Pirates file protest

[Homer Bailey]

The only most definitive thing to come out so far is the ump admitted he missed the call.

This means very little to me (no pun intended). Obviously, a precedent has been set (the Joyce call), that you will eventually be forgiven by the public if you man up to your "mistake" and admit you were wrong. As Means is heavily perceived as being wrong, exacerbating it by saying he still believes he got it right would have only made things worse. However, he can limit the damage by admitting the call is wrong, which is how many people see the call.

I'm not saying that Means actually thinks he's right or wrong. There is no way to know what he actually thinks. I'm just saying that the smart thing for him to say in this situation is that he screwed it up, and to move on from there, and let the issue die down. I can't be positive that he actually feels that way today.

[RichRed]

Edit: additionally - only one or two people have brought up the fact that the ump made two errors - he called Lugo safe before he touched the plate. So if Jerry Meals is going to pick nits about the way the tag was applied, I'm going to pick nits about whether Lugo's toe was applied to home plate.

After watching the clip several times, I'm not seeing this at all. Looked like he made the call after Lugo touched the plate.

He was still out though.

[kaldaniels]

I know this doesn't confirm anything, but would a peep have made about the call at all, had the call been "out"?

[Homer Bailey]

I know this doesn't confirm anything, but would a peep have made about the call at all, had the call been "safe"?

I think you mean out?

And no, nothing would have been made of it, because to the naked eye, it looks painfully obvious that he was out, and I doubt slow motion replays would have been strung together like they have been.

[kaldaniels]

I think you mean out?

And no, nothing would have been made of it, because to the naked eye, it looks painfully obvious that he was out, and I doubt slow motion replays would have been strung together like they have been.

Whoops, fixed it.

[vaticanplum]

To me it looks like the ump had a better view of the play than any of the video camera angles. I've yet to see anything that looks definitive.

I go with this.

Unfortunately, the fact that Pirates fans now seem determined to label this "the worst call in the history of sports" -- in an age of Gallaraga and Maier, let alone any other sports -- makes me kind if predisposed to not give them the benefit of the doubt. I think the call was bad -- but -- I also think the ump may have seen things that we didn't.

Actually, if the Gallaraga call made it extremely clear to me that instant replay should be used in baseball, this is one thing that actually makes me question it. I can see how it wouldn't help in this case.

[Mario-Rijo]

As Skip Bayless put it "if he touched him at all it was a slight brush" which I concurred with from when I seen it on. Now if he brushes him he is still out but I'd say chalk it up to what it was called in the 1st place.