The Los Angeles Dodgers were hurt by a controversial call from second base umpire Bill Miller during Game 2 of their NLDS series with the Atlanta Braves.
The Braves were up 4-3 on the Dodgers in the top of the ninth inning. After striking out Skip Schumaker to start the inning, Craig Kimbrel walked A.J. Ellis. Manager Don Mattingly pinch ran for Ellis with the speedy Dee Gordon. Kimbrel tried to pick off Gordon, then threw a ball to Ethier. Mattingly decided to send Gordon on the second pitch.
Catcher Gerald Laird made a good throw to second and Gordon was called out to clear the bases and give the Braves two outs. TBS showed the play several times on replay, and it was hard to tell whether Gordon got in there safely, though I think he did.
This is the best angle that seems to show Gordon’s hand touched the base before he was tagged out:
The issue with the call comes down to this: if you credit Andrelton Simmons for the tag upon receiving the ball with his glove on Gordon’s butt, then he’s out. But if you don’t count that because Simmons might not have completely had the ball at the time and you take into account how he lifted his glove and applied a tag afterwards, then you would call Gordon safe.
The call killed the Dodgers’ rally potential. Ethier walked in his at-bat, but Carl Crawford struck out to end the game and give the Braves a 4-3 win.
The only bright side to the controversial call was that it gave us this incredible GIF of Gordon’s reaction to being thrown out:
That Dee Gordon face was amazing. Oh, and sorry you got called out.
GIF via @CorkGaines
