April 6, 2006

You’re Going to See that One on ESPN

Adam Dunn just came through with a fly ball to center with runners in scoring position. Pirates' center fielder Chris Duffy slid for it and the ball bounced into his glove at the ground, but the umpire called Dunn out.

Jerry Narron came out and insisted the umpires discuss the play, and they did acknowledge that it hit the ground, but they stupidly made Felipe Lopez go back to third, apparently because that's where they thought he would have made it at the time of the bad call. If Lopez had shattered his leg while running, they wouldn't have awarded him the base, but apparently if the center fielder thinks the runner is out, he's not obliged to throw home.

Jim Tracy got ejected arguing about it.

Tune in to ESPN tomorrow: that play showing over and over will be the most coverage any Reds'-Pirates' game gets all season. Too bad it's not for the fact that Dunn actually managed to come through with the clutch hit.

4 comments to “You’re Going to See that One on ESPN”

  1. Pat says:

    I think Dunn’s monstrous jack may get some airplay as well. That thing was absolutely tagged.

  2. Joliet Jake says:

    Congrats on the win.

    Very kewl of Reds fans to stand and give Casey an ovation when he came up to bat.

    The trap play was really a poor move by our CF *if* he knew he trapped it. No sense trying to be a clown.. be professional – play smart. It came back to haunt him when he batted the next inning and he was hit on the foot with a pitch and the home plate ump wouldn’t give it to him. He is now a marked player by the umps. That is a shame because he might not have even known he trapped it but I would guess he did.

    Claussen pitched a good game – as did White and Weathers closing it out. Our bats are still in Bradenton and our heads are somewhere at the north pole. We are hitting just .125 in RISP plate appearances so far this year and averaging just 3 runs per game. Not gonna win many like that. How do I wishcast a rainout tomorrow so we can regroup? 🙂

    But the best is yet to come with Tom Gorzelanny and Sean Burnett down in AAA. Expect to see a whole different Pirates team next series or two.

    Good Luck in the series.

  3. smartelf says:

    Dunn has come through with plenty of clutch hits in his brief young career. Look it up. I can think of at least 5 instances of him tying or winning a game last year in the 8th or 9th inning including opening day where his home run tied things up.

  4. DPardue says:

    Jake, in defense of Duffy, it is the umps role to make the call as they see it and now how a player reacts. If this were the case, the number of fouls in basketball would be greatly diminished or would be overturned because of a player’s reaction to the original call. The umpires need to watch the ball and not a player’s antics.

    I don’t know if the umpires failure to call the HBP on Duffy was a reaction to Duffy’s reaction to the catch in the previous inning. The umpires did a poor job of calling the game in the last inning or two. Simply put, the first call should have been ruled a hit from the get go, which most likely would have resulted in two runs scoring instead of one, and Duffy should have been given first base on the HBP.