Controversy By The Bay

Lots going on in San Francisco last night. Yes, the Padres won a crucial ballgame 3-2. Yes, Jonathan Sanchez got a loss after guaranteeing a sweep of San Diego last week while the Gigantes were in Atlanta.

But from my point of view the most interesting thing was the interference call on Scott Hairston.

With two out in the fourth inning and men on first and third, Chris Denorfia hit a ball back up the middle. Hairston, on first, stopped short to allow Giants second baseman Freddy Sanchez to pass. But the ball caromed off pitcher Jonathan Sanchez' backside. When Freddy Sanchez then had to switch direction, Hairston was forced to avoid him and did so by dodging in front of the second baseman and proceeding to second base. Sanchez picked up the ball and threw to first, but with no chance to get Denorfia.

Here is where the controversy part comes in. Umpire James Joyce called Hairston out for interference, costing San Diego a run and causing Buddy Black to have an extremely rare melt down and the Padres to place the game under protest.

Okay, fan disclosure. As shown by the title of this blog, I root for one of these teams. Obviously, my emotion gets in the way of that... however...please note that despite a long and emotional outburst, including at one point actually directing hi players to leave the field (a HUGE no-no and showing up of the umpires) Black was NOT ejected. I will explain why I note this later.

My primary point. Ridiculous call. Let me soften that slightly... I would consider this an acceptable call from a rookie umpire at a lower level. I would consider this just fine in high school or little league. But I expect more from a major league veteran.

Point one... and most importantly... there was not going to be any opportunity to throw out Denorfia ( a speedy runner) even if the ball had been fielded cleanly. This is one of those things not in a rulebook that is supposed to be considered. It's like a pass in football and pass interference. If the pass is out of bounds, it's not interference. Yes, it's a judgement call. But these men are being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to use their judgment.

But it's not in the rulebook. Well, neither is blocking the plate. There are lots of things not in the rulebook that are "understood."

Point two is the deflection. The runner actually stopped dead and allowed the progress of the fielder and only after the deflection was their a time when the runner was in the line of the second baseman's path to the ball. Because the rule is directed at deliberate attempts to impede or even confuse the fielder, this is crucial. The runner has a right to the baseline. He has a directive to attempt to not block the fielder. Once the ball was deflected by a member of the Giants, the pitcher, there should have been no call for interference unless Hairston then deliberately interposed himself. In point of fact, Hairston was then in line because he had been in the process of avoiding the fielder in his attempt to field the ball.

It is not the responsibility of the runner to keep track of all possible bounces, hops, etc. If Freddy Sanchez had fallen on his face in the basepath, it would not have been Scott Hairston's job to avoid the direction in which Sanchez might attempt to regain his footing. The responsibility of the baserunner is to attempt to avoid the fielder... NOT to aid him.

Therefore, the call was incorrect. It's less important than it might have been, because San Diego won the game. However, it is interesting because it is one of those moments where the instantaneous reaction of a person could have affected not only this one game, but two entire cities and their entire seasons.

My earlier point about Black? The umpires agree... with me. I say that because I believe that they otherwise would have ejected Buddy Black when he continued to argue and most especially when the players began to leave the field... unless one off the umpires started to tell Black he was right and then Buddy started calling his players off the field. Either way, the umpires clearly felt Buddy had a right to be upset or they would have ejected him.

However, umpiring is a weird fraternity. To hear one umpire criticize another is so rare that comets visit more regularly. There is no way you will ever hear anything said about this by the umpires. Remember the perfect game blown call earlier this year? Have you noticed that the only umpire who said he blew the call was the guy who made it? Umpires have each others back. And they should, because pretty much everyone else in the stadium views them with varying degrees of hostility.

The rest of the game is satisfying but not as interesting. San Diego won to go three and a half in front of San Francisco. That means that the Padres will leave the city by the bay with the West lead even if the lose the next two days. Jonathan Sanchez saw his words of last week come back to bite him, or at least made invalid. And we still have seven very interesting weeks of baseball ahead.