A.J. Pierzynski was up to his usual tricks again on Sunday. While caught in a rundown in the 10th inning, A.J. Pierzynski purposely threw his elbow out at Willy Aybar in order to make contact with the infielder. By rule, if a runner makes contact with a infielder who does not have the ball, interference is called against the infielder. A.J. Pierzynski clearly went out of his way to make contact with Aybar, but Aybar was called for the interference. A.J. was given 3rd base, and eventually scored on an Alexei Ramirez single to come from behind and beat the Tampa Bay Rays.
But how do we know that A.J. purposely swung his elbow at Aybar?
Pierzynski was asked if he knew the interference rule, which calls for the runner to be awarded a base if he bumps an infielder without the ball. Aybar didn’t have the ball.
“That was the first thing I thought of, to get somebody to get close enough to where I could touch them,” Pierzynski said. “People go, ‘How do you think of that that fast?’ Well, if you’re not fast [afoot], you have to think of a lot of things to try to get you out of bad baserunning.”
Pierzynski is famous for this play, where after striking out vs. the Angels in the ‘05 ALCS, he just took off for first base. While thousands of replays never gave us a 100% answer on whether Josh Paul caught the ball or not, the entire Angels team believed he did and jogged off the field as that had ended the inning. Pierzynski took first & changed the entire game & the entire series. Pierzynski would also get away with a blatant catcher’s interference of Steve Finley’s bat in that series.
The umpire in ‘05: Doug Eddings
The umpire yesterday: Doug Eddings
The bench coach for the Angels in ‘05: Joe Maddon
The manager for the Rays yesterday: Joe Maddon
All this begs the question, among all the great cheaters in baseball history (Niekro, Cobb, Bonds, etc.), is A.J. Pierzynski the best out of all of them? With the way he’s able to bend rules of the game, is he the best ever?
August 25, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Cheater is a little strong. You can’t use the dropped 3rd strike as evidence of “cheating”. He took off toward 1st and Paul could have thrown to 1st to remove the doubt. Can’t see how that is “cheating”.
Same with Catcher’s interference. He was not intentionally trying to get his glove in the way of the bat. The ump missed the call. Again, not cheating.
As for yesterday, I can see that being more controversial (think A-Rod swiping at the first baseman’s glove in the ALCS). Had the ump called it right, no issue. Again, is it cheating? Not really.
Neikro specifically did something against the rules (spit ball) for which he could be ejected. and really, do we put him in the same class as Bonds? Pierzynski’s gamesmanship, at worst, calls him out during the play, but he isn’t inheritently breaking a rule.
August 25, 2008 at 1:39 pm
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August 25, 2008 at 2:26 pm
The entire Angels team started jogging off the field because the umpire clearly made the fist-pump signal for “out.”
As for yesterday’s play I’d call it cheating, same as a WR in football playing up (or even making up) contact on a pass play in order to get a favorable call.
Maybe his next at bat he should walk up to the plate and then just take off for first before the pitch is even thrown?
August 25, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Headbanger,
still is a stretch to call it cheating. Using your football analogy (which is a good one). Then think of all the different sports plays that a little acting goes into…soccer injuries to gain a little extra time, charging flops in basketball, hockey dives for interference or hooking calls. There are definitely actions taken by many, many athletes to try to gain some advantage in a grey area of the rules, but I don’t consider any of those actions outright “cheating”.
Maybe, because these run-down interference calls are rare, people have more of a reaction to it. Yes, clearly AJ intiated the contact, and the ump got it wrong, but Aybar should be peeved at himself for even being in the position to make contact.
And back to the ALCS for that to have been cheating, the ump would have to have been in cahoots with AJ prior to play. So what if all the Angels were running to the dugout. AJ running to 1st base should have no impact on the ump calling that a dropped third strike. Josh Paul should have played it safe and thrown to 1st.
August 25, 2008 at 6:43 pm
A.J. and Eddings a match made in heaven. I can’t believe that it was Eddings making that bonehead call AGAIN. Integrity of the sport? Isn’t that what it’s all about? A.J. should be suspended and the White Sox should be ashamed for celebrating him like some hero. Typical of a Guillen run club, whatever it takes right? Just know that Mike and Joe will always be the class of the AL and Guillen and A.J. will always be known as punks.
As for the bad call against the Angels, Eddings got punked by A.J. just like he did yesterday. I think they should look more into that as well. Why is Eddings allowing this guy to influence his calls? Is Eddings not paying attention? Is he blind? Is he solid in the calls he makes?