04/26/24
August 06, 2010
Marlins Lose Game After Disputed Foul Call: Third-base umpire Bob Davidson called a ninth-inning Gaby Sanchez grounder foul that would have won the game for the Florida Marlins over the Philadelphia Phillies Thursday night. The Phillies went on to win 5-4 in extra innings. "That was the worst call I've ever seen in my 30 years in baseball," claimed Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez. "That ball was a fair ball by six inches. He was never even looking at the play." Davidson defends the call: "I was right on top of it, and it was wide of the bag."
I'm not sure that it was fair by 6 inches or not, but it was definatly fair. The Phils should be 3 back from the Braves. If the Braves lose the division by one game, its going to be a shame.
"That was the worst call I've ever seen in my 30 years in baseball,"
There have been some horrible calls here recently, I'm not sure if this happened to the Phillies, that Rodriquez would proclaim this 'as the worst call in his 30 years'. I hope this doesn't turn into the whole, WE NEED REPLAY discussion. That dead horse has been beaten.
posted by sgtcookzane at 02:36 PM on August 06, 2010
It's a closer call than the story presents it- it looks like it hits the line possibly foul on the first two bounces
I watched it over and over on slow-mo on my DVR and the FIRST bounce a few feet from the batter's box looks to be on or over the line and foul. Many of the subsequent replays only focus on the second bounce (before the bag) and the third bounce (after the bag) and ignore the first one. ESPN (gag) kept editing the footage to only show the second and third bounces and kept using the Phillies homers calling the game to interpret the call. I guess they have to milk some other non-story until they can find another way to make the Favre story tops.
I don't think that one can call it "definatly" fair.
The Phillies should be concerned with their crap base-running decisions more than this call. Those 3 consecutive plays where runners were thrown out at third, second and second were more embarrassing than the iffy call the ump made.
posted by scully at 02:46 PM on August 06, 2010
It doesn't matter where the ball is on the first bounce. The ump wants to look for the ball being on or over the line when it passes 3rd base. Someone can check the rules on this, but I'm pretty sure thats why ESPN is showing the last two bounces, not the first. Not because they are conspiring against the fish.
posted by sgtcookzane at 03:01 PM on August 06, 2010
I don't think it's a bad call. The ball ended up going foul on the third bounce, so it had a lot of spin on it. The ump had to make an extremely close call and ruled it was foul over the bag. Rodriguez's claim it was the "worst call ever" is absurd, given that he was in no position to see where it was during the play.
posted by rcade at 03:07 PM on August 06, 2010
A FOUL BALL is a batted ball that settles on foul territory between home and first base, or between home and third base, or that bounds past first or third base on or over foul territory, or that first falls on foul territory beyond first or third base, or that, while on or over foul territory, touches the person of an umpire or player, or any object foreign to the natural ground.
It does not matter where the first bounce, the second bounce, or the third bounce was. Because the ball was bounding, it only matters where it was while crossing the plane of third base. Looks awfully close, but I don't know that anyone could say definitively that it was fair when he called it foul.
for plays like these, there should be guys in the booth to review and overturn the on the field umpire
Based on the camera angle, etc., I don't know that some guy in the booth reviewing the play could overturn unless he or she was just guessing.
posted by graymatters at 03:24 PM on August 06, 2010
If the first bounce was over the line then it was foul the rest of the time no matter where it passed over the base. The foul line, like the foul pole, is fair territory (which is why folks are finally starting to correctly refer to the pole as the "fair pole"). From what I saw it looked like the ball was over the line on the first bounce just outside the batter's box, but since I haven't been able to look at that first bounce on TV slowed down I can't tell. It is poor form for ESPN to not show that bounce in replays with red and blue outlines like they did for the second and third bounces.
Again, the Phillies have themselves to blame for such poor base running regardless. If they hadn't messed up times times in a row they wouldn't have had to worry about a close call.
As rcade said, the umpire made the best call he could, and Rodriquez's hyperbole doesn't change that as he was able to look at the replay and he is biased.
I fear this will be another one of those "OMG the sky is falling, the umps suck and we need more technology and replays!1" I was ready to throw my remote at the TV when Collin Coward was saying that all technology is a good thing for sports. The logical conclusion to that is something out of a Jetson's cartoon where all the players and umpires are robots. Watch out Barry Bonds in that case, huh?
posted by scully at 03:27 PM on August 06, 2010
Mea culpa about the Phillies and base running. I was so caught up in the foul ball that I didn't even pay attention to who hit it and who won or lost. Which shows that I don't give a shit who won or lost, but it negates my points about the Phillies having themselves to blame. I still think the ball was close enough to being foul off the bat that the umpire made the best decision he could. My apologies for the factual errors I made about the result of the game.
posted by scully at 04:07 PM on August 06, 2010
watching the replay, the ump is clearly calling the ball foul well before it even lands for the third bounce, which is correct if he thinks the ball crossed the 3rd base plane in foul territory.
Now, it does look to me like the second bounce is on the line, and the third bounce is well inside the line, so it's hard to believe the arc of the ball between bounces really was in foul territory.
Given how sharply that ball was hit, the ump is making the call in a split second, and I hardly think this was the worst call in 30 years...probably not even the worst call of the week.
posted by dviking at 06:00 PM on August 06, 2010
for plays like these, there should be guys in the booth to review and overturn the on the field umpire.
What are they gonna do, run out the whole play (that the ump called foul) just in case and then go to the booth and see if it was right after the fact?
posted by bender at 08:43 AM on August 09, 2010
It's a closer call than the story presents it- it looks like it hits the line possibly foul on the first two bounces, but then arcs fair over the bag and when it lands is clearly fair past the bag- so it does look pretty clearly to be fair. Sadly, the umpire isn't even watching the ball as it goes over the bag- his eyes still look to be focused on where it landed possibly foul just out of the batter's box.
It's not as egregious as the Galarraga call or some others I've seen just this year (a horribly blown ball four call against Ivan Rodriguez I believe that was called a strike which would have- and should have- been a walk for the winning run was pretty bad).
Selig is a shitbag, so he won't do a damned thing, but the umpire's union needs to be reined in, and the integrity of the game preserved: for plays like these, there should be guys in the booth to review and overturn the on the field umpire. That some ego-laden putz can stand there, stone faced, arms crossed, even when he's provably wrong is an affront to any concept of fairness or justice or letting the game be decided by the players.