White Sox catcher is at it again, fooling umpires, always in the middle of controversy. Note also that Doug Eddings was the home-plate umpire during the infamous A.J. caught/not caught third strike incident years ago. I guess he's never heard of the phrase 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.'
I'm not going to go all crybaby-Hawk Harrelson and say that this call cost the Rays the game, because if Rays catcher Shawn Riggins catches that throw from the outfield in the bottom of the ninth they have the White Sox base runner out at home by about a week and the game is over.
But to look at the replay of this, from this angle you can see both umpires should have a decent view of Pierzinski chicken winging his elbow to try to initiate contact, fall down after failing to make the contact he initiated and the one or both umpires absolutely blew the call. High School umpires don't fall for his one.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3551805&categoryId=2378529
UMPS EXPLANATION FROM ST. PETE TIMES:
Umps' defense
Third-base umpire Ted Barrett's explanation of Doug Eddings' call:
"As a runner, you're allowed to (make contact). What Doug ruled at second base was, even though A.J. (Pierzynski) did kind of stick his arm out to make contact, (Willy) Aybar was still in his way, so A.J., if he would have turned, he wouldn't have been able to continue on to third. So after making the throw, Aybar is no longer in the act of fielding and he can't obstruct the runner, which is what Doug ruled happened. And in a rundown, even though A.J. was going back to second, the rule of obstruction during a rundown is he gets his next advanced base and that's why he was rewarded third base.''
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FROM THE LLWS: CONGRATS TO HAWAII - WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Here is the audio of an interview with the SW Regional champion Louisiana coach Charlie Phillips. Phillips defends taking his stud pitcher out to lead off the sixth inning of the US Championship Game vs. Hawaii while his team trying to hold on to a 5-1 lead and said stud pitcher had three pitches left in his pitch count.
I know hindsight is 20-20, but while watching the game I said to myself, "He may wish he had those three pitches back later in the inning". The kid could have started the inning off for you with an out, because he gets to finish off the batter he is pitching to even if he exceeds the pitch count. But at least you start the inning off with an out. Starting off the inning with an out greatly diminishes the Hawaii teams chances of having a big inning. If you have one out, any base runner that gets on first, gives you an opportunity to end the game on one pitch with an inning ending DP.
The kid was dominating at the time, it's the last batter he is going to throw in anger for quite a while, because if you get to the World Championship, he is ineligible to pitch. Why take him out? Removing a stud gives the other team a HUGE shot of adrenaline. Whoever you use to replace him doesn't look nearly as imposing so the batters are given hope that they can get on base. I know everyone is hyped up about the new pitch count rules and they have these poor coaches all miked up and the dugouts are bugged, but I guarantee you if the mikes and the cameras aren't there, most coaches tell the kid, "You're my guy, unless your arm falls off". In this case however, the coach is still within the guidelines, his CYA is intact, I just don't see the logic, unless the kid came up to him in the dugout and said "Coach, my arm hurts" which it doesn't sound like he did. Plus, as an added bonus, when you take him out after pitching to his one batter in the sixth inning, regardless of what happens, you get to take him out on the field and let him take his bows and allow the fans to shower him with an ovation on national TV. You can't beat that feeling for a kid.
It was a bad move that may have cost his team a chance to play for and win the World Championship. But that's why coaches get the big bucks, right ;)? Anyway, he took his team further than I ever took one of mine, so what do I know?
LOUISIANA COACHES POST-GAME INTERVIEW from www.littleleague.org
http://www.littleleague.org/worldseries/interviews/game30/southwest.mp3
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