\jeff{krimmel}

Robbed!

The Los Angeles Angels were robbed of their chance to continue into extra innings of game two of the American League Championship Series tonight. It was the bottom of the ninth, two on and two out. Kelvim Escobar pitches strike three to A.J. Pierzynski. Pierzynski swings and misses, which should be the end of the ninth inning. The umpire even gives the fist pump to denote a strikeout. For one reason or another, after taking a step or two toward his dugout, Pierzynski runs toward first base, later claiming he thought the ball had hit the ground for sure.

For those who don’t know, if the catcher fails to catch strike three, the batter can run to first base. The catcher must either tag the batter out or throw down to first base for the out. It was clear, at the very least, that Angels catcher Josh Paul thought he caught the ball, because rather than applying one of the easiest tags a catcher could apply, he flipped the ball toward the mound and started trotting toward the dugout. As Pierzynski got to first base, the home plate umpire then claimed the ball had indeed hit the ground and the runner was safe. Of course Angels manager Mike Scioscia took issue with the call, and he spent a solid five minutes or more visiting with the umpires about the call.

Television replays showed, though, that Josh Paul definitely made the catch. The play was close, for sure, but the ball hit the webbing of Paul’s mit, without any question. Tim McCarver, one of the television announcers for the game, mentioned more than once that Paul knew he had caught the ball with how he flipped the ball back to the mound and ran toward the dugout.

The very next batter, Joe Crede, hit a game winning RBI double to left field, ending the game. The White Sox had the look of a team that knew they got away with something. It may not seem like much, giving a team one extra out. But in the Major Leagues, letting one team have 28 outs while the other team has 27 can mean the difference in the game. It is very cliche, but almost all professional sports are games of inches. Making a pitcher last through one more batter at the end of the inning can be the difference between a shutout inning and allowing one or more runs to score. It is a real shame that this sort of blunder must take place in the postseason, when the game is about to go into extra innings.

The Angels got robbed tonight. They must fight hard to put this one behind them and move on to game three, taking comfort in the fact that they were able to get the split in Chicago that they went there to get. Go Angels!