A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of baseball

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Bizarro World comes to baseball …

Or, what was that?

Umpires have huddled before and overturned a decision. Have sent runners back, decided a fielder’s foot was off the bag.

Not sure, however, I’ve ever seen umpires huddle after a third out has been called and the players have left the field, and then overruled the call of the umpire closest to the play.

Joe Torre seemed OK with the decision, based upon his mild reaction. I’m thinking Bobby Cox would have gone ballistic. Tommy Lasorda would have at least destroyed a mascot.

Torre just met with the umps and headed calmly back to into the dugout. Even though the decision meant the Reds had just tied the game Wednesday in the bottom of the fourth.

The situation: With the bases loaded, pitcher Aaron Harang lined a drive to right field. Andre Ethier came in, did an awkward forward knee slide and appeared to spear the drive.

It was ruled a catch for the third out and the Dodgers ran to the dugout. Reds Manager Dusty Baker was convinced the ball had been trapped. The ball did bounce, but it seemed to go from the web of Ethier’s glove to its palm.

Dodgers broadcaster Steve Lyons, who spent nine seasons in the major leagues, said he had never seen umpires make such a ruling. He argued that for all they knew, Ethier could have fielded the ball and thrown the runner out at second.

Still, the huddled umpires decided the ball was trapped, allowed each runner to advance a base, one run to score, and had the Dodgers came back onto the field. To right-hander Hiroki Kuroda’s credit, he struck out Chris Dickerson to end the inning.

Somewhere, Rod Serling was smiling.

-- Steve Dilbeck