Bad Touch

From time to time, you'll see a game end in a bizarre way. Wild pitch, error, hit by pitch when the bases are loaded, etc.. Yesterday's game ended in very odd fashion. Base Coach Interference. 

The Twins were up 6-2 on the Rangers when the 9th inning started. I was feeling confident we would end the afternoon with a win. All of a sudden, 2 runs score and things are getting scary. With two outs, I found myself sitting on the couch thinking, "What the heck? We can't get ONE more out? Why is this happening?" When Vladimir Guerrero walked to the plate I started to worry a bit. Bases loaded and two outs is a nerve wracking situation. It could go two ways:

Way #1.

Ha ha! You guys got the bases loaded and didn't even score another run. How pathetic.

Way #2. 

Shit. We just lost this game.

Vlad hits a liner that nearly goes up the middle. Hudson fields the ball behind 2nd base. Guzman scores easily from 3rd. Michael Young rounds 3rd and (intentionally or not) slaps the hand of the Rangers' 3rd base coach. Hudson throws to Tolbert at 3rd, where it appears Young has beat the throw back. In fact, it's pretty clear that Young has beaten the throw. Unfortunately, Young is out, because he felt the need to reach out and touch someone. He couldn't resist the urge, or wait until it wouldn't have made him the 3rd out. 

"You're my favorite base coach ever!"

"Inappropriate touching!"

"But we didn't mean it like that, Ump! It was just a love slap!"

"Rules are rules, son! You're outta here!"

"We should've waited to show our affection."

There are always rules in baseball that I forget about. Yesterday's game reminded me of one. Ron Washington, who was injured during the pre-game Legends Game at Target Field yesterday, was not happy about the call. 

"[Marquez] said that Dave reached out and touched him," Washington said. "All you have to do is look at the replay. You certainly shouldn't have a game end like that, as long as we were out there and as hard as we fought to get back. To let that happen ...

"If he calls him out at third base, OK. But to use that as an excuse ..."

An excuse? I'm not entirely sure that abiding by the rules of Major League Baseball would be considered an "excuse," but more as enforcing what Rule 7:09 in the Official Rule Book states, which is that the runner is out if "In the judgment of the umpire, the base coach at third base, or first base, by touching or holding the runner, physically assists him in returning to or leaving third or first base."


Read more of the article here

In fairness, it's not completely clear if Young was grabbing onto the base coach as a means to assist him in returning to or leaving 3rd base. However, Gardy had this to say about the situation:

"They made contact at third base. That's automatic," Gardenhire said, citing replays as evidence. "The umpire has to make a call. If there is contact, he's got to make a call. That's what he did. And they made contact. Unfortunate, yes. It probably didn't help him stop or get back, but contact is contact. And that's what Alfonso called."

Young had this to say about the call: "It was a bad call by a good umpire," Young said. "He said we had contact. I never touched him. The simple fact is he missed the call."

Controversial as it may have been, a win is a win is a win. I'm okay with what happened. And so it stood last night that the Twins continued to have a 3.5 game lead over CHW. Currently, the lead remains at 3.5 games, since CHW won their game against Detroit today (fuck!), though Detroit held a lead early in the game.

Twins and White Sox are both 8-2 in their last 10 games, which makes me pretty pissed off. I'd like to gain at least a couple more games on Chicago before we meet in Chicago next week. 

Meanwhile, one of the best things about writing this blog has been the pictures I've found online when searching for images of players. When looking today for good pictures of Michael Young, I stumbled across some information about a different Michael Young. Designer Michael Young, that is. He is recently know for this handy device: