MLB, umpire agree: He blew call in 19th inning

Baseball Notebook

July 28, 2011|Associated Press

Major League Baseball and umpire Jerry Meals agree Meals made the wrong call in Atlanta’s 4-3, 19-inning win over visiting Pittsburgh early yesterday morning.

Meals ruled Pittsburgh catcher Mike McKenry failed to tag Atlanta’s Julio Lugo in the bottom of the 19th, allowing Lugo to score the winning run. Replays showed McKenry clearly tagging Lugo before Lugo reached the plate.

The Pirates filed a formal complaint hours after the longest game in team history (6 hours 39 minutes), and MLB executive vice president for baseball operations Joe Torre said it appeared Meals missed the call.

Later yesterday, Meals said he saw in his review of the play that Lugo’s pants moved slightly when tagged. Meals said that showed him he missed the call.

“After coming into the locker room, I reviewed the incident through our videos that we have in here and after seeing a few of them, on one particular replay, I was able to see that Lugo’s pant leg moved ever so slightly when the swipe tag was attempted by McKenry,’’ Meals said.

“That’s telling me that I was incorrect in my decision and that he should have been ruled out and not safe.’’

Beltran to Giants Carlos Beltran accepted a trade to the Giants, leaving the Mets to join his new team after saying goodbye last night. The commissioner’s office had granted the Mets a 24-hour window to talk to the All-Star outfielder about waiving his no-trade clause. Shortly before an 8-2 win over the Reds in Cincinnati last night, Beltran arrived in the clubhouse and told his teammates he was on his way to join the World Series champions in Philadelphia. The big prize for New York is Single A pitching prospect Zachary Wheeler.