Pirates vs. Braves 7 hour game ends with...

What this umpire did was totally incomprehensible. He should be banned immediately from doing any more MLB games. MLB can't have these types of umpires calling games. It's as though he wanted to get the game over with or he had some "rooting" interest in the game. Something smells very rotten with this call. This may be one of the worst calls ever.

I tried to stay up and watch the whole game, but couldnt....In the umpire world this is what is called a "gross miss"....

There is no defense for missing this call....

While I doubt that it was done to intentionally end the game, all I can say is WOW! 7 hour game, everyone is tired, stuff happens.

As I always say, it should be the players that determine their wins or losses, not the officials.

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Thanks piaa_ump...your's is a credible call!



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Do you think it's possible that the umpire saw daylight between the glove on the runner?

I'm not defending the umpire, just trying to figure how what he must of seen to call himi save and the runner did make a point of touching homeplate.

AND sometimes as a umpire, one will just blow it for no apparent reason. Just blew it. It happens to all umpires IMHO.

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AND sometimes as a umpire, one will just blow it for no apparent reason.

When that happens, it always appears to me that the ump made the call based on what he expected to happen rather than what actually did happen. It's like they get surprised and their brain doesn't translate. Either that or a contact falls out at an unfortunate time.

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Originally posted by Tx-Husker:

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AND sometimes as a umpire, one will just blow it for no apparent reason.

When that happens, it always appears to me that the ump made the call based on what he expected to happen rather than what actually did happen. It's like they get surprised and their brain doesn't translate. Either that or a contact falls out at an unfortunate time.

Umpires are human, nobody said they were perfect, but they do a heck'va job 99% of the time.

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Originally posted by piaa_ump:
I tried to stay up and watch the whole game, but couldnt....In the umpire world this is what is called a "gross miss"....

There is no defense for missing this call....

What are your thoughts about how he was doing during the rest of the game?

I am particularly interested in what you think of his reaction to the Braves' pitcher in, I think, the 13th inning if you were able to make it that far (I gave up at midnight)?

Rumor has it that the same guy puts on an off season camp; one that's required of all Atlantic Coast Conference umpires.

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Originally posted by dw8man:

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Originally posted by piaa_ump:
I tried to stay up and watch the whole game, but couldnt....In the umpire world this is what is called a "gross miss"....

There is no defense for missing this call....

What are your thoughts about how he was doing during the rest of the game?

I am particularly interested in what you think of his reaction to the Braves' pitcher in, I think, the 13th inning if you were able to make it that far (I gave up at midnight)?

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I only made it to 12...but since you asked and I had the advantage of watching it on TV with replay and pitch trax it was clear he was struggling with his consistency from very early on.

The main example I can give is the first strikeout of McLouth...it came on a TV verfied out and low pitch...McLouth was visibly upset...

He was having a horrible night behind the plate...for both teams....and he was hearing it from the benches....(mostly Atlanta), understandably....

I know personally that as an umpire you will have those games where you just dont have it...you have to fight your way back pitch by pitch and hope your dont have one of those calls....


Meals is a veteran umpire and one that has a good reputation so I'm assuming this was just a road bump.....unfortunately it came at the expense of my Pirates.....

Yes, Meals had a horrible night behind the plate. But I think that some of the reactions are a little harsh. Look at the second video at about the 1:23 mark. It shows a replay from a different angle, close up. The catcher basically grazes him on the leg and never touches him on any other part of the body. Runner didn't beleive he was tagged either because he got up and hustled to the plate. So at full speed the ump is standing right there and sees a quick swipe and misses the grazing of the leg. The catcher clearly did not touch any other part of the body and just grazed the leg. I can see the ump missing it.

Maybe the catcher shouldn't be so cute and just apply the **** tag! This isn't second base. When did catchers start making swipe tags anyway???

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Originally posted by getagoodpitchtohit:
Maybe the catcher shouldn't be so cute and just apply the **** tag! This isn't second base. When did catchers start making swipe tags anyway???

Had the tag resulted in an out it would only have been the second out and since the batter stumbled out of the box, it was a possible double play on the runner going to first....

A swipe tag in that instance makes sense......

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Originally posted by piaa_ump:
...since the batter stumbled out of the box, it was a possible double play on the runner going to first....

"stumbled" is putting it mildly. He flat out fell on his face. I'm surprised that isn't getting more highlight time - that there was funny.

Getagoodpitch

I got a different take when I saw Lugo's reaction. It looked to me like he was surprised by the safe call, did a quick little celebration before going back to touch the plate. I really thought he thought he was out.

The batter certainly ate the turf...which provided more than enough time to apply a solid tag and throw to 1B.

Furthermore, the catcher immediately looked straight to the ump for the call, NOT to 1B to make a throw. He should have been thinking double-play all the way. This simply wasn't the case. He never, in any way, made a move towards 1B.

This makes you wonder if the catcher himself thought he might have "ole'd" the tag. Combined with the runner jumping up to touch the plate, seems the play at real speed was a lot closer than everyone from a distance would beleive.

I thought maybe the catcher's body blocked the umpire from seeing the tag on the knee, since it looked like the swipe missed. ?

Yeah, the media is blowing this up as the worst call ever but, honestly, there are a few camera angles where I can't tell if the swipe tag made contact. And the ump only gets one angle.

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Originally posted by cabbagedad:
Yeah, the media is blowing this up as the worst call ever but, honestly, there are a few camera angles where I can't tell if the swipe tag made contact. And the ump only gets one angle.

Yep. Everybody sees the runner slide into the catcher nowhere near the plate and cannot possibly fathom that it was possible the catcher didn't actually tag him.