Rangers react to the game-ending call

The Rangers saw their chance at a come-from-behind victory end when third-base umpire Alfonso Marquez ruled that third-base coach Dave Anderson made contact with Michael Young as he rounded third, stopped and tried to dive back safely. It was the final out of the game. Young was the tying run, and Nelson Cruz would have batted with the bases loaded. Instead, the Rangers lost 6-5.

"The ruling on the play is that a base coach either touching, physically assisting in any way, with the baserunner is not allowed and the runner is called out," said crew chief Tim Tschida, who said that the Rangers argued that any contact was accidental. "If it's touching him, they can't make contact. In 30 years of doing this, it's the second time I've ever seen it.''

Ron Washington

"[He said] that David reached out and touched him. All you have to do is go look at the replay. It never happened. He [Marquez] said [Anderson] tried to stop him."

"The thing is this: Too many calls are being made that are costing ballgames in 2010. You certainly shouldn't have a game end on something like that, especially when you're out there for the hours you're out there and played as hard as we played to get back in the ballgame and have that happen.

"When you look at the replay, it's obvious that he never touched him. Maybe he [Marquez] had a plane to catch."

Michael Young

"Bad call. It was a bad call by a good umpire. It's a shame the game had to end like that. We would all have loved to see Cruzie have a shot at it with the bases loaded. It's an absolute shame the game had to like that."

"I didn't touch Dave. I don't think I was anywhere even close to Dave. He said I touched Dave. I disagreed about as ... I couldn't disagree more. He kept saying that's what he had, that's what he saw."

"Dave pointed back to the bag and told me to get back, back, back. I put the brakes on and got back in safely. He pointed at Dave saying the game was over. Bad call. There's no way to argue it. He missed the call."

"I don't need to see a replay. I know exactly what happened. All a replay will show is exactly what I'm telling you guys right now."

Dave Anderson

"I don't think I touched him. I think Michael and I would have felt something if we had touched each other. I haven't looked at a replay, but I didn't feel anything and I don't think Michael felt anything. The disappointing part is that Michael would have been safe getting back to third base if we'd had the opportunity."

"I was telling him to stop (holding his left hand over his head and pointing to third with his right). It was a stop from the get-go."

"You can not touch him. You can't touch him. At some point in baseball, you see that play happen a few times. It's the first time I've been involved in it. I understand the rules in that aspect. You can't even touch him, let alone grab him or hold him up."

"Obviously, there was no physical assisting. I don't need to look at a replay to see that."

-- Jeff Wilson

Comments

[Dclark347]

I think it's a horrible call not only because the video is inconclusive as to whether or not Anderson and Young ever touched each other, but an angle on MLB.com shows that Marquez is not even looking at them when the contact was supposed to have occurred.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100905&content_id=14314294&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[Fin]

He touched him...I was at the game and saw it from seats behind the dugout....

[The Swami]

i must agree. you can argue the validity of hte call or whether that was even in the spirit of the rules all you want, but if you look at the replay Marquez is not even looking at the interaction of Anderson and Young. Marquez is watching the cutoff throw coming back in and there is no way out of the corner of his eye (if he was even looking that much) he could catch fingertips grazing each other which was about all this was gonna be. based on that and the person who made the call not even seeing it, that was a horrendous call to even contemplate making to end a game.

on the flip side, the Rangers are gagging this up and everyone is getting injured so they were probably gbonna lose anyway. so much for Crackhead Ron's great idea of all these rest days for players the last 2 months. all that has done is eliminate a chance of winning most days when a star "sits" for no reason, and now that we need them playing down the stretch to win the division, or at worst be hot going into presesason, everyone is hurt.

that is why you play with the best 9 players you can field at any given game. we pay these people hundreds of millions of dollars to play a game that (let's be honest) is not nearly as physically demanding as most other sports from a fatigue persepctive. THat's why they play 162 games instead of 16, 81, etc.

i saw plenty of players in the past play all 162 games...you pay them to play 162 games. it's one thing when they get hurt to sit, but I hate seeing these stupid "scheduled days off" that Ronnie loves to give and we lose the game cause the 8th stringers can't compete. You want an off day, let them DH, or wait for regular off day in the team schedule. now we are paying the price for essentially waving the white flag on all those days.

the only thing in our favor is the rest of the AL West is weak. however, that does not preclude one team getting hot in ANA or OAK down the stretch, and if so they can make up games in a hurry since they're almost all inter-divisional...

[Bowie Kuhn]

It's a poorly written rule. Even so, the umpires MISAPPLIED the rule. Why can't that be appealed? That's the kind of call that is so bad it damages the integrity of the umpire, the crew and the entire game.

[Supra TK Society]

In my mind you are the best*_*