Dodgers Wind Up Safe and Sound, While Angels Were Out of Luck

It was one of those baseball oddities, nearly identical plays happening almost at the same time, and Southland fans listening to the Dodger game on the radio and watching the Angels on television Monday night were treated to both.

At about 7:15 PDT, in the fifth inning of a 4-2 loss at Kansas City, Jack Howell of the Angels was tagged at home plate by Royal catcher Mike Macfarlane, who lost control of the ball when his glove hit the ground.

Perhaps five minutes later in Montreal, in the ninth inning of the Dodgers’ 6-1 victory over the Expos, Jose Gonzalez of the Dodgers was tagged at home by Montreal catcher Nelson Santovenia, who lost control of the ball after they collided.

That’s when the similarity ended. In Kansas City, home plate umpire Dave Phillips ruled Howell was out and wouldn’t ask his colleagues for help. At Montreal, Gonzalez was first called out by home plate umpire Mark Hirschbeck, but first base umpire Bob Davidson noticed that Santovenia dropped the ball and overruled Hirschbeck.