Dropped Third Strike - James Landreman

[James Landreman]

The 'dropped' third strike rule has been around for
ever in baseball. It is pretty straight forward as to
what constitutes the batter being able to go to 1st
base. My problem with the White Sox game is with
the umpire. He(homeplate ump) "BLEW" it. He
signalled an out with a closed - upright fist (very
premature), it has also been stated(I wasnt there)
that he actually said out. Two no-no's for an ump.
You have to call "strike three", then evaluate if the
catcher caught it, if he didnt catch it you dont say
or signal anything. (This is little league basics).
To listen to the guy try to validate what he did is
a 'crock'. He should just admit he screwed up. All
umpires do, and the good ones admit it. I would
say - looking at the closed fist in the air - it was
the 3rd out. That is what that signal is for. You
just cant visually signal out, and have something
else on your mind. What about the case of deaf
players. (I actually umped in cases with deaf kids)
We used the same universal visual signals. Major
league baseball has the worst crew of officials in
all of sport. Theay are egotistical,out of shape, and
think they are there to be seen. Until, the people who
run baseball do something about this, we will continue
to see terrible calls. I saw Jorge Posada get 3 strikes
called on him, that were not over the plate. The 3rd
one was at least 8 inches outside the plate. This is
just inexcusable - and these guys get PAID!
My opinion only
doc -(the old man)

From: "James Landreman" <bearman-3 at centurytel.net>

  Als Fastball List
*Email: fastball(at)pmihrm.com
    fastball at pmihrm.com
http://www.AlsFastball.com/
Our Condo: http://www.bytheowner.com/27828
NEWS: http://fastpitchwest.com/alsfastball
    eScribe is down, and may be out