All the King's Horses

A remarkable thing happened in the Mets-Braves tilt this afternoon. Something you don't see very often.

With Martin Prado on first in the bottom of the fifth, Jason Heyward blooped an R.A. Dickey floater into left field. Jordany Valdespin raced in and short-hopped the ball with a sweep of his glove, raising it aloft to signal a catch.

Third base ump Dale Scott bought it and called Heyward out. Prado, who was standing dumbfounded on second raced back as Valdespin threw to first for the double-play. As the umpires huddled, mayhem ensued.

That the ump blew the call was unremarkable; this particular crew was having a tough day all game. In the top of the fifth, Valdespin beat out a bunt by a half-step and got called out by first base arbiter CB Bucknor. Before and after, batters on both teams chirped repeatedly at home plate umpire Dan Iassogna's strike zone, whose lower limit meandered from lower-thigh to mid-shin.

What was remarkable was that, following the missed call on Heyward's flyball, all the king's horses put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Acknowledging the original mistake, the umpires switched the out call and then went about repairing the confusion that followed. Had the right call been made, Heyward would have stood on first and Prado would have advanced to second, without any outs being recorded.

So that's what they ruled.

The Mets, of course, had a cow. Terry Collins, gesticulating wildly, was invited to watch the game from the clubhouse. Dickey, visibly annoyed, seemed to come untethered and allowed a two-run double by Freddie Freeman.

Objectively, this was the best case scenario. Although the umpires created chaos, they ultimately got the call exactly right. Everything was restored to its rightful place.

Isn't that what we want from our umpires? If they make a mistake, they should admit it. If they cause a mess, they should fix it. If they get it right in the end, that's all that matters.

So bravo for Iassogna and his cohorts. They may not have the best eyes, but they have humility and well-ordered on-field priorities. And in the end, they made the right call.

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