Whatever you do, don’t tell Jack Marshall or the HOF clause on sportsmanship and integrity will be evoked.

You know, I’m increasingly uncomfortable with the long-standing baseball tradition of approving players’ faking catches and tags. It’s embedded in baseball culture, and thu isn’t regarded as cheating, but it sure looks, smells, and quacks like cheating. Before television, these things could all be “mysteries,“which had its charm, but we know Holliday never touched the plate, and we know Barmes missed the catch. There’s not much good that comes out of fans knowing they were jobbed, and if it could be worked out practically (don’t ask me how now—I’m going nuts counting other angels on pin-heads), it may be time to make more than just the umpires responsible for getting a game-changing call right…like even the players themselves.

“The play that jobbed the Braves out of the damn wild card” was giving Frenchy and Schafer so, so many wasted at-bats in the early months of the season, Lowe and Johnson underachieving, and perhaps a hat-tip to losing 5 of 6 to the Reds.  I think the Barmes play ranks #428 on the list of reasons, just ahead of Vladimir Nunez’s 36.00 ERA in 1 inning pitched.

Assuming, of course, that (a) Lugo would have scored on the play, which took place with one (1) out and was therefore in a position to have to play it halfway (b) that the Cardinals would have scored an additional run in the inning, i.e. to have taken the lead (c) that the Rockies would not have scored in the bottom of the ninth, i.e. to have either tied or reclaimed the lead.

Let’s all settle down just a minute.

If the umpire had ruled that Barmes failed to catch that ball, it doesn’t mean that the Cardinals win that game. Lugo would have scored to tie the game, and Pujols would have advanced to third, and Ludwick would have been on first with a single, and there would have been one out. That’s an advantageous situation for the Cards, but the Rockies still had the opportunity to get two outs and win it in the bottom of the ninth or extra innings.

This was not a situation in which an apparent missed call cost a team a game. A couple weeks ago, Nick Green was granted two balls that were absolutely strikes, and if either one of those had been called correctly the Angels would have beaten the Red Sox. THAT was an ump costing a team a game. This is not.

Similarly, the 2007 one-game playoff between the Padres and Rockies was not a case of a blown call costing one team a game. If Tim McLelland calls Holliday out at home, the Rockies still have Helton on second with two outs, score tied in the bottom of the 13th. There’s no guarantee or even likelihood the Padres win that game.

Furthermore, the only reason this is a big deal is that it happened in the final week of the season. Every team—the Braves, the Padres, the Rockies, everyone—is both the benificiary and victim of blown calls throughout the course of a season.

Also, that incriminating picture of Barmes is Photoshopped. Go Rockies!

He was standing on third base when the play was over. He stated after the game that he was positive Ludwick’s bloop would drop for a hit.

Wooden what are you fishing for? Have you ever watched Pujols run the bases? He’s almost always too aggressive, it seems to pay off fairly often. The fact is if the play would have been called correctly he would have been congratulated for aggressive heads up running, instead of a ‘horrific mistake’.

Correction: If the ball, which dropped, had been correctly called an out.

“You know, I’m increasingly uncomfortable with the long-standing baseball tradition of approving players’ faking catches and tags. “

I’ve always hated that.

To Jack’s point, Barmes first looked to third when he got to his feet, indicating perhaps that he *knew* he hadn’t caught the ball. However, I can’t agree with the assumption that Pujols would have been safe even if Barmes had come up firing. Sorry, Albert ain’t that fast.