Kill the Umpire!

Umpiring has been a central element of the 2013 World Series, but in a turnabout of the usual, it's because the umps have worked scrupulously to get it right.

In Game 1, the second base arbiter gakked up a call and was immediately over-ruled, with his consent, by his five brethren. A wrong was quickly righted and we could all move on with our lives.

With two outs in the ninth of a tied Game 3, the third base umpire immediately, forcefully and correctly called fielder interference and was supported by the plate ump. They made the call even thought the interference might have been unintentional and resulted in an awful conclusion to a scintillating game.

This is (yet) another example of how critical luck is to the outcome of any single game. Little accumulations of luck -- the hardly-noticed variety -- can literally turn a 5-3 loss into a 7-2 win. If luck can alter the outcome of one game so significantly, it's going to play an outsize role in a four-win series.

The 800-pound gorilla of luck favored the Cardinals in Game 3. Where the smaller serendipities fell, it's hard to know. (I thought a generous strike zone forced the Red Sox to swing at unhittable low and outside pitches they otherwise would have ignored. The implications of that, if correct, ripple across the entire game and swamp one game-ending play.) But the bottom line is that they're part of baseball and teams just have to try to deal with them. 

Fans and analysts should read the same memo.

Coupla Quick Notes

Vlad Guerrero just keeps getting more embarrassing. I just watched him hit a slow roller up the middle that Derek Jeter ran down on the outfield grass facing the wrong way, twist his body sideways and snap off a half-speed throw that Guerrero beat by the width of Joe Buck's objectivity. The play took four minutes and forty-eight seconds; an overweight ant running uphill through molasses could have beaten that one out by two strides.

Then Guerrero removes his batting helmet and puts on his bonehead, getting himself doubled off first when Nick Swisher caught a lollipop in shallow right and found the baserunner languidly trespassing in the second base hole. If Bobby Cox were the manager of the Angels he'd have walked to first base to yank his DH from the game.

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Remember that choker, Alex Rodriguez? He's batting .419 with five homers as I write this, including several key hits. How has he turned it around?

It's obvious: Kate Hudson. No wait, it's that he finally unburdened himself about steroid use. No, no, it's Derek Jeter's leadership. No wait...

No, wait. ARod is one of the 20 greatest players of all time. A guy like that is going to endure cold spells, as he has in other playoff appearances, but he's inevitably going to get hot for nine games (so far). This performance isn't surprising; in fact, it was inevitable.

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I'm not put off much by umpires blowing judgment calls. Law enforcement professionals know that eye witnesses are extraordinarily poor at correctly identifying crime scene details and that their testimony is almost completely unreliable. (That doesn't stop them from using eye witnesses when it's advantageous to them.) Any of us would blow our share of safe/out, fair/foul, ball/strike plays that are measured in millimeters at full speed.

But umpires not knowing the rules is unconscionable.

It's now happened twice in the ALCS -- and I can't help but notice that both times the break went to the Yankees. The Who's On Third routine in Game 5 wasn't ultimately determinative, but the Game 2 goof on a wild pitch that went into the stands cost LA the game and altered the series.

I don't think it's anything but a coincidence; still, how can I be sure?

Ultimately, we can talk all we want about replays, but before we do, how about employing umps who know the rules?

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The Fox crew has made a point of reminding us that the Yankees haven't been to the World Series since way back in 2003. Oh, the suffering!

I'm sure all the fans in Pittsburgh and Kansas City are sobbing in sympathy and reaching for their checkbooks to send a donation. The same in Seattle. And in Dallas. And Toronto, Baltimore, Minnesota, Oakland, Anaheim, Atlanta, Washington, Cincinnati, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Queens and Chicago's North Side.
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When Is A Wild Pitch a Mild Pitch?

I don't usually comment on in-game events, but the umpire interpreted a rule in a way that I think cost the Angels a run, and possibly the game (they're in extra innings as I write), and I want the electrons arranged before tomorrow's write-ups.

Here's the deal: first and second for the Angels and AJ Burnett walks Torii Hunter. The ball caroms off Jose Molina's foot and into the stands. It's a wild pitch and -- it seems to me -- the runner on second scores. After all, as soon as the walk is recorded, that runner takes third. The WP sends him home. Likewise, the other two runners advance to second and third.

Instead, the umps ruled the ball dead and sent the runners back to their after-walk stations. HOw can that be? Does the extreme wildness of the pitch really erase its wild pitch properties? Doesn't this work the same way a wild throw would? Were the umpires making the mistake of thinking that since Erick Aybar hadn't yet reached third that the WP gave him that base? That would obviously be an error, since Aybar earned third by dint of the walk.

Surprisingly to me, neither the runners nor Mike Scioscia questioned the call. Maybe I've forgotten my rulebook, but common sense certainly dictates that everyone gets an extra base if the pitcher throws the ball into the stands.

Burnett uncorked another wildie one batter late, moving up all the runners as I described, but it should have brought in the second run and given the Halos the lead. It was a determinative call and should be addressed. Anyone got any ideas?
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