Joe West appreciation thread - Despite what all the Astros fans and idiots on TBS are saying, he got the call right

if mlb doesn't want fans to be able to reach over the outfield wall, then maybe they shouldn't put fans there. I mean what do you expect? I think the call was correct but lame.

Give me a HR or an amazing catch that would have been on highlight loops for years.....instead we get this.

easy solution wrote:

if mlb doesn't want fans to be able to reach over the outfield wall, then maybe they shouldn't put fans there. I mean what do you expect? I think the call was correct but lame.

Give me a HR or an amazing catch that would have been on highlight loops for years.....instead we get this.

I agree with the first half of your statement. The blame is on the owners. Stupidity for designing the seats like that.

But how was it lame? In my mind, what was lame was the fact that a guy was about to go over the fence and make an incredible catch and some fan was going to deny us that.

This was the baseball equivalent of a flop in soccer. Mookie squeezes his glove closed with his thumb to try to make it look like fan interference. Just watch his glove close. It does not close completely from the pinky finger side. He squeezes the glove to shut it when he reaches into the stands. He does that to sell the fan interference call. When the fans come into contact with Mookie, they pull their arms back. They are not pushing him. Mookie is a strong guy and can push his way through fans to make a catch.

Those fans never reached over the fence and the players glove was at least a foot behind your imaginary vertical line. Since the ball went back in the playing field, the review should have been whether it hit the fans hand or the glove. If it hit the glove, then run bases at your peril as it would be a live ball. If it hit hands, then homerun

Again, very easy call. If fans broke plane, interference. I don't believe fans broke the plane.

Also the fan holding the railing never even touched the ball or glove as he had to reach BACK too far.

It's baseball. The least entertaining sport around, and the most biased towards the large market teams. Any game without a hard salary cap is not worth watching, as the small market teams essentially become farm teams for the large market teams. The whole sport is unwatchable.

Another genius. They don't show a side view, yet somebody knows his glove was "at least a foot behind" the imaginary vertical line. And to Precious Roy, Betts is suspended in the air, he has no leverage while the guys in the stands are leaning with the weight on the top of the wall. The real answer is the video is not clear either way, the call on the field was interference and there was nothing on video to change that.

Duane wrote:

Another genius. They don't show a side view, yet somebody knows his glove was "at least a foot behind" the imaginary vertical line. And to Precious Roy, Betts is suspended in the air, he has no leverage while the guys in the stands are leaning with the weight on the top of the wall. The real answer is the video is not clear either way, the call on the field was interference and there was nothing on video to change that.

I'd go farther than you but it amazes me there are so many stupid people who are certain Mookie's arm was over the wall. I'm fairly certain it's the opposite. Look at the guy in the white. I know he's now the guy who hit Mookie but his arm was right next to the guy who hit Mookie.

there are wayyyyyyyyyy to many people who are clearly not always right, but yet are seldom in doubt......

One other thing. The Astros benefitted from a similar type thing last year. They had a full year to do something about the stands but didn't.

https://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Kid-interfered-Carlos-Correa-HR-World-Series-meet-12311946.php

All what if

Why is a 70 year old, 300 pound guy chosen to be the outfield umpire in a freakin playoff game? Shouldn't someone with actual mobility be there who can run out there and get a better view of the play?

also, not sure if this is on the Astros or MLB, but why not have more, better positioned cameras for a call like this?

rojo wrote:

I'd go farther than you but it amazes me there are so many stupid people who are certain Mookie's arm was over the wall. I'm fairly certain it's the opposite. Look at the guy in the white. I know he's now the guy who hit Mookie but his arm was right next to the guy who hit Mookie.

https://twitter.com/letsrundotcom/status/1052949782828847105

I was on the fence about this (harharhar), but this picture makes me feel as though the call was correct.

Also, on the video in the OP, you can see Betts hand go up, reach for the ball, and then - on the way down - his body hits the mat. That also seems like evidence that fans' hands were in play.

Thanks for this little distraction from work, Rojo!

I do not know the rule. Is the ump ruling on if the ball was going to be caught or just if the player was touched?

Really hard to tell. I think the glove was over the fence, making it a home run, except that the glove closes and thus the ball strikes the outside of the glove instead of being caught, because of fan interference--his momentum making the glove run into the fan's hands closing the glove. Betts was in perfect position with spectacular timing and leap to catch that ball and rob him of the home run. Because there was fan interference preventing the catch, I believe that out is the correct call regardless of whether the glove was in or out of play.

I thought that it was past the wall and should have been ruled a home run. My problem with the call, though, was that it came down to Joe West's judgement, which was from a distance and not based on any video analysis. If he had initially called it a home run it would have stayed a home run after review. Unlike the Kemp play, this call had an effect on the game outcome.

Angel Hernandez was way worse in the Red Sox Yankees series

CC Sabathia said Angel Hernandez shouldn’t be ump in a playoff game

If you watch the replay, the fans(the guy in the orange Astro jersey in particular) are the reason Mookie's glove closed. They pushed the pinkie side of the glove towards the thumb side when they interfered with the catch. Would have been amazing...

SDSU Aztec wrote:

I thought that it was past the wall and should have been ruled a home run. My problem with the call, though, was that it came down to Joe West's judgement, which was from a distance and not based on any video analysis. If he had initially called it a home run it would have stayed a home run after review. Unlike the Kemp play, this call had an effect on the game outcome.

So what's your solution? You are made that it wasn't based on video analysis. How would you suggest they make calls live? I mean there is no other option.

But guess what, I've provided the video analysis. The video analysis shows that the fan touched Betts glove before he reached the wall.