| | BOSTON -- When Major League Baseball was threatened with mass resignations in July and ultimately replaced 22 umpires in September, it probably thought the worst was over with its on-field officials.
No such luck.
|  | | Umpire Tim Tschida has three Red Sox -- led by manager Jimy Williams -- on his case. |
Twice in the American League Championship Series, umpires have made critical mistakes on the bases, directly or indirectly affecting the results of two games between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
On both occasions, the umpires acknowledged their errors, meaning they were more honest than competent with a pennant on the line.
Sunday night, umpire Tim Tschida ruefully acknowledged missing a call when he ruled Yankees second baseman Chuck Knoblauch had tagged Jose Offerman on the basepath in the eighth inning. Replays clearly indicated that Knoblauch missed Offerman. Had Offerman been ruled safe, the Red Sox would have had the potential tying run in scoring position and their best hitter at the plate. Instead, they were out of the inning.
"I didn't make the right call," conceded Tschida.
Tschida's blunder came after Rick Reed, umpiring second base in Game 1 of the series, ruled Knoblauch had held the ball long enough before dropping it to record a force out on Offerman. Like Tschida, Reed later said he blew the call.
Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations, who oversees umpires in both leagues following the abolition of the league presidents positions, said the disputes were regretable.
"You never want to have umpires become the focal point," Alderson said after Game 4 on Sunday night, "but under the circumstances, it happens. But this is a good group of umpires. We just hope the rest of the series is uneventful."
"He missed the call," said umpire supervisor Marty Springstead of Tschida. "It's like a ballplayer dropping the ball or striking out with the bases loaded. In these games, it's very difficult (to avoid the scrutiny in the postseason)."
Under the present collective bargaining agreement, umpires are assigned to postseason duty on a rotation basis, rather than by merit. Alderson will reportedly attempt to strike that practice in this winter's upcoming negotiations with the umpires, but suggested that was a moot point in this series.
"Tim Tschida and Rick Reed are highly-rated umpires," Alderson said. "I don't think the rotation (system) has a bearing on this."
Despite their disappointment, most Red Sox players were rather forgiving of Tschida, and acknowledged that the brunt of responsibilty for the club's defeat lay directly with them.
"The umpire clearly missed a call," said starter Bret Saberhagen. "They're human; they make mistakes. Unfortunately for us, it's this time of the season."
But others were more critical, and intimated that the Sox were trying to beat two forces at once -- the Yankees and the umpires.
"The nature of our team is that we continue to battle," said outfielder Darren Lewis. "For some reason, that's being taken away from us in this series. They're taking away something from us, something we do very well -- and that's battle.
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The umpire clearly missed a call. They're human; they make mistakes. Unfortunately for us, it's this time of the season.
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Bret Saberhagen
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"We have the ability to battle and keep ourselves in games. That's why we've been successful all year. If (taking that away is) being done purposefully, nobody knows that. But there's no question that in this game and the first game, we don't know what would have happened (had the calls been correct)."
Already incensed by the call in the eighth, the 33,586 fans in Fenway grew enraged further when first base umpire Dale Scott seemed to have blown another call at first in the bottom of the ninth, ruling Nomar Garciaparra out when replays indicated he was safe. Red Sox manager Jimy Williams raced onto the field and soon was ejected after firing his cap. Within moments, the field was showered with debris, mostly plastic bottles, leading to an eight-minute delay.
Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette said the fans' actions were "a reflection of the frustration with the close games and the close plays."
"You hate to see fans act in such a manner," said Lewis. "Players fear for their safety. You don't like to see that, but at the same time, you feel their disappointment because we feel the same way."
Alderson said Major League Baseball "will want to make sure (Monday's) game is not interrupted. I'm sure our security people and Boston police will work together. It was unfortunate and it's clearly not something we want to see repeated.
"But we'll be prepared to handle it should a problem arise (tonight)." | |
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