Well, the delay was short enough, and he’s back in for the top of the 7th.
Well that was much shorter then expected. CC is now facing Ichiro in the top of the 7th and is at 70 pitches.
K #12 at 73 pitches!
Well the No-No just ended. Oh Well. More Ks and a win will be very good indeed.
and there’s a hit.
16 losses in a row for Seattle.
In case you were wondering, the modern record’s 23 in a row, by the Phillies in 1961.
What.
The.
Fuck???
Did anyone see the end of the Pirates/Braves game? In the bottom of the 19th (!!!), the home plate umpire made one of the worst calls i’ve EVER seen, calling safe at the plate and giving Atlanta the win.
You can see it here.
Not to encourage generalized hyperbole, but watch me do it anyway. That was one of the worst calls I can ever imagine seeing in any sport in the history of ever. He hadn’t really even reached the batter’s box when he was tagged. Its not like the ump (Jerry Meals) just had a brain cramp or anything. It actually looked like he took the time to think it over and still called him safe.
Yep, that was about as bad as it gets. Looks like Meals just wanted the game to end.
I stayed up until midnight watching the game before I just had to go to bed. I’m really glad that I did not stay through to the end just to have to endure that call.
Meals had been just awful all night long on balls and strikes calls. Nate McClouth of the Braves got thrown out of the game for arguing, as did the Braves manager. His zone was enormously wide and low, but it wasn’t consistent. In Pedro Alvarez’ first at-bat, IIRC, one pitch six inches outside of the plate was a ball, but a subsequent pitch that literally overlapped with the former pitch was called a strike.
Meals needs to be suspended and given some sort of remedial training. That was just an embarrassment to professional baseball.
It is remotely possible that Meals saw a millimeter of air between the glove and the player’s knee. However…all the (amateur) umpire training I’ve received says that if a call looks obvious to everybody in the stadium, including both teams: just make the obvious call. Don’t be an idiot.
Heck, it was even obvious to Lugo, the runner. After the slide (in which he doesn’t even reach home plate), he stands up, resigned to being called out, and accidentally steps on the plate. Then after Meals calls him safe, he hurriedly goes back to the plate and stomps on it.
When the runner acts like he’s been tagged out … he’s probably been tagged out. That said, without that call, the Pirates and Braves would probably still be playing right now.
I’d argue that a big part of the struggle that both teams had scoring was Meals’ inconsistency. You could see that batters were really struggling to get a sense of the strike zone. Not only were guys taking strikes that were way outside, but they were then also swinging more wildly going after stuff because of Meals’ inconsistency.
That’s what got McClouth thrown out. Strike two was out of the zone. Strike three was swinging at something low and outside. Same thing happened to other batters on both teams all night long. Ringing people up on balls or making them chase badly kind of puts a crimp in overall offensive production.
The sheer incredulity in the announcer’s voice from the linked MLB video is pretty damn funny, but I agree…horrible call.
I think I’d honestly be embarrased to collect that win if I were with the Braves. That’s just the worst thing I’ve ever seen.
Congratulations, Jim Joyce – someone with far less class than you wanted the spotlight.
Rumors on Twitter are saying that the Blue Jays have worked a deal to trade for Edwin Jackson from the White Sox and then flip him to St. Louis for Rasmus. I think the first half has been confirmed as having happened within the last few minutes.
I love the trade deadline.
After 19 innings, it might have been just the opposite – time to get out of the spotlight and go get some dinner. 
As a Braves fan, I can say that we are embarrassed to collect that win.
But we’re still collecting it, anyway. 
Any other year, the decision might not have mattered very much.
But this year, the Pirates are in the running in their division. Last night’s decision means that, instead of sitting at the top alongside the Cardinals, they are 1 game back.
If Pittsburgh misses the playoffs by 1 game this year, plenty of people will look back at last night’s game.
Perhaps a lost story on a big trade day, but the Angels’ Santana is [del]three[/del] [del]two[/del] one out[del]s[/del] away from no-hitting the Indians.
And he did it. Congratulations to him, but I wish it had been against someone else. Bah!
Whelp, this is one of those days that makes it hard to be a fan. Cardinals trade a cost-controlled young CF with a 133 OPS+ last year (and 111 this year) for a rental starter, a LOOGY, and two old players whose names I’m too angry to even type right now… all because our manager can’t get along with the kid.
What a disaster.