AJ could play for John McGraw

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Posted By: Todd Schultz

I truly believe that Eddings wasn't sure one way or the other as to whether that ball hit the ground. He signaled strike three--then he signaled out, because I think he was sure Josh Paul was going to apply a tag, making the matter acadamic. When there was no tag, Eddings didn't know what the hell to do, and let his indecisiveness get the better of him.

If the rule requires the ump to make a verbal call of out, then I don't think the Angels have any argument, because the word was not uttered. Josh Paul cannot be said to have relied on the arm signal, because he had his back to the ump and never saw it. However, I doubt the rule requires a verbal call, or the issue would not be debated as it is. Eddings could simply point to the rule and the other times he verbalized the call, and claim his silence here supports his decision. As no one is focusing on the verbalization (or lack of same), I assume it is not determinative.

I believe it is incumbent upon the catcher to make sure the batter has been declared out, and Josh Paul did not do that with AJ. IMHO, it is not enough to say the ump usually says "no catch" on balls that are trapped so as to alert the catcher that a tag is required. Had he turned and seen the arm signal out, that would have been a different story, but he didn't.

All that being said, I still blame Eddings too, beause I truly don't believe him when he says he thought the ball hit the ground. Again, I think he was clueless, was surprised when AJ ran, thought his uncertainty was showing, and looked for explanations after the fact. Eddings should have considered that a catcher would have no incentive to roll the ball back to the mound unless he caught it, and resolved his uncertainty in favor of an out call. I guarantee that if that same play occurred with the bases loaded and two out, whereby the winning run would have scored then and there, Eddings would have ruled it a catch. Instead, he screwed up, hoped it wouldn't bite him in the a$$, and was wrong.