2014 Third team

[Sayhey]

Jerry Meals does not see Perez tap ball foul with 2 strikes because Peavy threw a one hop pitch to home and Posey came straight up and blocked Meals. Meals thought the pitch was off Posey's shin guard. Meals points at Cooper and asks him if he went. Cooper, 1st base umpire, says yes, but does not say foul. Ball rolled foul by 10 feet about 10 feet up third base line.

Cooper asks Crew chief Kellogg and the best umpire in baseball, #77, Jim Reynolds, if he could have done it differently. Ted Barrett asked Hunter Wendlestadt if Eric Cooper could have handled it differently.

Unfortunately, the film crew cut the audio before either question could be answered. Interesting to see World Series umpires working on mechanics. Crew got together and called a foul ball. If you taught umpire school how would you advise?

[umpstu]

I can easily see why Meals thought it went off his shin guards. I would have thought the same thing.

[johnnyg08]

Easy, if it's foul, you can always simply put them back. By rule that ball wasn't anything until it came to rest. At that point, a bunch of stuff happened. I thought it was handled safely and professionally.

[Sayhey]

If it is so 'easy', as you say, why did Ted Barrett, in his 3rd World Series ask Hunter if Cooper could have handled it differently. Why did Cooper himself ask Kellogg, in his 5th World Series if he could have handled it better? Cooper knew the pitch was hit by the bat. Cooper wasn't 100 % sure that the ball was going to be foul. When Meals asked him,' did he go'? Cooper responded to the question even though he knew the pitch was a batted ball. The crew was working on mechanics and learning during the World Series. It was not 'easy' they want perfect mechanics.

[johnnyg08]

If it is so 'easy', as you say, why did Ted Barrett, in his 3rd World Series ask Hunter if Cooper could have handled it differently. Why did Cooper himself ask Kellogg, in his 5th World Series if he could have handled it better? Cooper knew the pitch was hit by the bat. Cooper wasn't 100 % sure that the ball was going to be foul. When Meals asked him,' did he go'? Cooper responded to the question even though he knew the pitch was a batted ball. The crew was working on mechanics and learning during the World Series. It was not 'easy' they want perfect mechanics.

 

 

I can guess that is why he didn't kill it right away because he wasn't sure.  

 

If you're not sure of fair/foul you let it play out (as they did) then call it foul and put everybody back.  

 

Easy.  We can all improve on things that are easy.  Easy and perfect are mutually exclusive.

Hunter was late getting to 2B on a rotation where there was a play  (he admitted it in The Third Team) and he runs an umpire school.  It happens.  The rotation is easy...just because something isn't perfect, doesn't mean it's difficult.

[Sayhey]

There was no rotation. It was a plate umpire asking a 1st base umpire if the batter swung at a pitch. The question was non sensical since the batter hit the ball. The question made sense to Jerry but not really to Cooper. Cooper doesn't want Meals to look silly. He wants to support his partner. All I am saying is Eric Coper still had a question in his mind about the mechanic and so did Ted Barrett. I wish the editor of the documentary would have stayed with the question until we had an answer. They may have postgamed it and that would have been good to hear.