I guess MLB had to create drama somehow...

[Oski]

What is the point of the rule, anyway? It makes no sense. If a guy swings and misses at strike three, why does it matter if the catcher catches the ball? Further, why treat the ball, all of a sudden, as if were hit into play? Stupid.

Maybe they should treat a dropped 3rd strike the same as a foul tip ... if anything. I think it should just be strikeout.

[mrbaseball]

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What is the point of the rule, anyway?

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I think? I think the ball has to be controlled to register an out. The catcher recieves a putout for a strikeout. If he doesn't catch/control the ball I guess it means there is no putout (yet) hence the rule.

[NajdorfDefense]

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The 85 World series call at first base was not close at all. Unofrtunately, I have never gotten over it and still think of the 85 cards as world series champs (much like the 02 Miami Hurricanes in college football, only worse).

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Denkinger blew the call, but at least that was a bang-bang play he simply missed. Not the case here where the Ump is clearly wrong, doesn't ask for help, calls strike three, then rings him up for the out, then gets convinced by the fans to switch to a safe call, and STILL doesn't ask for help from the 3rd base Ump.
In addition, he lied through his teeth about always ringing guys up after strike 3 as ESPN proved tonite. This and Denk are 1 and 1a worst pro calls ever.

The 4-second late flag in 2002, after the fireworks were going off and the ump who was standing right there didn't reach for the flag, but the back judge 'had to get the call right in my mind first,' is the worst college call I've seen, not including the famous 5th down fckup by the refs in the Missouri-Col game, where an entire squadron of idiot refs screwed Mizzou over badly.

Naj

And a special shout-out to Vinny's non-TD they called goot, which also won me $$. Can't forget that absurdness.

[NajdorfDefense]

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It wasn't remotely close

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Huh? It seems like about a 50/50 split of talking heads (and 2+2 posters) as to whether it hit the dirt or was a catch. It's EXTREMELY close.

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Um, 100% of talking heads today said it did not hit the dirt. Name one who did. I haven't heard of or seen any. Not people who said 'it was close,' people who saw the replay who said 'dirt first.'
naj

[MyTurn2Raise]

good one Najdorf...I forgot about the 5 downs that was a real hoser.

Gotta give props to my school. I was at the game Colorado lost in that National Title year...Go Illini! Verduzco was the man.

[FishNChips]

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The 85 World series call at first base was not close at all. Unofrtunately, I have never gotten over it and still think of the 85 cards as world series champs (much like the 02 Miami Hurricanes in college football, only worse).

[/ QUOTE ]

Denkinger blew the call, but at least that was a bang-bang play he simply missed. Not the case here where the Ump is clearly wrong, doesn't ask for help, calls strike three, then rings him up for the out, then gets convinced by the fans to switch to a safe call, and STILL doesn't ask for help from the 3rd base Ump.
In addition, he lied through his teeth about always ringing guys up after strike 3 as ESPN proved tonite. This and Denk are 1 and 1a worst pro calls ever.

The 4-second late flag in 2002, after the fireworks were going off and the ump who was standing right there didn't reach for the flag, but the back judge 'had to get the call right in my mind first,' is the worst college call I've seen, not including the famous 5th down fckup by the refs in the Missouri-Col game, where an entire squadron of idiot refs screwed Mizzou over badly.

Naj

And a special shout-out to Vinny's non-TD they called goot, which also won me $$. Can't forget that absurdness.

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this is a GREAT recap of the major officiating blunders of my lifetime. well done!

[mosquito]

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It wasn't remotely close

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Huh? It seems like about a 50/50 split of talking heads (and 2+2 posters) as to whether it hit the dirt or was a catch. It's EXTREMELY close.

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Close, yes. None of the Sox interviewed claimed that the ball was not caught, however. Neatly sidestepping the issue. Even Guillen never said the ball was not caught.

[Lottery Larry]

I thought that was a tough call for an ump to make, standing behind the catcher and batter.

They should have IR for things such as that

I am of the opinion that although the ball didn't hit the dirt the cather still has to stand up and tag the runner. How many times have you seen a cather cleary catch the ball and he still stands up and tags the batter just in case, this is what the angels cather should have done. Just because it was sloppy umpiring doesn't excuse sloppy baseball.

[FishNChips]

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What is the point of the rule, anyway? It makes no sense. If a guy swings and misses at strike three, why does it matter if the catcher catches the ball? Further, why treat the ball, all of a sudden, as if were hit into play? Stupid.

Maybe they should treat a dropped 3rd strike the same as a foul tip ... if anything. I think it should just be strikeout.

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Maybe they should make the bases 70ft instead of 90, then you would have more guys on base.

Of course they did add the DH so anything is possible.

Also....
IMHO the real issue with this play is the umpires NOTIFICATION to the players of his ruling. Catch/NoCatch -- that really doesn't matter in this case. If the ump is letting everyone know what his decision is then this doesn't happen. Its impossible that he gets that call right 100% of the time on a 90mph pitch that there is still some debate over even in HiResolution frame by frame viewing. The problem is that he's not clear on what his decision is.

Said before, will repeat : MLB needs to assing specific mechanics for the umps for balls/strikes and for 3rd strike swining calls so that everyone is clear on what is going on RIGHT away. The umps should understand at this point that they are NOT the entertainment and the less you notice them the better.

FishNChips