TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Bizarre Play Is Deja Vu For Maddon

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARC LANCASTER The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 25, 2008

CHICAGO - As opposed to his lengthy rant when he felt the Rays were wronged by the umpires Tuesday against the Angels, Joe Maddon was relatively serene in the wake of Sunday's controversy. If nothing else, Maddon has been down this road before, with the White Sox benefiting from a call by umpire Doug Eddings on a play involving A.J. Pierzynski at his team's expense.

Maddon was in the very same dugout at U.S. Cellular Field on Oct. 12, 2005, fuming along with the rest of the Angels when a bizarre play involving Pierzynski and Eddings helped the White Sox win Game 2 of that year's ALCS.

Eddings was working home plate that night, and he signaled for an out when Pierzynski swung through strike three from Kelvim Escobar for what appeared to be the third out in the ninth inning of a 1-1 game.

Angels C Josh Paul had rolled the ball back toward the mound and headed for the dugout when Pierzynski suddenly took off running for first base. He was allowed to remain there after Eddings ruled the strike-three pitch had bounced and Paul hadn't caught it cleanly. Pierzynski was lifted for pinch-runner Pablo Ozuna, who stole second and came in to score the winning run on a Joe Crede double.

Maddon didn't have anything to say about the latest Eddings-Pierzynski oddity after the game, but the incident brought back warm memories in the White Sox clubhouse.

"It's just a funny coincidence, I guess," Pierzynski told reporters. "Him and I will be linked forever because of that one play, and now there's two plays."

Even umpire Ted Barrett, who was at first base for the ALCS game, noted the irony.

"That was a flashback to '05," he told a pool reporter.

ANOTHER UH-OH: Pierzynski might not have been in position to cause so much havoc in the 10th inning if not for his hustle play to tag up from first base on a fly to center by Jermaine Dye.

The wind kept carrying the ball away from B.J. Upton and he turned around a couple of times before making the catch. But when he did, he didn't turn quickly to get the ball back into the infield, allowing Pierzynski to slide safely into second base. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen called the play "huge" and Maddon wondered if Upton had taken something for granted.

"I don't know that he exactly had in mind that Pierzynski might tag up on that," Maddon said.

But Upton said that wasn't the issue in this case.

"I got turned around," he said. "Obviously there's a chance he might tag, but I just couldn't get my feet under me to get the ball out."

SPIN AGAIN: Andy Sonnanstine departed Sunday's game in position to pick up his 14th win of the season, but the Rays' late collapse kept him from tying Rolando Arrojo's franchise record.

Sonnanstine said he was generally pleased with his outing, which was spotless aside from two-run homers by Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome in a span of four consecutive hits to open the fourth inning.

"I felt good for the most part," said Sonnanstine. "Just a little bit of a lack of focus and not executing the pitch completely in the fourth."

NOTEWORTHY: RHP Troy Percival is slated to play catch today. ... 3B Evan Longoria (broken right wrist) will have an X-ray today to check his progress.

Marc Lancaster

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT