, and the catcher needs to be ready for that. I have missed dropped third strike calls before, but fortunately i have had catchers that lay a tag anyways.