MLB: Ump Eddings was wrong

Upon further review, umpire Doug Eddings was wrong about the controversial obstruction call involving Willy Aybar in Sunday's game at Chicago.

Mike Port, MLB's vice president of umpiring, told the St. Petersburg Times on Thursday that it was "a missed call" and that in making the split-second decision, Eddings thought he saw runner A.J. Pierzynski "impeded more than he was" by Aybar, the Rays' third baseman.

"Looking back at that occurrence, for the first and last time, it was a missed call," Port said. "And it was not because Doug Eddings, an umpire with 10 years experience, and 10 before that in the minor leagues, didn't know the application of the rule, but just that in the moment in applying the rule, he saw something he thought was more than it turned out to be."

Pierzynski, in a rundown between second and third in the 10th inning, stuck out his left elbow at Aybar. Eddings ruled there was obstruction and awarded third base to Pierzyn- ski, who later scored the winning run for the White Sox.

Port said that after watching replays, Eddings was "the first to admit" he was wrong and said so to MLB officials who regularly review controversial plays. There is no recourse, however, for the Rays.

Comments

[xzentricity]

gotta move on. Madden, Willie, Riggins...they're not whining, they're playing ball, & continuing to do a bang up job of it.
Eddings IS noted as suspect, & rightfully so.
As for attendance, it does suck. I'm a baseball nut, I've been 8 times this season, & I'll admit, it's a quality product out there on the field, but I have a gripe. STOP THE HYPE! Just play ball & cease the persistent, tasteless assault on our senses. I don't want a mall-like food concourse, nor MC Hammer, nor a giant video screen stirring my fellow ballpark patrons into a contrived frenzy of fandom. Stop hyping the product and let the product speak for itself. When I go to the ballpark I want to see a ballgame. If I want to see wrestlemania I'll watch dancing with the stars.

[Brad]

"P/s Was at the game Tuesday and the crowd or lack there of sucked. No excuses period!!!" ----- Sorry, I get off of work at 6 pm and by the time I drive down for a game from Orlando, it's over. Of course, it would also be nice if Brighthouse had FSN on their line-up. Also, it would help if the Rays would get their games on a decent station in Orlando and showed more games here. My 9 year old son can't get interested in them because he never really gets to see them. The Rays are shooting themselves in the foot with their limited and terrible exposure outside of the Tampa Bay area.

[Dave]

The call sucked and cost us a game but it's why baseball so much fun. The human element.

It won't be long before the Umps in baseball suck as bad as Football.

[skp]

"first to admit he was wrong"?

i guess i missed the part of the argument RIGHT AFTER THE CALL where he admitted it, i was too busy watching pierzynski take his base at 3rd with 1 out.....

MLB came clean, for whatever that's worth, now suspend AJ for diving. and then admitting he dove.

[john]

In my opinion it's the crew chief that was responsible for the missed call on Aybar.
The chief is responsible for getting the calls right and not to back up the other umps.
Demote the crew chief.

[mike]

Did the umpires forget that these are not the Devil Rays? Who can forget the home plate ump that called Julio Lugo out, overruling the closest ump at 1st base? Hopefully they don't make many "missed" or "interpreted" calls to cost the Rays not only games, but a possible higher seeding.

[Joisey]

If this biased call by Edding happened last year on same date late in the season does anyone think there would be any Blogs! Live in Sarasota and went to 10 games and going 9/20/08 to see us beat the Twins. By the way-the TROP ROCKS on Saturday nights--our 10th man.

[9equals8.com]

Let's just hope the bias subsides when the Rays do make the playoffs. I am not sure it's direct bias as much as it is lack of respect for the Rays. But, we all know that you have to earn respect (as unfair as that is where officials are supposed to be neutral) and the Rays are chipping away at this. The fact that MLB did come out publicly is a big step in the right direction (even if the "excuse" they used was weak). It means that umpires know that the MLB is paying attention and that calls like this will be noticed. Even though Eddings is not going to be formally punished for this, it will go on his record as a blown call and that does weigh into the selection process for post-season gigs.

[Luu]

Does not really matter now since it cost The Rays the game. MLB should reset to that situation and replay that inning like a NBA game did last season. Personally, I think some of the umps. are against The Rays and want to see the usual Red Sox/Yankees match ups in the post-season. These umps. are nothing but fat guys who can not play the game but wants to throw their power around.

[dave]

AJ --

While I admire your defense of incompetence, the issue is not whether anyone is perfect at their job (they're not). The issue is when you mess up at your job, are you held accountable. Do you have to explain to the boss? Do you have to work extra to make up for it? Do you loose pay incentive? Does it cause you to miss the next promotion? For 99.9% of us the answer to these questions is "yes." The umps have a job where they can make a mistake, be belligerent about it, and answer to no one. There is something fundamentally not right about that, and I think fans are justified in not liking it...

[dave]

Every other sport has control over the umps -- NFL, NBA, and NHL. All other refs are held accountable. But not MLB. Why? Because MLB itself has never been accountable. Just read a little bit of history of the sport and you can understand why the player's and umpire's unions have such strict clauses preventing the MLB front office from touching them. I love baseball as a sport, but it has always been run terribly. This is just one of many examples.

[Ray F]

What Eddings should've prefaced his comments with was...

"Well, cry all you want Rays fans, but if I were you, I'd be more upset at Shawn Riggans."

[JP]

Take it easy, people. You would think none of you have ever made a mistake in your life. Are you perfect at your job?

No small children died because of this mistake.

[BB]

"He saw something he thought was more than it turned out to be." How about "He THOUGHT he saw something that really wasn't there."? And the other ump backed him up. Then there was the phantom tag at first earlier in the season. That ump also THOUGHT he saw something that wasn't there.

Yesterday upon the stair
I saw a man who wasn't there.
I saw him there again today.
Oh, how I wish he'd go away.

[Hinske Fan]

Why isn't there a category for Eric Hinske along the left menu? "Eric Hinske made a diving, highlight-reel catch on the first play of the game setting the tone early."

[nick]

Now all we need is for them to pucker up about the BJ Upton call

[jeff]

UMPIRING
Embarrassing
ATTENDANCE
Embarrassing
TAMPA BAY RAYS
Outstanding!

[Bill]

Good. So it's over. Time to move on. Glad to see MLB come out and say it was a bad call.

[Einhard]

I am curious why there is no recourse. Doesn't the Brett pine tar incident provide a precedent for the league president to overturn an umpire's decision?

I know the parallel is not exact, because in that instance MacPhail ruled that the penalty (calling Brett out) was improper according to the rules, but it seems to me that he used the phrase "not in the spirit of the rule" or something like that to explain why the rule should not be applied as it was.

In that case, the game was continued about a month later, picked up with the home run counted. I wonder whether the league president might not rule similarly and have the game picked up with 2 outs and a runner on first.

[Jeff]

Arrogance, Arrogance, Arrogance! Umps are only human. Everyone knows this, even umps. But, they will never admit an error on the field, suck it up and do the right thing until they are forced to. If they are ALWAYS right why would they object to proving it by allowing replays on the videoboard? Arrogance, Arrogance, prideful Arrogance! Start using all the technology you can and call games accurately instead of throwing them one way or another with unnessary and uncorrected blown calls. Can you say NBA investigation boys and girls?

[Hawkeye]

They also missed AJ stepping out of the basepath (stepping on the grass) which would have made their call null-and-void. AJ should have been called out right there.

[Helene]

Nope. Third base umpire Ted Barrett (who worked the game with Eddings) made the comment you're talking about (that AJ "kind of" throwing his elbow didn't matter.)

And you're misrepresenting Barrett's statement a little. According to Barrett, it wasn't the contact that was the reason for the call (even though the contact was apparently "allowed" on AJ's part) it was the fact that Aybar was "in the way" and that IF AJ had decided to run back to third base, Aybar would have impeded him. Complete nonsense, of course.

[Umps]

Amanda, Eddings defended the call after the game. He said Pierzynski throwing out his elbow didn't matter. His stance was that all he had to do was make contact and that constituted Aybar impeding his path.

This statement about Eddings being the first to admit he was wrong is a lie. He was told he was wrong and they are trying to save face. They must have felt the call was so bad that they had to say something (which isn't the norm). But they still won't throw Eddings under the bus.

[Amanda]

Anonymous @ 12:47 -
I don't know for sure obviously, so I'm just speculating, but I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't allowed to talk to fans/reporters about it. A lot of companies with shaky reputations (MLB has been walking a line for years now) won't allow comments like that from anyone except the public relations staff. You know, just to prevent Eddings putting his foot further in his mouth or something.
Again, I could be totally wrong. It could just be further proof of his arrogance and pride. But I've heard of the possible scenario with the gag-order on non-PR people more than once with major companies to prevent further damage.

"Eddings was "the first to admit" he was wrong and said so to MLB officials "...................
but not to reporters or fans.
I was raised to respect these guys but I find it harder and harder with each bad call and subsequent arrogant posture afterward.

P/s Was at the game Tuesday and the crowd or lack there of sucked. No excuses period!!!

[JeffreyS821]

Great; a pyrrhic victory. NOW; suspend him and fine him. Send a signal to the umpires that there are consequences for their arrogance. So, he missed the call. What about the crew chief? Why can nobody overrule their colleague. It STINKS and the mentality of the umpire crews has to change, starting with consequences for their actions.