When Game Is a Rout, There’s Far Less Doubt

For a home plate umpire, it’s so much easier to work a ballgame like Sunday’s, which became one-sided in a hurry, than the one Richie Garcia had in Game 1.

Garcia had a game that kept going back and forth, to where every run was vitally important. Suddenly you have bases loaded and a 2-2 count and one pitch placed under the microscope.

I had a gentleman call me from San Diego on Sunday to say the Padre fans are blaming the first game on Garcia. They’re saying that he shrunk the strike zone on them. That wasn’t the case.

In Game 2, Mark Hirschbeck worked a good ballgame but I rate Garcia’s performance much higher because his game was much tougher. With Hirschbeck, I counted three or four questionable pitch calls, but all the players did was give him a funny look. Garcia had one pitch--and they want to hang him.

On Sunday’s pregame show, Steve Lyons made a comment about that one pitch that impressed me. I think it’s the best handling of a bad situation by an announcer other than possibly something by a Vin Scully.

Lyons came on and said, “Rich Garcia’s being blamed for having kicked a pitch. I’m telling you right now he didn’t kick the pitch. It was a tough pitch--and you people in San Diego have got to get over thinking that Rich Garcia fouled up the ballgame. That pitch is not what won or lost the game. It was the next pitch.”

And that’s what I keep telling people. It was the next pitch. Why throw the ball belt-high down the middle of the plate to Tino Martinez?

The umpiring in Game 2 was absolutely outstanding, but, as I said, it was a much easier game for Hirschbeck to work. You had a play at first base that was extremely close--the tail-end of a double play with the Yankees at bat in the sixth inning. Had it been a tight game, they would have replayed it immediately on television. But because of the type of game it was, they broke right away to the commercials.

There was also a tag at third base in the second inning, when Ricky Ledee over-slid the bag on a steal attempt and Ken Caminiti finally was able to tag him out.

That was great umpiring by Tim Tschida because Tschida was hanging right over the play and didn’t make a hurried call that he might have had to change.

The umpiring in this World Series has been as good as you’re going to get any place in the world for two consecutive games. Neither team can blame the umpires. You had one extremely tough plate job on Saturday and one very easy plate job on Sunday.

And nothing yet at any of the bases has been controversial. It’s been very easy on the bases so far. I hope, for the umpires’ sake, the whole series goes like that.