The Padres Got Screwed

Screwed by Dale Scott, umpire. Here’s a nice little .gif of the play were they got screwed.

Yep. Ninth inning… bunt attempt… foul ball called…switched to fair ball called… triple play. End of rally in a tie game. Enter Dee Gordon in the bottom of the 9th. Dodgers win.

Now, before I go any further… if you want a good laugh, head over to Gaslamp Ball and check the post and comments section (currently over 400 responses) about this play. They HATE Dale Scott. Most of the pics and .gifs you see here are from that post.

I want to make it clear that my beef here is not with the Dodgers or the fair ball call. Although the call was a suspect, you can see that ball does actually hit Guzman’s bat even though he’s doing everything in his power to get out of the way. Just horrible luck on his part that it hit the bat… or, well, good luck that it didn’t break his face.

So… umpire Dale Scott throws up his arms = dead ball. End of play. Runners stop. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work. I guess he called a foul ball, not a dead ball, and then changed his mind. I guess that’s allowed? Just doesn’t seem right.

Good grief… the Padres suck bad enough as it is… like they need these kind of calls to somehow suck worse.

Gotta say though, stuff like this is why we, as fans, watch. It’s what makes the game great.

Imagine, if you will… that you’re Jesus Guzman. One second, you’re on the crappy little Padres, playing the big bad Dodgers. You’re losing 1-4 because you’re facing the reigning NL Cy Young winner and Kemp, the hottest bat in baseball. But your team comes back to tie, you set yourself up for glory… with no outs and two men on in the 9th, time to eek out a small ball win. Next second, the ball gets thrown up and in because you’re trying to lay down a sac bunt, you try to Matrix your way out of getting plucked, instead the ball barely hits your bat, you’re barely still on your feet, and you stand there in disbelief as you solidify yourself on the wrong end of baseball infamy and record books. It’s not easy to bunt into a triple play. It’s not easy at all. That’s how fast things change in baseball. And as much as it angers us, as fans, if our team is on the ass-end of a call like that… it’s what keeps us coming back. The suspense…. knowing anything and everything can change in one second.

I’ll leave you with a few GBL’ers responses to the play, and well, Dale Scott.

Also, I wanted to do a little research on Dale Scott myself, so I googled his name and only got to “Dale Scott U” when this was suggested. Can’t make this stuff up, folks.

-bp

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