Well, now it's unanimous, with the possible exception of Hawk Harrelson, Ozzie Guillen and old A.J. himself. Look, there's a difference between what your supposed to do in a rundown, and yes of course coaches teach their players to do what A.J. did, and the caveat at the end of that dialogue is to "do it and try to get the call". Which means that you're telling your player, look you're in a bad spot, you're going to get tagged out anyway, try to see if you can deke the ump into a bad call. Which is what happened.
If a similar call went against the PaleHos, the aforementioned Guillen and crybaby extraordinaire Harrelson would go off in a tirade that would make the post-game fireworks seem like child's play.
As I said, HS umpires don't fall for this one. I'm glad MLB admitted it's mistake.
By the way, the reason you don't fall for that call is that it openly encourages other base runners in similar dilemmas to initiate contact in the base paths and that's an invitation for trouble.
ORIGINAL POST: OLD A.J IS AT IT AGAIN:
http://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2008/08/old-aj-is-at-it-again.html
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FROM THE ST. PETE TIMES
ST. PETERSBURG — Upon further review, umpire Doug Eddings was wrong about the controversial obstruction call involving Willy Aybar in Sunday's game at Chicago.
Mike Port, MLB's vice president of umpiring, told the St. Petersburg Times on Thursday that it was "a missed call" and that in making the split-second decision, Eddings thought he saw runner A.J. Pierzynski "impeded more than he was" by Aybar, the Rays' third baseman.
"Looking back at that occurrence, for the first and last time, it was a missed call," Port said. "And it was not because Doug Eddings, an umpire with 10 years' experience and 10 before that in the minor leagues, didn't know the application of the rule, but just that in the moment in applying the rule, he saw something he thought was more than it turned out to be."
Pierzynski, in a rundown between second and third in the 10th inning, stuck out his left elbow at Aybar. Eddings ruled there was obstruction and awarded third base to Pierzyn- ski, who later scored the winning run for the White Sox.
Port said that after watching replays, Eddings was "the first to admit" he was wrong and said so to MLB officials who regularly review controversial plays. There is no recourse, however, for the Rays.
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WHERE'S A MICHAEL BARRETT WHEN YOU NEED HIM:
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif
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