Yuku free message boards

You can't turn that against the Sox, that was heads-up play on AJ's part. Something clearly happened that made him decide to run to first. That was the advantage of his having been catching the game the whole night, and Paul just getting in there. Paul wasn't familiar with the ump and what he had been doing. Was it a bad call on the ump's part? Yes. Was AJ wrong for trying to make something happen? No, that's what you do in the game. How many catchers try to sell bad pitches, how many batters try to sell a checked swing, how many runners try and stay on a thrown out steal? The player always tries to sway the umpires calls, in every sport. In football, whenever a tackle is made, you see the guy with the ball stick it way away from where he was downed.

Every catcher that has been interviewed has admitted that when a play is that close to the dirt you just tag the guy. You see it everyday in every game. It's just done. Paul should have tagged.

The Angels didn't even make an attempt to throw out Ozuna when he took second.

In the end, a terrible call was made. Every game has a bad call. The Sox have had a ton go against them through out the years, as has every single team. This was a REAL bad one. But lets not forget that there were two outs. The Sox grabbed the momentum and ran with it.

Also, can we knock off the 1919 crap with this team once and for all? It is well documented that the Sox were not the first team to take the fix back then. The 1918 Series between the Red Sox and Cubs is believed to have been fixed. This was not a White Sox Exclusive. And aren't we kind of stretching when we say "First the 1919 controversy...and now this"??? So, how did that Series fix effect you directly as a baseball fan? Were you the kid that said "Say it ain't so Joe" (a situation that Joe Jackson claimed never even happened)?

So yeah, I agree 100% that the UMP blew the call. The Sox didn't do anything really wrong. The good teams are the ones that exploit the mistakes. I really don't understand how anybody can turn this against anybody other than the Ump (who was clearly wrong) and Josh Paul, who just needed to pick his mitt up out of the dirt, touch AJ who was walking right by him, as every single catcher does a hundred times a season.

p.s. I was also at the game...BTW!!! :O)

No, we really had no idea. Well...maybe. The swing happened, I started walking to go to the bathroom, the guys I was with stopped me and said "the ball was in the dirt!!!" so I turned around to see AJ walking/trotting down to first. What everybody there was getting mad about was Scioscia's continual returning to the field. What was so frustrating about it was Escobar started getting time to warm-up again, which he should not be allowed to do. He wasn't hurt, but for some reason they started giving him warm-up's again. Then when the ump finally gave the "that's enough" sign to Scioscia, the pitching coach took over the arguing. In a way it was rather comical. Then when the game was over, and the place had cleared out, there standing on the dug-out, staring down the ump was still Scioscia. We got a picture of that, I think.

From that picture you posted, it looks like it may have been a trap. Regardless though, there is no doubt that catch required a tag, just to be safe. Josh Paul screwed up there just as much as the ump.

In the ARod slap, that was turned over and he was called out, right? Just trying to remember.

It's a shame that people are turning this against the Sox, as they didn't do anything wrong. I'm sure if this had happened to the Angels Scioscia would have run onto the field, told his guy that he was out, and that would have been that, right? LOL!!!

Quote:

---

Bad call or not, give the Sox their due. The umps didn't allow the pinch runner to steal second, or give up the game-winning hit, or limit the Angels to one run over nine innings.

---

I love you. :OD

Quote:

---

No. No trap. A clean catch.

---

It's such a tough call. In that picture you can see the ball, and it is dang near on the ground, and then there is the bend of the mitt. There is no doubt about it Paul should have tagged, it was too close to go with no tag out and he was obviously taking it for granted that the ump would go his way. With no call, no nothing, how did Josh even know that it was an out? He was obviously taking it for granted that it was all good.

Quote:

---

That's what makes it the best sport in the world.

---

There ya go, a statement that I can't possibly argue with!!! :O)

Thanks! This is an amazing feeling!

In interviews they asked Neil Cotts if he minded sitting back there in the bullpen and not pitching (though he did the 1/3 of an inning on the first game), and he replied "no, if all they want me to do it sit out there and throw the ball around, I'm fine with that" with a HUGE smile on his face. I think everybody is fine just sitting back and letting the starters do their thing right now. How could you not? It's been a thing of beauty to watch, and all of baseball fandom has to be really loving seeing that type of thing done. It's a wonderful team and it's amazing how much worse an obsession with a team will become when it's one of these sorts. No egos, no problems, just flat out tough as nails baseball. Gotta love it. :O)