I disagree with your finding fault in all 3 take. There's only one person who's to blame, and that's the idiot in blue. As far as AJ is concerned, it was a heads up play on his part. If AJ running to first base confused moron in blue, then maybe moron in blue should have been 100 fucking percent sure what the call was. AJ was probably confused himself after thinking he struck out, so he figured he'd run to first base anyway. Similar to a player in football running with the ball into the end zone just in case the ref doesn't blow the whistle. If what AJ did tricked the umps, that's the fault of the morons in blue for being clueless and not the fault of AJ.Roofer wrote:While this is true, it's obvious to everyone that AJ struck out. He himself even headed to the dugout as he thought he was punched out.UCant's 2,357th Troll wrote:Mister Bushice wrote:Saw it several times on replay on the news. The ump make the strike motion to the right with his right hand, then as AJ moved towards the dugout, the ump made the "Out" Motion forward with his hand. Very clearly he signaled a strike and then an out.
Wrong... on SPORTCENTER they showed about 15 pitches called by Eddings during the course of the evening... all night he was consistent.
His right arm was extended after EVERY PITCH where the batter swung and missed.
His pumped his fist after EVERY PITCH that was a strike.
Fuck the Angels for 'not catching on' after witnessing him call 200 pitches. :roll:
I honestly can find fault with all 3 principles in this case. The ump for not clearly indicating whether the play was live or not (he needs to indicate if the ball was trapped or dropped...he didn't)...Pyrshitski for trying to take advantage of the fact the umps head was up his ass, and Josh Paul for not simply taggin the batter before he tossed the ball to the mound. It would be foolish, not to mention un-Scioscia like, for the Angels to try to pin their fate on one blown call. They had other opportunities to perform better throughout the game, and they know it. They will sweep in Anaheim and the series will be over in 5.
As for Josh Paul, he knew he caught the ball, and he thought AJ was called out by moron in blue. Paul had no reason to make a split-second decision "I'd better throw the ball to first base anyway just for the hell of it". I don't blame him for it not coming to mind to do that.
The bottom line here is if moron in blue didn't see the ball hit the dirt, he can't rule that it did hit the dirt, and AJ is OUT, period. Beginning and end of discussion. It would be like a ref in football saying "well I didn't see him catch the ball, but he acted like he did so he must have". If this is the mentality the morons in blue have, then they aren't qualified enough to be umping little league games. :roll: