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Game 3 Controversy, Umps drop another Palin on the Phils
By: mbohn
It was a great Game 3, and I have plenty of thoughts. Hit them up after the jump.
At 45 years old, Jaime Moyer pitched a hell of a game for his hometown Phillies in Game 3 last night. His best moment came in the seventh inning, when he made a spectacular diving catch/scoop to get Carl Crawford out at first base. In the play, Moyer scooped the ball with his glove and then dove towards first. While in the air, he flipped the ball out of his glove and into the bare hand of Ryan Howard just barely before Crawford made it to first. Awesome play. Watch it here.
Problem is, first-base umpire Tom Hallion was not in position to make the correct call. So he dropped a Palin on the Phils and called Crawford safe. Crawford would go on to score later in the inning.
This is the third call to go against the Phils, with the first two being terrible moves by Game 2 home-plate umpire Kerwin Danley, who missed Jimmy Rollins getting hit by a pitch in the 9th. And then there was the baffling checked swing call. The checked swing, mind you, was so close that if you watch it in slow motion you can see the bat come just about as close as possible to breaking the “plane” and being a swing as you can get without it being a swing. The more I watch that play, the more on the fence about it I become. I still think the correct call was made in the end, but I am not as confident about it as before, and I am giving the umpires the benefit of them not being able to watch it in frame by frame slowmotion on their computer monitors like me.
Let us all hope that Game 4 gets a better showing from Blue. I will say that Hallion admitted he blew the call, and from his angle (and he was trying to get into the best possible position for the call) there was no way that he could have seen Crawford getting beat by the throw. Fox did not miss the call, as they were super annoying about it the rest of the game with their freeze frame shots of the play that they must have revisited three or four times over the last three innings.
Also, I have to give Shane Victorino credit for defending Hallion to his teammates. Fox showed a quick clip of Rollins, Victorino and another Phil (I think it was Utley but I am not sure) talking during a pitching change, in which Victorino stood up for Hallion. As someone who is not a big fan of Victorino, I have to give him credit where it is due. If I could find the transcript for the exchange I would post it.
Moving on, it is time to focus a little bit on BJ Upton. How huge were his three stolen bases last night? When Upton plays hard, he is one of the best players in baseball. The problem is, he loafs sometimes. Look at Game 1, where he hit into two double plays. Had Upton ran hard out of the box, he could have beaten one, if not both of those throws to first. We saw him also make a rather lackadasical play in center in Game 1, but luckily Rocco Baldeli was there to back him up. When BJ turns it on, look out. Maybe his Game 3 performance is a sign that he is waking back up from his slumber.
Evan Longoria is disapointing me. If you have been following this blog, you are well aware that I have been touting Longoria all year. It is time for you to show up at the World Series, Evan. By the way, calling him Eva isn’t clever or funny. Philly Fan can do better than that. I fully expect to see them raining Eva bobble heads on him in the on-deck circle in tonight’s game.
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