The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : The Pirates Were Robbed

Text Size

The Pirates Were Robbed

By Aaron Goldstein on 7.27.11 @ 11:15AM

The Pirates were robbed!!!!

The Pittsburgh Pirates, that is.

Last night and into this morning, the Bucs and the Atlanta Braves played for 19 innings. Of course, all things must come to an end. But like this?

Let me set the scene. Braves pitcher Scott Proctor hits a groundball to Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez who throws the ball home. Bucs catcher Mike McKenry tags out Braves infielder Julio Lugo at home. It wasn't even close. Lugo was barely in the batter's box when McKenry tagged him. But home plate umpire Jerry Meals called Lugo safe. Needless to say, McKenry, Pirates reliever Daniel McCutchen (who ended up taking the loss), Pirates skipper Clint Hurdle and all of Allegheny County were livid. Braves win 4-3.

There would be no Armando Galarraga around to smile on this night. But then again Jerry Meals is no Jim Joyce. While Joyce tearfully admitted his mistake, Meals said he might have got the call the wrong. Sounds kind of mealy-mouthed to me.

The long and the short of it is that the Pirates fall into third place in the NL Central a half game behind the Milwaukee Brewers and a game behind the St. Louis Cardinals. So what's done is done. But as the old saying goes what doesn't kill you will make you stronger. The question here is whether this incident sinks the Pirates 2011 ship or if they will rally and find the means to swashbuckle their way to the NL Central title.

A final thought. I am sure a lot of Red Sox fans who do not have fond memories of Julio Lugo's 2½ seasons here in Boston are probably asking themselves, "Is Lugo is still playing in the majors?" David Schoenfield at ESPN confirms the Lugo sighting for us in Red Sox Nation.

UPDATE: The Pirates have filed a formal complaint with the MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. Not that anything will come of it. Although there's no guarantee the Bucs would have won the game if Lugo had been called out nevertheless this game could loom large if the Pirates end up finishing the season a game out of first place.

UPDATE II: Meals now admits he made the wrong call. Nevertheless, what's done is done. The call stands. So let's see where the Pirates go from here.

View all comments (19) | Leave a comment

Controse| 7.27.11 @ 12:15PM

Jerry Meals clearly should have been fired on the spot. If he keeps his job there is no integrity in Major League Baseball.

Occam's Tool| 7.27.11 @ 1:16PM

Only if he were committing deliberate malfeasance. Otherwise, errors are part of the game.

Chaucer| 7.27.11 @ 12:30PM

I have to disagree with you. Even if there was replay there was no angle that gave conclusive evidence that the tag was applied. If they got the out there is still no guarantee the Pirates would have won the game. I was listening to the game on my phone and I am glad it ended because I was getting tired.

Aaron Goldstein| 7.27.11 @ 12:43PM

You are quite right to say there is no guarantee that the Pirates would have won had Lugo been called out at home. The next batter Martin Prado could have stroked a clean base hit and won the game. When I say the Pirates were robbed they were robbed of the opportunity to continue playing win or lose.

Casey Abell| 7.27.11 @ 12:44PM

I've watched the replay a dozen times from every angle. I still don't know if McKendry actually tagged Lugo or oled him. It's certainly not as cut and dried as this post makes it seem.

JWJ| 7.27.11 @ 3:36PM

I agree with you. I did not see an angle where Lugo was definitely tagged.

That catcher should have done a better job of applying the tag by making contact with the runner.

W| 7.27.11 @ 10:58PM

The umpire admitted he made a mistake.

Casey Abell| 7.27.11 @ 12:54PM

Oops, apologies to McHenry for misspelling his name. And Lugo got called up last month, though he hasn't played much for the Braves.

Aaron Goldstein| 7.27.11 @ 2:45PM

Actually, it's McKenry. Mighty Casey just swung and missed.

Paul McGrath| 7.27.11 @ 1:53PM

Wow, one of the worst calls I have ever seen. The runner was out by a mile; he didn't touch the plate until he'd basically been mugged. He slid, was knocked aside with the gloved ball, then tagged again before finally standing up and stepping on home plate. His face and body posture said it all; he knew he was out. Then the umpire called him safe.

A number of years ago the umpires went on strike and they were all fired. A whole lot of those umpires were just terrible--each with their own individual strike zone--and the new group of umpires brought a breath of fresh air to the game.

Now it's strarting to happen again. Bad calls, laziness, individual mandates for what determines balls and strikes. Time to clean house again. At the very least, get rid of this guy.

Casey Abell| 7.27.11 @ 1:54PM

And I misspelled his name again! McKenry.

Aaron Goldstein| 7.27.11 @ 2:46PM

Well, at least you atoned for your error.

Nutball| 7.27.11 @ 2:30PM

As a couple of posters have already stated, it is not 100% clear that the catcher ever tagged the runner or part of his uniform.

The poster who said the runner was knocked aside by the gloved ball and then tagged again is simply blind and delusional. There was no resistance to the tag, either in velocity of trajectory. That doesn't mean he didn't get the uniform, but it's not as bad a call as everybody's trying to make it.

That said, I believe he should have been called out - too close and too important to the outcome of the game not to. But, if you watch the initial argument from the catcher, the umpire clearly indicates he felt the tag was missed.

It boils down to enduring a long, hot night behind the plate. The umpire had a horrible night calling balls and strikes, getting arguments from both sides, and I think he just finally said the heck with it. I'm not saying that's the right thing to do, but that's my perception. The ump should probably be suspended for a series or two.

Casey Abell| 7.27.11 @ 3:33PM

Yeah, the "knocked off the plate" comment was pretty funny. Only if Lugo could have been knocked over by the wind stirred up when McKenry swished his glove at him.

But there would have been a dispute either way. Let's say a replay system had been in effect and the call got overturned. The Braves would have been screaming that the replay showed the glove missed the runner. And they would have had some justification. Because at the very best the glove might have barely grazed Lugo's uniform. And I mean barely. There certainly was no "clear and convincing" tag.

The folks shouting that this is the worst call ever just want more replay. But they should be careful what they wish for.

JP| 7.27.11 @ 2:34PM

The Pirates can cry that they were robbed. But, in any close race late in the summer how many teams regret the close games they blew in April?

Aaron Goldstein| 7.27.11 @ 2:51PM

It's one thing to lose a game on a walk-off homerun. It's another to lose a game and possibly a playoff berth on account of poor officiating. Again, there's no guarantee the Bucs would have won if Lugo had been called out. But if Lugo had been called out and Daniel McCutchen gave up a gopher ball to Martin Prado on the very next pitch then it would have been easier to take. Sure it would have been disappointing to Pirates fans but the loss would have been fair and square.

Rich D| 7.27.11 @ 3:28PM

The ump: "I looked at the replays and it appeared he might have got him on the shin area. I'm guessing he might have got him, but when I was out there when it happened, I didn't see a tag.

Casey Abell| 7.27.11 @ 3:42PM

This whole rumpus reminds me of baseball's ancient and distant cousin, cricket. One of the toughest calls for a cricket umpire is whether the bat might have just nicked the ball on the way through to the wicket-keeper (cricket's version of the catcher).

If the bat touched the ball and the wicket-keeper takes the catch, the batsman is out. And that's a big deal in cricket, where an out is far more precious than in baseball.

There's a system called "hotspot" which can show the heat caused by the friction of the ball just knicking the bat. It's often used in replay appeals in cricket. I don't know if a hotspot would have showed up on Lugo's uniform from the maybe-tag. I guess we'll never know, but it's fun to argue.

Casey Abell| 7.27.11 @ 3:55PM

There was another disputed call last night which did go to replay. I saw it myself in the Astros-Cards game.

Albert Pujols lined a screamer right off the top of the padded left-center field wall. The ball bounced back into play, but it was ruled a home run and the call stood up after replay.

The Astros announcers went ballistic. They could not believe that the ball, which really never did seem to go over the wall before it bounced back to Houston's center fielder, could have been called a homer. They were wondering what on earth the umps could have seen on replay.

So replay is hardly a cure-all. At least the rules prevented any arguing during the game, though the Astros manager was hollering plenty after the game to the media.