Did anyone else notice?

Whoops! Angels' Sean Rodriguez strikes out after 4-2
Yahoo!Sports

If you weren't paying any attention to Thursday's Angels-Tigers game, no need to worry.
Neither were the managers, players or coaches.
In a moment that only the drag of a 162-game season could produce, Angels' rookie Sean Rodriguez struck out when he should have actually been on first base with a walk.
That's right. Absolutely no one involved with the game realized that the count before the strikeout was 4 balls and 2 strikes and that Rodriguez should not have even been facing the pitch in the first place.
(If anyone with the Tigers noticed the mistake, they weren't saying. Kind of like when a blackjack dealer pays you when you actually lost or pushed, right?)
From the Los Angeles Times:
Neither plate umpire Tim Welke nor Angels manager Mike Scioscia noticed the mistake. At 2-2, Rodriguez said Welke asked Tigers catcher Brandon Inge what the count was.
"He said he thought it was 1-2, and I said I thought it was 1-2 also," Rodriguez said. "He thanked me for my honesty."
Welke had the scoreboard reset to 1-2, and instead of drawing a walk, Rodriguez struck out.
Welke apologized to Rodriguez during his next at-bat.
"I told him don't worry about it," Rodriguez said. "It was more my fault than his. I struck out on a 4-2 pitch. How many guys do that?"
Since the Angels won the game 7-1 anyway and are on their way to wrapping up the AL West title in the next week, the instinct is to just laugh this away and file it under the news of the weird.
But considering that Boston's Coco Crisp walked on just three balls a few weeks ago, you'd like to hope that all the kinks get worked out by both the umpires and players before the postseason arrives. The last thing baseball needs is something like this deciding an important game.

omg

I thought something was wrong with the count, but was not sure. Now we know that an error was made. I Kept thinking, he walked, but he stayed in the batters box and then the strikeout happened. Interesting!

THE TICKER
Tigers strike out player who had four-ball count

September 7, 2008

Maybe umpires need help on more than just home run calls.

Thursday night, when Los Angeles Angels rookie second baseman Sean Rodriguez was batting in the fourth inning, plate umpire Tim Welke suddenly got confused.

"After a foul ball, Tim asked Brandon Inge what the count was, 1-2 or 2-2," Rodriguez said Friday. "We were both on the same page because Inge said, 'I think it's 1-2,' and I said, 'Yeah, I think it is also.' I really did. I would have told him it was 2-2 if I thought it was. It just slipped my mind."

Well, the scoreboard said it was 2-2 -- which was correct -- but Welke -- who was born in Pontiac and attended Coldwater High -- had it changed to 1-2.

And Rodriguez ended up striking out on what actually was a 4-2 count.

"That's a new trick of ours," Tigers manager Jim Leyland told the L.A. Times.

Ha, ha.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia wasn't so amused: "That's embarrassing, and we missed it. That shouldn't happen."

The Angels were leading, 6-0, at the time and ended up winning, 7-1, so Rodriguez didn't make a big deal of it when Welke apologized during his next at-bat.

"I told him don't worry about it," Rodriguez said. "It was more my fault than his. I struck out on a 4-2 pitch. How many guys do that?"

Press clipping

• Jeff Schultz, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on today's Lions-Falcons opener: "Matt Ryan makes his first official start. Fortunately, it's at quarterback and not in the secondary, which could look like scorched earth by the time Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson are finished. Dude. Feeling the need for numbing agents. Then again, it's only Jon Kitna. Am I hallucinating? Take the three and Falcons in an upset."

Quick hits

• What if the old men had to decide the wars, hand-to-hand? Paul Azinger of the U.S. and Nick Faldo of Europe will play the first "Ryder Cup Captains' Challenge," a two-part special airing at 7 p.m. Monday and Sept. 15 on the Golf Channel. Hosted by Rocco Mediate, the two will compete in fly-fishing, poker and golf with $25,000 cash at stake.

• Actor Tim Robbins, the Globe and Mail reports, showed up to skate in a celebrity charity game in Toronto last week wearing a "Hockey Dads for Obama" T-shirt.

Overheard

• USA Network/CBS announcer Bill Macatee, on reports the U.S. Open might have weekend weather problems: "I know Aaron Krickstein's sitting at home saying, 'Please don't rain. Give me a break.' " That's because CBS's rain-delay video library only seems to go as deep as Krickstein's fourth-round loss to Jimmy Connors in 1991.

• Cincinnati receiver Chad Johnson, quoted in the Baltimore Sun on Ravens linebacker Bart Scott: "The last time we played, he cussed me out and told me to stay out of his huddle, and I took offense to that, so this Sunday I am going to hit him in the mouth. He's really rude."

• L.A. Angels outfielder Torii Hunter, on "Best Damn Sports Show Period," on playing in Detroit last week: "There's not much to do here. There's not much to do in Motown."

The Ticker is compiled from staff reports and news services by STEVE SCHRADER, who can be reached at 313-222-6710 or sschrader@freepress.com

Tori Hunter can BITE IT.

laprimamirala wrote:

Tori Hunter can BITE IT.

It would serve him right if he were traded to Detroit!

Our outfield is already beast enough, Hunter would de-grade it.