You might remember there was a call to replay the ninth inning of the Dodgers-Padres game of April 15, thanks to the misleading signals from home umpire Dale Scott. David Cameron put forth the most passionate argument for the replay at Fangraphs.
Cameron’s point was that an umpire seemingly turning a dead play into a live one (emphasis on seemingly) was of a separate ilk than the conventional missed call, and that the game should have been replayed because, among other reasons, “a mistake by Dale Scott could have repercussions on the standings.”
I felt this was pretty silly, for a number of reasons, just one being that whatever the origins of the mistake, its impact was likely to be lost amid the hundreds of bad calls baseball sees each year.
Here’s one of those calls. With a runner on base in the top of the sixth inning for the Dodgers at Colorado, and the Rockies leading 2-1, Jerry Hariston Jr. was called out on this play by first-base umpire Tim Welke. Photo courtesy of Jay Jaffe:
Think that Scott gave a misleading signal on the triple play against the Padres? I’d say that Welke giving an out signal on this one was pretty misleading.
Like I said, this happens all the time, and the game goes on. But let’s put an end to the idea forever that the triple-play call was some kind of preeminent miscarriage of justice.
