The case of the missing error

Wednesday’s historic instant replay home run call marked the first use of the new technology brought into the game as an acknowledgement of the difficulties faced by umpires today.  However an official scorer might dispute the notion that umpires have the most difficult job in the game.  At least an umpire has three colleagues to lean on.  Except for the World Series, where a panel of three take on the task, the official scorer carries the weight of making scoring decisions on his own shoulders.  Bob Webb’s shoulders have needed to be broad this week. 

CC Sabathia’s attempt at pitching a no-hitter against the Pirates last Sunday was broken up by Webb’s debatable call that ruled a soft grounder back to the mound by Andy La Roche should stand as a single rather than an error against the pitcher.  The Milwaukee Brewers were united in their belief that the official scorer had botched a straightforward decision.  Manager Ned Yost voiced his disgust, stating “whoever the scorekeeper was absolutely denied Major League Baseball a nice no-hitter right there” and adding “that’s a stinkin’ no-hitter that we all got cheated from”.  The use of the word “cheated” was no doubt a product of the immediate emotional aftermath, but it suggested this was no simple mistake and that the decision was completely irrational. 

If Webb had gone crazy for a moment, perhaps his addled mental condition was brought about by a seemingly innocuous two-word phrase that has caused many a scorer a sleepless night or two?  ‘Ordinary effort’ is in some ways the baseball equivalent of football’s ‘offside’ law.  In both cases everyone concerned (players, managers, supporters, media pundits etc) generally believes that the matter is easy to understand.  We all know what ordinary effort is, just as we all know when a player is gaining an advantage from an offside position. 

Yet in both cases the decision always involves a judgement call, an element of the play that requires interpretation rather than merely establishing a fact (such as deciding if the ball crosssed over the goal line/ went over the outfield fence?).  Such complexities needn’t worry those of us not responsible for making the actual decision; we can see what we want to see and let our bias take charge.  That option isn’t open to a scorer.  They have to use their training and experience to make what they believe to be the correct call in line with the rules/laws of the game.

BaseballGB’s own Joe Gray knows this only too well.  As the Southern Scorers’ Commissioner for the British Baseball Federation, Joe is well placed to offer an insight into the factors that Webb may have taken into consideration. 

“Sabathia had time to make the throw if he’d fielded it cleanly, but I think the fact that his body had started to turn as he went to barehand it (he didn’t realize just how much time he had to get the out) meant that it was not a routine play. For this reason, it could legitimately be scored a hit, although in my opinion it is (just) an error”.

The element of doubt raised by Joe supports the view of MLB’s scoring review committee that the ruling was not ‘clearly erroneous’.  For this reason, they came to the conclusion that the ruling should stand after the Brewers submitted an official appeal against the original decision (as was their right). 

The scoring review committee didn’t take into account the fact that the play broke up an attempt at a no-hitter.  It had no reason to because this is immaterial when strictly applying the rules of the game, but it’s a factor that a lot of on-lookers brought into the equation.  There’s an unofficial ‘rule’ within the game that a team’s first hit should be a clean one, just in case it’s the only hit the pitcher gives up that day.  This particularly applies when the play in question occurs during the middle of the game (in this case the fifth inning).  Then again, distinguishing between a hit and an error can only be as straightforward as Ned Yost seemingly believes it to be if the same criteria is used all of the time.  Who’s to say Yost wouldn’t have been more than happy to see that play go down as a hit (and therefore not an error against Sabathia) if the Pirates had already recorded several hits beforehand? 

Such complications and contradictions will ensure that the debate will continue despite the final ruling having been made, but there are three things we can be certain about: 1) Webb spent the rest of the game praying that another Pirate recorded a hit,  2) the job of an official scorer is far from easy, and 3) CC will still get a ton of money in the off-season, no-hitter or not.

Week 23 wrap-up

We have to start in the National League West this week.  The Dodgers (72-70) have stormed to the top of the division on the back of a seven-game winning streak, four of which have come against the D-Backs (and two against Brandon Webb).  L.A. have a half game lead, while the Rockies are in third place, 5.5 games back and not without hope.  In the Central, the Cubs (86-56) still lead the division despite suffering a six-game losing streak.  The Brewers are now just four games back and their 4.5 game lead over the Phillies in the wild card race means that they are a strong bet for a play-off place regardless of how the Central turns out.  The Mets (79-62) are two games ahead of the Phillies in the East.

In the American League, the Angels (85-56) went 2-4 on the week, but it has made little difference to their inevitable walk to the West division title.  The Rangers are still sixteen games back and the Angels’ magic number is down to five.  The White Sox (80-61) received a hammer blow as Carlos Quentin looks to be done for the season thanks to a wrist injury; however they’ve responded to the news by winning three on the bounce and they retain a 2.5 game lead over the Twins in the Central.  The Red Sox have cut the Rays’ (85-55) lead in the East down to 2.5 games and the league leaders suffered a harrowing thirteen inning defeat to the Blue Jays yesterday (Toronto have now won seven on the spin).  As with the NL Central, the top two teams are battling to win the division while knowing that the loser stands a strong chance of making October anyway: the Red Sox lead the Twins by 5.5 in the AL wildcard race.