| Kyle Trompeter. 13th October, 2005 - 5:04 am
 In Game 2 of the ALCS, Steve Bartman came in the form of home plate umpire Doug Eddings for the Anaheim Angels.
If you’re not familiar with Bartman, he is the infamous Cubs fan who in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS interfered with the left fielder Moises Alou as he attempted to catch a fly ball in the eighth inning. The play lead to an avalanche of Florida Marlins hits and runs and propelled them to Game 7 and also the World Series.
The sad fact of a rather dull ALCS game that resulted in a 2-1 Chicago White Sox win is that it will be remembered by an ugly moment. A crucial error by an umpire should never decide a game, let alone a playoff game.
Due to the magnitude of the situation, this will go down as one of the most controversial, if not worst calls in the history of playoff baseball.
The reason for its horrific-ness is because replays not only showed that Angels catcher Josh Paul came up cleanly with the ball without it touching the ground, but the umpire signaled ‘out’ on the play, thereby ruling the batter officially out.
To the tenth inning we go…
…not so fast speedy!
So A.J. Pierzynski took off for first base and made it easily as the Angels were heading off the field. First off that is a heads up play by the White Sox catcher to try anything to keep the play going, and it worked as it apparently faked Eddings right out of his shoes.
What happened next was the worst part about it. Not one umpire could see if the ball had hit the ground. Never mind that the play is over. Let’s remember that Eddings signaled ‘out’ after the swing and miss.
To the tenth inning we go…
What a cop out umpiring job by the crew in this game. While watching on TV, when Angels manager Mike Scioscia was arguing his case on the field, the look on the faces of the umpires made it seem as if Scioscia was speaking pig latin. They didn’t understand anything that was going on and that is a problem.
There are times when the umpiring crew needs to take control of a situation and prevent things like this from happening. But when you get four guys that look at one another and all they have is puzzling looks and shakings of the head, something is wrong.
I’ll say it again. This is the last thing you want to have happen in a big series like this. It does one thing and one thing only: create long lasting memories.
Twenty years from now, Uncle Tim should be telling his son Bobby about how his White Sox played great and won the 2005 ALCS. What people shouldn’t be saying is, “That was the series with the drop third strike” or “Hey, remember the series with the Sox and the Angels? No. Ya, it was that one with the dropped third strike. Ohh ya!”
That would be bad. What is an ideal series is the one the White Sox had against the Boston Red Sox. That is what you root for as a fan and hope for as a player. A three game sweep with good baseball being displayed. No controversies or anything.
Perfect.
Or how about the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros division series with the final game going 18 innings? Those are the kind of games you dream about as a fan of baseball. That final game is one that will be remembered for decades as one of the greatest playoff games ever.
Perfect.
Then of course you can get Steve Bartman’s or Doug Eddings’ to attend your playoff games so that all hell can break loose.
Not perfect.
Unfortunately for the White Sox, they will not receive the credit they deserve if they do go on to win the series because of what happened in the game. Unfortunately for the Angels, the game was stolen from them.
To the tenth inning we go… |
