Friday, May 02, 2008

Clara Peller would be proud


Disputing a Call
Original photo by drtaxsacto
At last night's Rivercats game the manager of the Royals disputed a claim of a fair ball which eventually became the game winning run. Landon Powell had two homers but his second one caused the dispute. He hit a long high ball toward the foul pole in left field. From our perspective it cleared the pole easily. The poles at Raley field have a flag which extends into fair territory. The ball was well in the middle of that flag (although above it) as it sailed out. Powell's homer also brought in Joe Gaetti. That sealed the deal. The Umpire should have thrown the manager out. He started yammering at the Ump at home plate and then took it down the first base line.

It reminded me a one of Bob Geren's tactics in one of the first seasons. It was late in the game and the Cats got a bad call (in the case last night the Ump made the right call) and Geren went out to beef it. He got increasingly agitated and when blue finally threw him out, he began his walk out to the clubhouse. It must have taken him 5 minutes to walk across the field. The Cats eventually won the game and it was pretty clear that Geren's slow walk had fired them up.

Last night, the Royal's manager was not thrown out and they did not win.

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