OK, before anyone goes getting their knickers in a knot over the headline, let me acknowledge the circumstances that saw Jose Reyes called out at third on Wednesday night were not all that similar to the infamous play that saw Kent Hrbek lift Ron Gant off first base in 1991 (and inspire an oh-so-awesome bobblehead 20 years later).
Reyes was playing in a midweek-game in April between the New York Mets and Washington Nationals, not Game 2 of the 1991 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins. Despite the umpire error, Reyes' team ended up winning the contest by a score of 6-3 anyway. And the play happened on the other side of the diamond.
Watch the controversial play here
The easy parallel, however, comes in the way that third base umpire Marvin Hudson apparently decided that Reyes was out after sliding into third on what should have been a triple with one out in the eighth inning and the Mets trailing 2-1. Though Reyes' right hand never left the bag, a little deception by Nats third baseman Jerry Hairston made it appear ? or sound ? to Hudson like it did.
It's hard to tell from that screenshot, but Hairston's follow-through on the tag ends up making Reyes' right hand move ever so slightly. Hudson isn't in the best position to see the full consequences and the Mets' shortstop ends up being ruled out. As�you can see in the photo atop this post, he didn't head to the dugout quietly.
But was it Hairston's sweeping tag or what he said that sold the call? While Hrbek's deception in 1991 came as a result of a sumo wrestler move executed with brute force, Reyes accused Hairston of convincing Hudson by simply yelling that Reyes had come off the base.
"The third baseman, he said, 'He came off the base,'" Reyes told reporters after the game. "I don't think (Hudson) ever got a good shot to see my hand there. He listened to the third baseman and he called me out, but my hand never came off the base."
Afterward, Keith Olbermann tweeted that it was "one of the all-time worst bad calls."
I wouldn't go quite that far ? Braves fans will surely agree with me ? but it does add to the ever-expanding case for instant replay that will never go away until it is fully implemented.
Hudson, meanwhile, might want to rethink listening to play's partisan participants when judging a ruling.�He should also send a nice fruit basket to New York's Daniel Murphy and Washington's Sean Burnett for ensuring he didn't have a direct impact on the end result.
Yes, the play ended up being a mere footnote as Murphy tied the game with a home run on the very next play while Burnett blew a save and allowed four earned runs in the top of the ninth after the Nats had taken a 3-2 lead in the eighth.
Want more baseball news all season long?
Follow Big League Stew on�Twitter and�Facebook!
Gabrielle Union Alessandra Ambrosio Amanda Detmer Emma Stone Raquel Alessi
No comments:
Post a Comment