Three giant cheers for the men in blue — they got one right.
A group discussion in last night’s fifth inning led the umpires to overturning an initial missed call, completing a double play for the Phillies.
Robinson Cano hit a looper that shortstop Jimmy Rollins snared inches from the ground and threw to first, catching Hideki Matsui off the base. But first-base umpire Jeff Nelson ruled that Ryan Howard had come off the base and Matsui was safe.
A meeting of the minds ensued, and Matsui was called out.
Crew chief Gerry Davis credited second-base umpire Brian Gorman for making an immediate out signal on Cano’s ball, but said because Rollins touched second base before throwing to first, there was an impression the shortstop hadn’t caught the ball.
“We got together to make sure we were all on the same page, that he did indeed make the catch,” Davis said after the Phillies’ 6-1 victory over the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series. “[Nelson] called Matsui at first, safe, initially, because the throw pulled [Howard] off the base. But then he tagged Matsui. Double play.”
Replays showed the umpires were correct in their reversal.
Though Joe Girardi initially protested, Davis said the Yankees manager later admitted — during a pitching change — that the umpires made the correct call. Girardi’s beef was he believed Gorman hadn’t been demonstrative enough in calling Cano out on the Rollins catch.
It certainly was a step in the right direction for the umps during a postseason marred by bad calls. To minimize the chances of further mistakes, MLB named a veteran crew — Davis, Jeff Nelson, Gorman, Mike Everitt, Dana DeMuth and Joe West — to this World Series. All six umpires have previous World Series experience, a change from past protocol, when at least one Fall Classic rookie would be assigned to the crew.
The six umpires selected were selected from a pool of 24 that had worked the ALDS and NLDS. Davis, who worked the plate last night, seemed pleased with the umps’ Game 1 performance.
“Our job is to get everything right,” Davis said. “It’s good when that happens.”