Three-ball walk gives Padres a 1-0 win

[Old Sweater]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big...rn=mlb-wp11484

During the fifth inning of the Seattle Mariners' 1-0 loss to the San Diego Padres on Saturday, Padres center fielder Cameron Maybin(notes) drew a walk on what everyone in the ballpark believed to be a full 3-2 count. The only problem was that Mariners pitcher Doug Fister(notes) had only thrown three balls in the at-bat.

How does that happen? Isn't the home plate umpire keeping track of balls and strikes? Yes, and Phil Cuzzi had the count right at 2-2. But when he looked up at the scoreboard and saw the 3-2 count, Cuzzi believed he'd made a mistake. So Fister was issued ball four and Maybin was awarded first base.

This was a mental mistake by the whole Mariners team.

[Mudge]

This was a mental mistake by the whole Mariners team.

And it's the only run of the game. Go figure.

[astrosfanatic]

that's on Fister, the catcher and the Mariner's pitching coach. They should have realized it and spoke up.

[Old Sweater]

that's on Fister, the catcher and the Mariner's pitching coach. They should have realized it and spoke up.

And all the other Mariners, your head is suppose to be in the game. Counting players and coaches the Mariners were 0 fer 30 or so.

At the Rockies game I attended yesterday, the Royals had a pitching change and play stopped as Tracy was out there jawing with the umps. Come to find out, it was the pitch count that Tracy was arguing about. I was guessing the amount of warm up pitches the reliever was taking, since Hochevar wasn't injured and just knocked out of the game.

[Buccos13]

Yes, and Phil Cuzzi had the count right at 2-2. But when he looked up at the scoreboard and saw the 3-2 count, Cuzzi believed he'd made a mistake.

This is where things went wrong. The umpire is supposed to correct the scoreboard operator, not the other way around. If Cuzzi believed that he had made a mistake, he should have checked with the other 3 umpires to make sure that the call was right.

But it's also strange that there was no protest from the Mariner bench, Doug Fister, or any other umpire. A bench player is unlikely to say anything because he would have made the same mistake as Phil Cuzzi. But the Mariners' manager should have -- not only been paying attention, but -- at least made a trip out to home plate to check.

[Mex86]

This is at least the second or third three-ball walk I can remember this season. Or one of those may have even been a five-ball walk.

Funny how no one ever loses track of strikes.

[Baseballnum3er0]

The umpire is supposed to correct the scoreboard operator, not the other way around.

How many times have you seen that happen in baseball? I really have a hard time blaming him, putting an extra ball on the count is an easy mistake to make when the people around you are saying it is a ball higher. I've been there, done that as an umpire, also been on the player end and taken both 3 and 5 ball walks before.

The Mariners are the ones that need to get their head in the game, people make mistakes, no reason that one of them should not have caught it. If just one of them pointed it out to him I'm confident Cuzzi would have made the right call and called Maybin back. If you ask me, if you have all your players and coaches not paying enough attention to the game to know a guy just took a 3 ball walk, you don't deserve to win!

[Mr. Baseball]

This just goes to show you much impact one pitch can have on the outcome of a ballgame.

[Mudge]

At least it was between two teams that are going nowhere.

[Buccos13]

How many times have you seen that happen in baseball? I really have a hard time blaming him, putting an extra ball on the count is an easy mistake to make when the people around you are saying it is a ball higher.

Phil Cuzzi has been a major-league umpire since 1991. He has a pitch counter in his hand that he uses to count every pitch. All I'm saying is that one way or another, if his pitch count doesn't match up to the pitch count on the scoreboard, he needs to check with the other umpires before assuming that he (or the scoreboard) is wrong.

The scoreboard is there to make it easier for a fan to follow the game, not to officiate it. That was the job of the umpires and they blew it in this particular situation.

Also, lets not forget that this isn't Phil Cuzzi's first mistake. Remember the 2009 ALDS (Twins vs. Yankees) when Joe Mauer hit that ball down the line that was fair by a foot and a half? That was Cuzzi who blew the call and called the ball foul.