My comment looked at the whole postseason because some are comparing it to the NBA officiating. Still not sure if I would still look at it game by game because there is going to be bad calls each game and the calls are never going to be fairly balanced from all perspectives. The team that should have won did win if I am looking at it game by game. Just the way it turned out and LSU has to do there job and move on because there is more baseball to be played.
He made a bad call when we seemed to have momentum. But that doesn't mean we would have pulled the game out. NC played without flaws yesterday and made all the plays. They didn't really let up at any time. Some of our batters struggled, some pressed a little too hard, our pitching was not fantastic, and our defense was below par. Even though our youth showed up a bit yesterday, we did not give that game away nor did a ref screw us. Plain and simple, we lost to a better team. Now, will this team show the resiliency to bounce back and learn from it? I think so, and perhaps they get another shot at NC along the way. Despite all of that, these Tigers have gone far beyond anyone's expectations and I would say the future looks bright. Guess we have found our baseball coach, and that should be a relief to everyone.
True. I guess the way I look at it is that he would have blown that call regardless of situation and it was such a bad call. If we were down one in the top of the ninth when he makes that call people would be borderline suicidal right now. But we weren't, and UNC was playing 100% better than us, so it's ok.
Jack Cox didn't make the call because he wanted to screw LSU. He called it as he saw it. He called it wrong but those are bang bang plays and will always be subjected to hindsight scrutiny. Until baseball adopts instant replay we will always have a faulty human side to umpire decision making. And if instant replay is adopted, how far to take it. Bang-bang plays? Balls and strikes? It's a tangled web.
All the blame can be pointed at uncharacteristically bad defense. Matt Clark missed a pop-up bunt. Not an easy play, but a makable play. Leon Landry missed a diving catch: one I think he would have made any other week without being hurt. Jared Mitchell completely misplayed a pop-fly. Ryan Schimpf misplayed a possible (probably unlikely) double-play grounder. Ryan Verdugo walked in a run with the bases loaded. Each of those cost us at least one run. Even with all those mistakes and UNC breaking out 17 hits, LSU was still in the game on the last out.
I think it was an obvious make up call for the last play. At least he wasn't facing the wrong direction when he made the call though....
I don't think he thinks made a poor call on the first play (thus needing a make-up call). It was incredibly close, even in slow motion. I think he couldn't tell, and, unlike most umps, he decided a tie goes to the runner.
