Bob, that seems to be exactly what happened here. I know Leyland got kudos for sticking up for his team, but there comes a time when you have to show some respect for the game as well.

An umpire can also show some respect for the game by not approaching a play in the lazy, nonchalant manner in which Ed Rapuano did on this play.

Exactly. He made the call as if the BR were 10' safe.

He didn't seem all that nonchalant about it. Like Bob said, the soft toss took away the audio input while he was watching foot/bag and he was totally lost. He was pretty quick thinking after that with the "F3 was pulled off the bag" call that came after a very meek safe sign. That gave him as good a face-save as he could muster by being able to conference about whether F3 had his foot on the bag, conceding that the throw was there in time. I'm glad my brain-f@rts don't come under the scrutiny of 40,000 eyewitnesses and endless ESPN replays

Is it customary to wait a full 3 seconds (one mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi) before making ANY signal?

I'm sure Mr Rapuano is a very good umpire or he would not be where he is today. Having said that, this is a perfect example that when you develop lazy habits it WILL bite you in the hind end one day.

Well, Tim McClelland didn't look much better tonight immediately signalling "out" on a play at the plate. The ball was on the ground and he had one foot on the grass with F2 directly between himself and the tag. But at least his out call was quick and authoritative, gotta give him points for that.

Definitely not.

After ten mississippi the customary call is to order everyone into the shower and throw a handful of bats at them :-)

For all those piling on Rap here...

Ever have a complete brain fart / regrettable moment on the field? I sure have. It has nothing to do with lazy umpiring and everything to do with a mental block that hit at a bad time. The human brain is so complex its amazing it doesn't happen more. You pile on him like he is a lazy, bad umpire just because some neurons didn't fire correctly and it left him looking bad.

I don't know Ed well. But I'd bet dollars to donuts that if HE were sitting in the crowd watching YOUR game and YOU had a mental hiccup, he'd be patting you on the back in the parking lot and talking to you about how to make sure it doesn't happen again. Would never even THINK about throwing labels on you the way you all have on here.

And for those actually interested in the umpiring side of it...

We discussed going past 90 degrees in another thread and that being the new philosophy in PBUC and MLB. It especially helps with short flips. Get wide and see the receiving side of the glove. You have to take in big picture all with your eyes on those plays. If you get caught focusing too much on the bag on these sorts of plays you will be more likely to miss them. Increase distance, go past 90 (less than 90), see the open side of the glove.

Ed is one of those rare umpires of whom none of the other umpires has anything bad to say.

He's one of the good guys.

What lazy habits? He was in the right position to make this call. The "lazy signal" was due to him not know what the hell happened. He tried processing the play and had nothing. Eventually, he gave a safe signal, said F3 was off the bag, and went right for Marquez.

I think some people in this thread should give Ed a break. He's one of the best umpires in MLB who simply screwed up a call and did everything in his power to make it right, including eating an inordinate amount of crap before he had no choice to run Leyland because Leyland was mocking him unnecessarily. And I don't blame Rap for getting pissed at Leyland after that display.

It amazes me how managers talk about getting it right -- it's not about that at all. They simply want everything to go their way. At every level.

Which was all-but confirmed by Leyland's comments in his press-conference before his team's Tuesday night game. (Google it).

I'll add that if I had been Alfonso Marquez, when Leyland stopped to talk to me on his way back to the dugout I'd have been pissed and told him, "Jim, don't you ever ****ing come out and ask me or my crew to ever change a ****ing call that you think we got wrong, ever. Whether it be later this year or ten ****ing years from now because you've just made it clear that you don't care about getting the ****ing calls right, only that the original call stand no matter what. Now get the **** out of here."

And I'm not ****ing joking, either.