MLB rule 7.09(h): A runner shall be called out when “in the judgment of the umpire the base coach at third base or first base, by touching or holding the runner, physically assists him in returning to or leaving third base or first base.”
This is only one photo frame depicting the interaction between Giants third base coach Roberto Kelly and runner Gregor Blanco in the ninth inning, but it sure looks like 7.09(h) applies here. Doesn’t it?
you had one job pic.twitter.com/GIjHaTtoZ6
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) April 23, 2015
Don Mattingly sure thought it did. The Dodgers manager popped out of the dugout immediately after the play. If Blanco is out, the Giants have runners on first and second base and two outs, not the bases loaded with one out. Maybe the game is still going. Here’s what Mattingly saw:
Don Mattingly's postgame comments on the non-interference call on Roberto Kelly in the 9th inning. #Dodgers #Giants http://t.co/5WewXRhznc
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) April 23, 2015
But — you knew a “but” was coming — here’s how third base umpire Fieldin Culbreth recalled his conversation with Mattingly, as transcribed by a pool reporter:
“Don came out and asked me did I see him grab him. I told him no, I did not see him grab him. There ends up being contact but the rule is pretty specific in the fact that he had to touch and physically grab him and assist him in returning to the base. That did not happen. If he doesn’t physically assist him in returning to the base then there’s no interference.”
Kelly declined to comment after the game, which the Giants won 3-2. Blanco acknowledged to reporters in the Giants’ clubhouse that he made contact with the coach, “but I was already stopping. It wasn’t like he stopped me. I was already on the base. It wasn’t like he grabbed me.”
To an extent, both sides have a case. Mattingly and McCarthy are both correct: Culbreth had one job — to watch Blanco as he rounded third base — and he did not do that job. There was no chance Brandon Belt’s line drive to left field would be caught or even trapped by Andre Ethier.
In another sense, Mattingly is wrong. At least there was a nuance to the situation that he somehow missed or failed to acknowledge in his postgame comments — the possibility that Kelly did not physically assist Blanco in returning to third base. It’s a judgment call, and therefore one that cannot be challenged.
The call comes at a sensitive time for the Dodgers. Twice in the last four days they’ve had a gripe with a runner possibly leaving the baseline. Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson was called out on such a play Sunday; the Giants’ Nori Aoki appeared to venture out of the base line to elude a tag by Justin Turner on Wednesday, but was called safe. Yasiel Puig did not get the benefit of the doubt of a catcher’s interference call Tuesday. None of these calls could be reviewed, either.
Coincidentally, Culbreth was the home plate umpire Tuesday. In retrospect it’s a surprise Mattingly didn’t complain enough to get ejected. He’ll probably owe a check to MLB for his postgame comments instead.
