Global Search
Saturday May 25, 2013

Startribune.com digital sports editor Howard Sinker used to cover the Twins and now shares season tickets with friends in Section 219 of Target Field. He blogs about baseball from the perspective of a long-time fan who loves the game, doesn’t always believe the hype and likes hearing what others think. Howard sometimes talks about sports with Cathy Wurzer on MPR's Morning Edition.

Leyland: Ump apologized for missing Game 163 call

Posted by: Howard Sinker under Twins postseason Updated: February 17, 2010 - 7:41 AM

  • share

    email

Big chatter on Detroit blogs the last couple of days stems from a radio interview that Tigers manager Jim Leyland did last week on WFAN radio in New York. Tom Gage, the veteran baseball writer for the Detroit News, posted this on his blog:

"In a WFAN-New York interview on Friday before a charity roast for Don Zimmer in Connecticut, Jim Leyland said he got a call from umpire Randy Marsh "three weeks into the off season" to apologize for missing the one-out pitch with the bases loaded that hit Brandon Inge in the playoff game against Minnesota.

"Had the umpires called it, the Tigers would have taken at least a one-run lead into the bottom of the 12th, the inning in which they lost the game to the Twins.

(Above photo by Brian Peterson)
 
Makes me wonder if Gardy got a call from Phil Cuzzi over the winter to apologize for blowing the fair/foul call on Joe Mauer's 11th-inning fly ball down the left-field line in Game 2of the ALDS.
 
Before we get carried away with these seeming travesties of justice, keep in mind that the Twins' lack of timely hitting in that game resulted in 17 men being left on base. So, yeah, Cuzzi's call sucked. But the Twins did more than enough to lose that game on their own.
 
And any sympathy I have for Inge and the Tigers is muted more than a little by the fact that Inge was wearing a uniform top about 12 sizes too big. 
 
As ESPN's Rob Neyer wrote: "If an umpire's going to blow a call, that's exactly the call you'd like him to blow. Why? Because while it's probably necessary to award first base to a player whose clothing has been grazed by a baseball, it's also regrettable. Inge was wearing a particularly loose jersey, and while the baseball certainly did touch the jersey, it might also have been two or three inches away from touching Inge's person. The spirit of the rule is intended to discourage pitchers from striking batters with baseballs; it's not to discourage pitchers from throwing within two or three inches."
 
Amen.


 

 

older post

Neshek watch: This makes me happy

newer post

Offseason on the internet

  • 99

  • Comments

  • Results per page:

  • share

    email

from the homepage

ADVERTISEMENT

recent posts

Post By Category

Vikings (4) Twins news (12)
Bears (1) Off the field (2)
On the road (9) Rookies (1)
Roster moves (2) Trade talk (2)
Ron Gardenhire (63) Target Field (46)
Twins fans (103) Twins game coverage (19)
Twins management (78) Twins offense (104)
Twins pitching (104) Twins rumors (8)
Twins transactions (20) Twins: From the Dome (4)
Adrian Peterson (1) Bernard Berrian (1)
Brad Childress (1) Brett Favre (2)
Brad Childress (1) Twins postseason (26)
Farm System (14)

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Connect with twitterConnect with facebookConnect with Google+Connect with PinterestConnect with PinterestConnect with RssfeedConnect with email newsletters

Links

ADVERTISEMENT

inside the StarTribune

lifestyle

Best of MN 2013: Guide to state's finest

projects

ST100: 2013 ranking of Minnesota's top companies

sports

New Vikings stadium section: The game plan

local

Follow Star Tribune on social media

home

Map to Twin Cities farmers markets

minnesota topics

Minnesota Topics: People, places and companies