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Controversial Call Trips Up Rays In 10th

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By MARC LANCASTER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 24, 2008

Updated:

CHICAGO - The Rays may be young and hungry, but there's plenty to be said for craftiness. And A.J. Pierzynski might just lead the league in that department.

The veteran catcher, both renowned and despised around the game for his knack for exploiting any possible edge, was at his best Sunday afternoon. Between heads-up hustle and a timely sales job on an umpire, Pierzynski put the White Sox over the top, 6-5 in 10 innings.

It was a game the Rays should have salted away earlier, but in the end they were left to play the foil in the latest Pierzynski drama. He came home to score the winning run on Alexei Ramirez's opposite-field single after being awarded third base when umpire Doug Eddings ruled Pierzynski was interfered with during a rundown.

Leading off second base with one out in the 10th, Pierzynski was caught in no-man's land when Jermaine Dye grounded sharply to Jason Bartlett. The shortstop went for the winning run, forcing Pierzynski back toward second base and tossing the ball to Akinori Iwamura. Pierzynski reversed field and headed toward third as Iwamura threw to Willy Aybar. The third baseman ran Pierzynski back toward Bartlett and peeled off as Pierzynski was about to be tagged out.

But Pierzynski stuck out his left elbow and caught a piece of Aybar going by - a heady move the catcher hoped would get him off on a technicality.

"You try to get close enough to someone so I would touch him," Pierzynski told reporters. "That's what I was thinking."

As soon as the runner made contact with Aybar, according to Bartlett, he yelled, "Obstruction!"

"I looked at the umpire thinking he's going to say something like, 'Are you kidding me?' and he's like, 'Yep, yep, yep,' and right there, I lost it," Bartlett said.

He wasn't alone. As Eddings motioned Pierzynski toward third base, the Rays' infielders and pitcher Jason Hammel went nuts, and they were soon joined by Joe Maddon. The manager argued with just about everyone he could find and convinced the umpires to huddle up and discuss it, but they stuck to their original call.

"I've known all these guys for a long time and I have a lot of respect for that group," Maddon said. "I just told them I thought they got the call wrong."

Speaking for the entire crew, third-base umpire Ted Barrett said the interpretation of the rules was correct.

"As a runner, you're allowed to do that," Barrett told a pool reporter. "What Doug ruled at second base was, even though A.J. did kind of stick his arm out to make contact, Aybar was still in his way, so A.J., if he would have turned, he wouldn't have been able to continue on to third. So after making the throw, Aybar is no longer in the act of fielding and he can't obstruct the runner, which is what Doug ruled happened."

Instead of a runner on first and two outs, the Rays were left with men at first and third and one out. That prompted them to intentionally walk Jim Thome, who already had singled twice and homered, and load the bases for Ramirez. The Rays once again brought B.J. Upton in to serve as a fifth infielder, but it didn't matter this time; Ramirez lined Hammel's 0-1 pitch into the right-field corner for a sure game-winner.

It was a stunning turn of events for the Rays, who should have had the game and a three-game sweep in hand in regulation. After an early 3-0 edge highlighted by a two-run Rocco Baldelli homer disappeared in a four-run fourth inning for the White Sox, the Rays managed to regain the lead.

A Carlos Pena bunt single in the sixth followed by a Baldelli double and an Orlando Cabrera error allowed the tying run to score, and Pena's two-out double in the seventh brought in Bartlett with the go-ahead run.

Dan Wheeler came on for the save but gave up a one-out double to Ken Griffey Jr., who was replaced by pinch-runner Brian Anderson. Wheeler struck out Nick Swisher and Paul Konerko came to the plate to hit for Juan Uribe.

Hitless in five previous at-bats against Wheeler, Konerko worked the count full before rifling a single to left. Ben Zobrist fielded it cleanly and fired the ball home well ahead of Anderson, but Shawn Riggans couldn't corral the two-hop delivery cleanly and it caromed away from him as the runner slid home.

"I just dropped it. That's all that happened," Riggans said. "All you guys saw it and you saw the same thing that I saw - a perfect throw and the ball came out of my mitt."

It was on to the 10th from there, and time for Pierzynski to work his magic.

"I think everybody knows A.J. plays hard, but he also does little things like that, too," Bartlett said. "It's something that they're going to see on tape after the game and probably notice they made the wrong call, but you can't change anything now."

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227 or mlancaster@tampatrib.com.

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