The Wright Call?
Click here for a recap of last night’s game.
How far out of the baseline can a player go without being called out? Second base umpire Jeff Nelson showed us last night. With one out in the eighth inning and the bases loaded Doug Mientkiewicz hit the ball to Braves first baseman Julio Franco who tossed to Rafael Furcal covering second base. Furcal touched the bag to get the runner, David Wright, before throwing the ball to pitcher Chris Reitsma who was covering first base. Two runs scored on the play to tie the game at 7. Though the throw was wide of Reitsma and Mientkiewicz appeared safe Nelson called interference on Wright, the penalty of which was that Mientkiewicz was called out at first for the double play and the runs were negated.
We see this play all the time. A runner going from first to second takes out the infielder covering second to avoid a double play. When this play occurs we see some of the oddest slides, mostly hook slides designed to show the umpire that the player is actually in a position to touch the bag, the criteria when it comes to the question of interference. Though some people may disagree it was quite clear to me that Wright was in no position to touch the bag which was further than arms length away from him when he took out Furcal. It stinks to be on that end of a call but it was the right call.
On the plus side it was nice to see Wright, a great competitor but a very timid personality, lose his cool while arguing the call. Wright eventually was ejected when he threw his helmet but it was nice to see him show some fire.
All this overshadowed a bad outing for Kazuhisa Ishii, who’s spot in the rotation appeared safe after the Mets decided not to promote Scott Strickland on Sunday giving Strickland the right to declare free agency (which he did on Monday). VÃctor Zambrano also kept his spot in the rotation while Aaron Heilman was sent to the bullpen. One has to believe that if Heilman can stay steady in relief and Zambrano continues to falter that the two pitchers may end up switching roles before too long.
Steve Trachsel was very quietly cleared to resume baseball activity and expects to be ready after the All Star break. This will only complicate things for Zambrano, Heilman and Ishii. I also expect a deal to be made to strengthen the bullpen which could end up negating the bullpen from being an option for any of these players. Though this situation was temporaily simplified by Strickland’s exit it is still getting more complicated by the day. It’ll be interesting to see how it shakes out.
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