[Capybara]

Seriously, I'm not even a huge baseball fan, but this is frigging ridiculous!!! Never seen anything like it. Almost like the fixes are in.

[pattymayo]

I don't get it. He's got the best view in the house literally inches away and can't see that he didn't even touch home plate?

[Mikail]

Howard never touched homeplate

[Chi_archie]

you just gotta know who the fixes are for




that is the key

[InTheHole]

Each additional game is worth tens of millions

[onthewhat]

Yankees never tagged him, not umps fault

[mtneer1212]

Yankees never tagged him and appeal wasn't made. No blown call, unless the appeal would have been called safe.

[InThisMoment]

It;s like college football out there.

[Igetp2s]

No appeal needed to be made. The correct decision by the home plate ump was to stand there and not do anything. Him signaling anything was incorrect.

[zubzub]

No appeal needed to be made. The correct decision by the home plate ump was to stand there and not do anything. Him signaling anything was incorrect.

True. I really think the ump blew it. I was like 'he didn't touch home plate'. not even real close imo, i thought for sure he was gonna go touch it.

Reason I say I think the ump blew it is cuz seemed to me like the look on the ump's face was like "you didn't touch the plate' as I swear he looked at Howard....

I didn't see him signal safe, ya'll say he did so I think the ump knew he blew it by signaling safe and was looking at Howard hoping he was gonna come back and touch...

I gotta see the replay.

Yanks blew it definitely by not appealing. How do you not appeal there?


NO one appeals??!?? Friggin dumb, man.

[WileOut]

Its beyond atrocious. The officiating in all sports is just crap.

[daggerkobe]

Didn't the ump already make a safe signal which is why Hip Hip Jorge didn't try to tag him?

[Hotdiggity11]

Apparently it's not fixed this time, Yankees won easily.

[xxxvince]

baseball needs replay

[Chi_archie]

its been atrocious

[Chi_archie]

real bad

[lolbear]

give the umps a break it's such a hard job contrasted to what people think

[odtw524]

its aweful man

[zubzub]

you can't appeal that. who are they going to ask for help?

Hmmmmm.....

Replay says to me that from above, ump's view, it looked like he touched the plate. After seeing replay and now grasping the impossibility for appeal, I no longer think Ump screwed up...ya know, from his view...Hell, Howard flew right over it.

Ump seemed to have doubt tho, not a confident "safe" signal and I swear he's lookin' over at Howard prolongedly and with a strange look on his face.

[yisman]

Didn't the ump already make a safe signal which is why Hip Hip Jorge didn't try to tag him?

Incorrect. The ump signaled safe after CC threw to second.

If the Yankees had ever tagged him, I think he would've been called out.

[yisman]

oh, and yes, more calls will be blown. The umpires are horrible.

[tblues2005]

This has been a terrible post season for calls from the umpires. They need replay pretty bad like they have it in football.

[zubzub]

If the Yankees had ever tagged him, I think he would've been called out.

I have to agree with this. I was on Philly, dude missed the plate. The whole thing kinda freaked me out, made my "heart leap" cuz I know whats coming next, Howard is tagged out in the on deck circle.

Thats what shoulda happened next anyway. How is every Yankee and every Yankee fan in that ballpark watching that play at the plate and no one is hollering at Jorge to go tag Howard?

[smitch124]

The ump's call was perfect on that play, the ump does not make a signal if there is no tag on the runner and he misses the plate. This is exactly what he did, once there is a play made on the runner on second or another pitch is thrown without the player being tagged he is safe. The umpire rightly made the safe signal once the throw to second was made, a perfect call.

[pavyracer]

Baseball is fixed. The sooner you realize it the quicker you quit betting on it. It may be the easier sport to fix because the umpires have full control of the strike zone and the bases.

[IcE]

yes all sports are fixed just keep telling yourself that

[daggerkobe]

Replays confirmed that Ryan Howard never touched homeplate when sliding past Jorge Posada in the bottom of the 4th inning. His hand reached past home and his right leg lifted and sailed over it, but nothing concrete ever actually grazed the dish. By rule, he should have been called out when he walked back to the dugout for straying outside the base line.

What's the worst part about this call?


I think Mike Everitt knew what the right call was there. Everitt did not make a call after Howard slid past home. He also looked very uneasy when he did slackly raise the "safe" arms as Posada picked up the loose ball and threw it down to second.


I'm clearly speculating, but normally an umpire makes his call immediately, and on a play like this, upon realization that the ball is or is not in the glove depending on the call. In this instance, he waits so long afterward to make the safe call, it makes me wonder if he was waiting to see if Posada would try to tag Howard out. I'm thinking if he does try to tag Howard, he makes the right call. When Posada made no attempt to tag Howard, and threw it to 2nd base, Everitt unemphatically raised his arms to indicate that Howard was "safe," because he probably didn't want to pull out the "out of the base line" crap and create an uproar of controversy, no matter how right it would have been. It probably would have led to a lot more scrutiny than it would by calling him safe, like he did.


It should be noted that not a single representative of the Yankees on the field argued the call.

http://www.replacementrefs.com/2009/...plate-and.html