Section 219: About that error on Luke Hughes

A few people have asked what I thought of the official scorer's call that prolonged Francisco Liriano's no-hitter by an inning during Sunday's game against Texas. If you want to play along at home or work, the play is at the 2:15 mark of this highlight video.

(I used to be an official scorer for Major League Baseball, a job I gave up when I return to the Star Tribune sports department because it would be a conflict of interest to accept money from an organization that we cover.)

A quick refresher: With one out in the seventh and after Francisco Liriano had retired 19 batters in a row, Elvis Andrus hit a chopper that Luke Hughes mishandled while trying to make a backhand stop. The ball caromed into the dugout and, after speculation in the broadcast booth that the play would be ruled a hit, it was called an error.

Fans cheered.

Was it really an error? It would have been a much bigger deal, of course, if Liriano had pitched the no-hitter. You can bet it would have been chewed on and spit out by a lot of people who don't know the scoring rules very well.

Here's the definition of an error from the baseball rulebook. It's Rule 10.12(a)(1):

"The official scorer shall charge an error against any fielder whose misplay (fumble, muff or wild throw) prolongs the time at bat of a batter, prolongs the presence on the bases of a runner or permits a runner to advance one or more bases..."

But there are a number of places in the rulebook where the phrase "ordinary effort" is used and discussed. The phrase is defined this way in Rule 2.00, which is the rulebook's definition of terms:

"ORDINARY EFFORT is the effort that a fielder of average skill at a position in that league or classification of leagues should exhibit on a play, with due consideration given to the condition of the field and weather conditions."

The rulebook also includes this comment:

"This standard, called for several times in the Official Scoring Rules ... is an objective standard in regard to any particular fielder. In other words, even if a fielder makes his best effort, if that effort falls short of what an average fielder at that position in that league would have made in a situation, the official scorer should charge that fielder with an error."

Let's assume that was Hughes' best effort. Let's also keep in mind that he has played only a handful of games at third base in the majors -- and slightly less than half of his minor-league games were at third base. So the question becomes: Did his best effort fall short of the average effort for a major league third baseman?

I'm not asking a rhetorical question there.

Do you want one more thing to factor in? When I first started official scoring, I was advised that the first hit of a game should be a clean one. Of course, the rulebook has no definition of a "clean one," but the implication was that a close call should go to the pitcher.

Having said that -- and having looked at the Hughes play a number of times -- here's what I think.

It was a close call and could have been called either way. Under both the rulebook standard and the informal "clean one" standard, I can see calling the play an error. (Disclaimer: I had a reputation for being tougher with errors than some official scorers.)

And maybe it stood out because there are some ballparks where hits are distributed more liberally than others.

In my experience, the handful of times calls were questioned by field personnel, they usually understood the decisions when they were explained, even if they weren't happy about them. I changed one call after the fact after looking at a split-screen replay the next day. Another time, I told a Twins player that the number of pinch hits he compiled during his career wasn't my concern.

You should also know that Mike Sweeney is one of my favorite players.

Why?

In 2007, I was official scorer when Scott Baker took a perfect game into the ninth inning against Kansas City. I remember writing on my scoresheet: "Be sure of the call," or something similarly profound. Baker opened the inning by walking John Buck, losing the perfect game. After a fielder's choice, Sweeney came to bat and smashed the second pitch into left-center for a single.

I felt bad that Baker didn't get the no-hitter.