A.J. Pierzynski was relating that he had heard “a boom-boom,” and I wondered if I had stumbled into a symposium on the Kennedy assassination.
But this was the visitors’ clubhouse at Angel Stadium on The Day After, more commonly referred to as “Thursday.” The baseball world still was gabbing about the play that had changed the complexion of a game and perhaps a series. So were the Sox. Obligingly and happily.
By now, most sports fans have seen the American League Championship Series version of the Zapruder film and base their opinion on the frame-by-frame sequence that shows Pierzynski striking out on a low, diving breaking ball, Angels catcher Josh Paul rolling the ball toward the mound with the ninth inning apparently over and Pierzynski running to first on what he thought was a dropped third strike.
Turned out the umpires agreed with Pierzynski that there was a boom-boom–the ball hitting the ground first and then the mitt.
They are all wrong. What I saw was the ball hitting the webbing of Paul’s glove, meaning the Sox caught a huge break from a bad call.
And you know what? The Sox don’t need to apologize a bit.
The arguments about the Game 2 call will go on for years, and people will debate whether Kelvim Escobar’s pitch to Pierzynski hit the dirt or not. People will debate whether home plate umpire Doug Eddings needs to work on his communication and pantomime skills. People will debate whether baseball needs instant replay.
But this game is as steeped in tradition as any sport, and one of baseball’s quainter aspects is that it relies on humans and not machines to make decisions.
The humans blew it Wednesday night. Too bad. The Angels and their fans are upset it led to a Sox victory. All that means is that there is crying in baseball.
From the vantage point of a comfortable seat in front of a TV a day after the fact, it looked as if Paul caught the ball in the webbing of his mitt.
Did the ball touch the ground while Paul was catching it? I don’t think so. Several camera angles seem to show Paul’s glove rising a bit after the catch, suggesting that the ball did hit the ground and forced the glove to move upward.
Some footage and some photos seem to show dirt being kicked up by the rotation of the ball inside Paul’s glove, but it’s just as possible the mitt caused the disturbance by raking the ground. Or it’s possible that Paul’s catcher’s mitt, like all broken-in catcher’s mitts, sends out a puff of dust every time it’s hit by a ball.
Somebody call forensics and have them run tests–fingerprints, ballistics, the works.
It’s hard to believe Eddings could have known definitively what had happened from where he was standing behind the catcher. But he made the call, and the Sox benefited from it.
“We found a way to win,” Sox third baseman Joe Crede said. “End of story. We’re not going to look at it like it’s because of the umpires or anything like that. A win’s a win, and we’ll take it.”
Well, not end of story, but you get Crede’s drift.
The reaction has been swift. Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has firmly opposed instant replay. Angels fans complained vociferously about Eddings’ ruling. There was everything but a call for Congressional hearings, and, really, who will be surprised if Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz) raises an eyebrow and Pierzynski finds himself being sworn in to testify?
This controversy wouldn’t be raging if Paul had tagged Pierzynski, which is what catchers are taught to do on anything that faintly resembles a dropped third strike. That Paul was certain the ball hit his glove and not the ground doesn’t really matter.
As for Eddings, he needs to make his signals definitive. He pumped his right arm signaling a strikeout when Pierzynski went fishing on Escobar’s pitch. He didn’t say “no catch,” something the Angels argue he should have said.
Some of the Sox were unsure whether it was the right call.
“I don’t know,” first baseman Paul Konerko said after a sigh. “They had shown a play earlier in the game with Bengie Molina where he had swung and missed and [Eddings] had given the right arm to show the swing-and-miss but had waited until A.J. tagged him and then gave the out call. If you go off that, then [the Pierzynski play] was the wrong call. He made a mistake.
“But someone told me [Eddings] did the same thing with Jermaine Dye earlier in the game on a ball in the dirt, gave that right arm and gave him the out call before the catcher tagged him. If you go off of that, then [the Pierzynski play] was the right call. It’s tough to say.”
Confused? Good, because it was confusing. The only thing simple about this is that the Sox won and that the series is tied 1-1.
The Sox’s Jon Garland takes the mound for Game 3 on Friday on what seems like three month’s rest. The Angels figure to be an ornery bunch.
The Sox figure to be a blessed bunch.
“That play that happened, you’re not going to see that again probably for maybe as long as anybody lives,” Konerko said.
Then again, it’s still early in the series.
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rmorrissey@tribune.com
