Safe or Out

The Shadow, who is a former resident of the City of Chicago, is a very enthusiastic White Sox fan. So you can imagine how excited he is now that the Chicago White Sox have made it to the ALCS (that's American League Championship Series for those of you outside the United States).

The series (a best-of-seven) is now tied at one game apiece. Which would not be a big deal normally, except for the circumstances surrounding the White Sox win last Wednesday.

If you have not heard about what happened by now, here is a mini-recap:

It was the bottom of the ninth inning with the game tied 1-1 and 2 out. Catcher A.J. Pierzynski came to bat for the White Sox. Pierzynski had 2 strikes against him when the next pitch was thrown. Pierzynski swung and missed for strike three. However, and here is where it gets tricky, the baseball supposedly hit the ground before being scooped up by the catcher. Pierzynski ran to first and was declared safe. Apparently the catcher never tagged Pierzynski out. Pierzynski was batted in on a 2-run double to give the White Sox a 2-1 win.

What the question seems to be is: Did the baseball hit the ground before being caught by the catcher. There were several replays that night that showed that the catcher had the ball before it hit the ground.

Photo courtesy Chicago Tribune

All-in-all, this was a bad call. The Shadow will not seek to overturn the call, but it is now on record that The Shadow opposed this call.

Game three is tonight. Let's see what happens. GO SOX!!