White Sox "Steal" Game Two

[jimmycarter05]

it may be just me but i think the white sox stole game two from the angels...i mean how blind could that ump be? that ball was clearly caught...and why did aj run? i mean he was called out...that game was stolen from the angels

[ChiTownSox77]

the umpires were HORRIBLE tonight. the calls on Konerko, Dye, and Everett were absolutely CRIMINAL.

[schillingouttheks]

AJ ran to 1st because he heard a different cadence from the umpire when he was "called" out. He clearly pumped the fist, or made the same motion, as he did all night for strikeouts. As far as the HP umpire goes, he called him out. I dunno what the f*** happened from there...weird game.

[ChiTownSox77]

Funny... Somehow reminds me of the Armbrister/Fisk thing.

 

and the dumbass kid in Yankee stadium in '96 with Skankees V Orioles.

[ChiTownSox77]

I just watched the crew chief, when asked by Sciosccia to explain why Pierzynski was allowed to advance to first when the home plate umpire called him 'out', the exchange went like this:

 

Sciosscia: "Why is Pierzynski on first? The home ump called him out."

 

Crew Chief: "Mike, he didn't call him out. He called a strike."

 

Hopefully, Angels fans won't use this as a crutch. The game is inches. In the 9th inning of a playoff game, you have to be paying ATTENTION. Larry Walker tossing the ball into a kid's hands in the crowd, etc, is not an allowable mistake or lapse in judgement when you're playing for a trip to the World Series.

 

Hopefully, as a Sox fan, I won't see a galvanization of the Angels around this 'victim complex' thing. They lost, fair and square. All the way around, the umpires were horrible tonight. Absolutely disgustingly horrible. You take advantage of the opportunities you get. Crede took advantage, period. The Angels could be told that their sloppy play in the first few innings could have resulted in an inside-the-park homer for Rowand, but they got lucky with a close play. Same thing with Crede getting doubled up at second on Uribe's liner.

 

Hopefully, we take full advantage of this and win the series.

[yeszir]

Bah, I'm just glad the 'stros lost.

[ChiTownSox77]

Amen to that.

 

Clemens crying would make this playoff just that much better.

 

Nothing but an overhyped fat trailer-living hillbilly.

[Manny Goes Boom]

I just watched the crew chief, when asked by Sciosccia to explain why Pierzynski was allowed to advance to first when the home plate umpire called him 'out', the exchange went like this:

 

Sciosscia: "Why is Pierzynski on first? The home ump called him out."

 

Crew Chief: "Mike, he didn't call him out. He called a strike."

 

Hopefully, Angels fans won't use this as a crutch. The game is inches. In the 9th inning of a playoff game, you have to be paying ATTENTION. Larry Walker tossing the ball into a kid's hands in the crowd, etc, is not an allowable mistake or lapse in judgement when you're playing for a trip to the World Series.

 

Hopefully, as a Sox fan, I won't see a galvanization of the Angels around this 'victim complex' thing. They lost, fair and square. All the way around, the umpires were horrible tonight. Absolutely disgustingly horrible. You take advantage of the opportunities you get. Crede took advantage, period. The Angels could be told that their sloppy play in the first few innings could have resulted in an inside-the-park homer for Rowand, but they got lucky with a close play. Same thing with Crede getting doubled up at second on Uribe's liner.

 

Hopefully, we take full advantage of this and win the series.

 

Actually dude, they didn't lose fair and square. You're just saying that because your team was the victor. If the White Sox lost, you'd be crying conspiracy and all that crap. HORRIBLE CALL. Plain and simple. Angels should be up 2-0 in the series.

 

Oh and Mister Crew Chief, what does 2+1 equal...THREE!!! And in baseball THREE strikes and your out, and don't give me the passed ball ********, HE CAUGHT IT!!! If thats what the crew cheif really said, he needs to get his head examined because thats ********. I'm just glad this wasn't a call made against us.

[See Red]

Yeah, it really was among the worst calls I've ever seen in professional sports. He called the guy out -- that should be it... over... done deal... end of inning. If the MLB has it's best umps do the big games like every other league... it's says a LOT about the state of officiating in the MLB.

 

The Angels did not lose fair and square... not even close.

[ChiTownSox77]

I maintain what I said...

 

There were countless other bad calls just as impacting on the game, just not in the 9th inning, that went AGAINST the White Sox...

 

Konerko called out on a pitch at his ankles.

Dye called out on a pitch inside.

Everett called out on a pitch outside.

 

They simply didn't happen with two outs in the 9th... Does that make it fair to the Sox? No.

 

There's no crying in baseball.

 

The Angels benefited from at least THREE terrible calls. If those calls went the way they should have, the Sox could, COULD, I say, have been done before a bottom of the 9th was even necessary. The call was this:

 

The ump made a bad initial call: the ball was NOT trapped, it WAS caught.

That said, the Angels' catcher, Paul, did NOT pay attention. NO OUT WAS CALLED. It was a dropped-third-strike situation, I'm sorry to say. That is FACT. Whether it was a GOOD call, that point is not relevant. The call is to be PLAYED AS CALLED BY THE UMPIRE. Paul was not paying attention. Instead of tossing the ball to the mound, he could have simply tagged Pierzynski just to make sure, as often happens. Catchers often tag the batter even when it was obviously a catch... call it a catcher's paranoia, a tick, or just tendancy, but it happens often.

 

Following that, the Angels failed to pitch out when everyone and their mother in the western hemisphere knew Ozuna was going to go. NO THROW WAS EVEN ATTEMPTED by Paul. Then, Crede took advantage of a bad offering and let fly.

 

This is baseball. Umps are human, not computers. Bad calls are made, all nine innings today, and all that was noted was the one bad call in the 9th. What about the ones that prevented the Sox from scoring and would have prevented a bottom of the ninth from even being played?

 

I agree, as a Sox fan, I would be upset if it went the other way around. To summarize, the umpiring was absolutely abhorrent on BOTH SIDES at the plate tonight. But don't try to take away from a great performance by Buehrle. Why didn't the Angels score more than one run off of him and win the game before the 9th? Because Mark pitched phenomenally. Let's not let his performance get lost in the excitement of a single call. It's playoff baseball, and players should be heightened of senses and ALERT. TAG A.J. OUT if there is a question. Why throw the ball away?

 

Stay alert and these problems would be non-factors.

[ChiTownSox77]

Actually dude, they didn't lose fair and square. You're just saying that because your team was the victor. If the White Sox lost, you'd be crying conspiracy and all that crap. HORRIBLE CALL. Plain and simple. Angels should be up 2-0 in the series.

 

Oh and Mister Crew Chief, what does 2+1 equal...THREE!!! And in baseball THREE strikes and your out, and don't give me the passed ball ********, HE CAUGHT IT!!! If thats what the crew cheif really said, he needs to get his head examined because thats ********. I'm just glad this wasn't a call made against us.

 

The strikeout calls on Konerko and Everett were incredibly bad.

 

Konerko's knees were his ankles on his call. Everett was the victim of two outside pitches called strikes. Ended an inning with two strikeouts and swung momentum away with Podsy on first.

 

You're going to root for a team just because you thought they were 'robbed'?

 

If this call ocurred in the fifth, would you feel the same way? Crede made em pay. The pitcher didn't execute. PERIOD. He's lucky that ball didn't go over the fence.

 

Oh, and the call on Rowand was not a bad one. Never said it. What I said was that the Angels were lucky their own bad play didn't screw em earlier in the game. The Sox had a chance to score and were thwarted by bad strikeout calls. Was I complaining? Would I complain if we had lost? No. I didn't complain when Contreras' strike zone was shrunk in game one. I didn't complain when Dye was called out on a pitch so far outside in the middle innings tonight that it was in the Angels' dugout.

 

The best teams go with the flow and win when they need to. Just like the BoSox last year, who never gave up- They won even when people doubted them.

[Manny Goes Boom]

Difference is, missed calls in the middle innings happen ALL THE TIME. This kinda s*** doesn't. And you're using examples of strike calls early in the game just to make it look like its a fair call, its not. Or to overshadow the call. You don't want Buehrle's performance to be overshadowed, lets not have this play overshadowed then either. Fair?

 

And NO, I'm not rooting for a team because they were robbed...they were f***ing mugged in front of millions. But I am rooting for them because I want to, and have since they beat the Yankees. Believe me or not I don't care. Look back in the ALCS thread, I predicted the Angels in 6. Seriously, LOOK. I said that.

[Moose]

I don't know why Angel fans here in SoCal are saying that if there wasn't a bad call, they would've been up two games to none. So if there was no bad call, it would not have guaranteed the Angels a win anyway. Nonetheless, the game shoud've gone to extra innings.

[Manny Goes Boom]

Momentum (Escobar was rollin), better bullpen, and Buehrle was tiring. I say they had everything stacked up right for them.

[ChiTownSox77]

Difference is, missed calls in the middle innings happen ALL THE TIME. This kinda s*** doesn't. And you're using examples of strike calls early in the game just to make it look like its a fair call, its not. Or to overshadow the call. You don't want Buehrle's performance to be overshadowed, lets not have this play overshadowed then either. Fair?

 

And NO, I'm not rooting for a team because they were robbed...they were f***ing mugged in front of millions. But I am rooting for them because I want to, and have since they beat the Yankees. Believe me or not I don't care. Look back in the ALCS thread, I predicted the Angels in 6. Seriously, LOOK. I said that.

 

Fair enough.

[ChiTownSox77]

Momentum (Escobar was rollin), better bullpen, and Buehrle was tiring. I say they had everything stacked up right for them.

 

Buehrle may have been tiring, but his performance sure indicated the heart of a champ to do what he did on, as you say, a nearly empty tank.

 

My words betray me, though... He and Freddy are my favorite players, so you'll have to forgive my bias!

[Moose]

Doug Eddings = Steve Javie

[Manny Goes Boom]

Buehrle may have been tiring, but his performance sure indicated the heart of a champ to do what he did on, as you say, a nearly empty tank.

 

My words betray me, though... He and Freddy are my favorite players, so you'll have to forgive my bias!

 

No doubt Buehrle did great, 9 innings and one run, in such a tight game is a great feat.

[ChiTownSox77]

Ha. Fair enough.

[MC Hammer]

That was the single worst "game changing" call I've seen since the tuck rule in the Pats/Raiders playoff game. There is no question that the catcher caught that ball, and that AJ was out. I couldn't care less who wins this series, but I am extremely pissed off that the Angels were completely screwed over.

 

This is exactly why we need replay, so horrible umpiring doesn't cost a team.

[riverside sluggers]

ChiSoxTown77: Amen to that.

 

Clemens crying would make this playoff just that much better.

 

Nothing but an overhyped fat trailer-living hillbilly.

 

watch who you are ripping dude. Clemens is purely one of the best pitchers ever in the history of baseball. How is a 1.87 ERA for the 2005 overhyped?? yea thats what i thought

[MC Hammer]

watch who you are ripping dude. Clemens is purely one of the best pitchers ever in the history of baseball, how is a 1.87 ERA for the 2005 overhyped?? yea thats what i thought

Agreed. The best pitcher in the league, and one of the better pitchers of all time, can't be overhyped.

[ChiTownSox77]

Ok, but this is among the debates I have frequently regarding Nolan Ryan and Clemens. I will grant that Clemens, in his prime (might still be) was a dominant pitcher. However, he only won a title when he played on a store-bought Skankees team. I will grant that he is among the 5 best right-handed pitchers of the last 50 years. However, he is not even the most dominand right hander of his PERIOD. In the last 30 years, in their primes, the best right-handed pitchers (taking as variables their personal domination, their contributive attributes to their teams' successes, and their ability to dominate over long periods of time (including their playing on winners), Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez were, in their prime years, the most dominating right-handed pitchers in the last 30 years. Keep in mind that their best numbers actully came in the middle of what will become known as a steroid era of heightened hitter ability and soaring offensive numbers.

 

Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan, while among the most dominant pitchers of their era, are still overrated (yes, it is possible to be among the best ever AND overrated at the same time).

 

Ryan never won a Cy Young, won 20 games, or won a championship after leaving the Mets in his early years. Clemens stayed off the road for much of his last years, lied to the Yankees about retiring in order to get closer to home, and has had the benefit of pitching in the American league for most of his career. In this, I posit that Clemens was able to intimidate hitters by not just throwing inside (not enough pitchers do that, actually), but throwing at HEADS consistently, knowing that he wouldn't have to be a man and face down the opposing team himself in the batter's box, and leaving his teammates as targets. Now in the National League, no DH, he has to hit. Hence, his style of headhunting has, POOF! Magically disappeared.

 

But I agree with your basic claims. He was as dominant for his time as 99% of his contemporaries.

[bighurt]

This whole discussion is a moot point if Escobar doesn't throw a ball down the middle with an 0-2 count, and Crede doesn't rip it for a double. Pitch over it, get the next guy out, or quit whining. We won it, and we ain't giving it back.

By the way, Crede was back into second before the ball got there on the called double play, anyway. We finally got a call in the ninth.

[ChiTownSox77]

actually, i thought crede was out on that play. the bad calls were ball-strike calls. specifically, on Konerko and Everett. the umpiring was disgusting all night. i'm sick of the excuse making and whining coming from the national media.

 

shut the hell up. we won, you lost. like bighurt said, the best teams WIN. crede tagged him for the game winner. even scioscia said they didn't play high level enough to win.

 

get over it and stop making excuses for when and if the angels lose the series.

[ChiTownSox77]

actually, i thought crede was out on that play. the bad calls were ball-strike calls. specifically, on Konerko and Everett. the umpiring was disgusting all night. i'm sick of the excuse making and whining coming from the national media.

 

shut the hell up. we won, you lost. like bighurt said, the best teams WIN. crede tagged him for the game winner. even scioscia said they didn't play high level enough to win.

 

get over it and stop making excuses for when and if the angels lose the series.

[whereisnomar]

I think that anyone who actually saw the play would agree he caught it cleanly, but still, wouldn't it be better to bring AJ back to the plate, I mean the Angels were pretty much off the field. That was a huge mix-up by the umpires.

[RedSoxRooter]

What a BS call. I think this is going to motivate the Angels even more. I think they'll cream the Pale Ho's in Cali.

[BoSox84]

First we have the luxury of seeing 10,000 replays, it was a close play. Josh Paul is also to blame, why didnt you tag AJ. This call didnt make Ozuna steal 2nd, or give up a double to Crede. It was a bad call no doubt, but the game is 9 innings.

[thee sox]

Actually dude, they didn't lose fair and square. You're just saying that because your team was the victor. If the White Sox lost, you'd be crying conspiracy and all that crap. HORRIBLE CALL. Plain and simple. Angels should be up 2-0 in the series.

 

Oh and Mister Crew Chief, what does 2+1 equal...THREE!!! And in baseball THREE strikes and your out, and don't give me the passed ball ********, HE CAUGHT IT!!! If thats what the crew cheif really said, he needs to get his head examined because thats ********. I'm just glad this wasn't a call made against us.

 

You're right, I would be crying if the call was the other way...but it wasn't. And let me remind you, and ESPN, and FOX, that this did not tie/win the game. Pablo Ozuna stole second AFTER THE PLAY, and Joe Crede hit a rocket off the wall, AFTER THE PLAY. The umpire doesn't have a view from the front of homeplate like we do at home...it isn't obvious that a ball did not hit a ground from behind the catcher, in a split second. How many of you could have even told me that the ball did not hit the ground after the play happened, without any replays. You're full of it if you say you did...you can't even tell, unless it's zoomed in and you're forced to watch 100 times.

 

I have a feeling if this did happen the other way around, we'd be hearing what a great job it was by whoever did AJ's job. AJ didn't hear, you're out...so he ran to first, it was a damn good heads-up play and he gets no credit whatsoever. Josh Paul is a moron for not paying attention to what was going on...and he shouldn't even have been in the game.