A Night At The Ballpark

A couple thoughts on last night's Indians/Orioles game, my first of the young season.

For those who didn't watch it, the top half of the third inning ended with Miguela Tejada being doubled off first base following an outstanding diving catch by Grady Sizemore. Nick Markakis was on third base during the at bat, tagged up and crossed the plate before the throw was received at first base. There's no doubt that Markakis made it home in time, but, as I saw with my own eyes, the home plate umpire did not signal that the run would count, rather, he did quite the opposite.

In a case like this, the signal for the run scoring is something along the lines of a basketball ref signalling a made basket following a foul - he points at the plate the show the run counts. Last night, ump Marvin (Hirsch) Hudson crossed and uncrossed his arms in front of him a couple of times - like making the "safe" sign over and over, this is what reports indicate when saying "He waved off the run". I'm willing to concede that he may have simply confused himself, though it's possible he didn't have the rule correct. The run wasn't put up on the scoreboard until innings later and fans at the park got no explanation for the added run for at least a full inning after that. Most probably hadn't even realized it happened.

When the PA announcer finally did express what was happening, he introduced it as such, "...due to baseball's Rule 2..." Rule 2? What the hell is Rule 1? It wasn't even Rule 2.01(b), no, just "Rule 2".

Correctly so, Eric Wedge announced he was playing the rest of the game under protest, shocking me that he understood that if he hadn't made that decision during the game, then he couldn't do it. Wedge's reasoning for protesting the game is where he lost me. I know it's the only thing that he could say, but for me to believe that he'd have managed the game differently depends upon me believing that he knows how to manage a game in the first place. Without having the "Diff" on the scoreboard at the Jake, how does he even know who's winning?

He and the reporters could blame the decision to put one run one the scoreboard 3 innings late for the loss, but that's neglecting that in the 8th and 9th innings the Tribe bullpen surrendered 2 out, 2 run doubles after having 2 strikes on the batters.

As for action off the field, the bleachers on a Saturday night are a great place to pick up girls. That is, if you're into high school girls. Plus just keep in mind that there's no separation between seats in the bleachers, so those who find conventional seats to restricting (see: too small for their obesity) make their way to the cheap seats. Wonderful.