Way back in 1997, I was watching the National League Championship Series with my roommate Steve. We'd been at Oregon State as freshman for about a month or so. We watched as Livan Hernandez set a postseason record for strikeouts in a game, thanks to a generous umpire named Eric Gregg. I remember laughing hysterically with each ridiculous strike he called. One after another, Braves hitters shook their head in disgust, unable to tell themselves to swing at what were so obviously balls. Obvious to everyone that is except Eric Gregg. Steve was just pissed that an umpire was taking over the game in such a fashion. I, on the other hand, loved it because it meant the Braves were getting jobbed.
I got what was coming to me tonight. Eight years later, what went around came back.
For those of you who didn't see, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Kelvim Escobar threw strike three to AJ Persynzinksziksi or however you spell it. Josh Paul catches the ball, the umpire signals strike three, then raises his hand into the traditional sign for "out." Paul lobs the ball back to the mound and the Angels start exiting to field to take their ups in the top of the 10th. However, AJ starts running towards first, as if it were a dropped third strike. He gets to first, and the umpire makes no signal whatsoever. An argument ensues, but nothing comes of it. Play continues in the bottom of the ninth. A pinch runner, stolen base, and RBI double later, the Angels have lost and the series is tied 1-1.
Now, I'm not so mad that the umpire thought the ball may have hit the ground. Doug Eddings is not perfect. I do not expect miracles behind the plate. What I do expect, however, is to make a call and stick with it. Don't call a guy out, then let him run to first, say you didn't call him out, and let the game resume. It doesn't work like that. Imagine if a referee in football signaled that a guy stepped out of bounds. Only the guy keeps running and scores a touchdown because the defense saw the referee make call and stopped. The guy gets to the end zone, where the referee now signals touchdown. This is not how it works.
In an interview after the game, Josh Paul, the Angels catcher, said that in that particular situation, umpires usually yell "no catch" if the ball has hit the ground. Doug Eddings did not do this. In fact, Doug Eddings really did nothing, and waited to see what would come of it. That's not an umpires job. The umpires don't get to wait and see what happens, then make a call after the fact. On a 3-2 pitch, you don't wait until the guy starts running to first to decide it must've been ball four. You make the call. Basically, Doug Eddings crapped his pants, and the Angels happened to be in his pants on this particular night. Way to go Doug.
I'm not saying that the Angels would've won. We had 4 measly hits, and it took a homerun by a mediocre player just to tie up the game for us. But Escobar had struck out 5 hitters in 3 innings and nobody was even close to touching him. Really what Dougy did was take the game out of the players hands. Imagine the game was a see-saw, with the win sitting in the middle. For 8 innings and 5 outs, it was pretty level. Then Doug went and sat next to the White Sox, pushing the Angels up in the air, and allowing the win to make its way to the White Sox a little easier.
But perhaps the thing that bothered me most after the game, was seeing the umpires press conference. While the crew chief and umpiring coordinator looked serious and a little tired, Doug is sitting there with the goofy ass grin on his face, as if he's ENJOYING all the attention he's getting. It's been said that the best umpires and officials are the ones you don't know, because all they do is what they're supposed to do. Nobody knew who Phil Luckett was until the heads-tails game. Nobody knew who Eric Gregg was until Livan Hernandez struck out 800 hitters. The only NBA referee I know on sight (other than the chick) is Steve Javie, and that's only because he is on such a power trip that he hands out technical fouls like he's the God damned Easter Bunny.
Hope you're happy Doug. You're a household name now. However, I've got a few more household names for you:
Lorena Bobbit
Jeffrey Dahmer
Adolf Hitler
Milli Vanilli
Tonya Harding
Keanu Reeves
Steve Bartman
Bill Buckner
FUDE!!!!!!
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