The A's always seem to be involved in tight games with the Orioles and Wednesday night at New Scotland was no exception. Trailing 3-1 in the fifth, the A's scored three times on a double by Jim Moore, a balk on a hidden ball attempt and a single by David Schillinger. The Orioles fought back and tied the game in the sixth. Neither team scored in the seventh and fans were treated to free baseball. The Orioles plated a run in the top the eighth on a bases loaded sacrifice fly. In the home half of the eighth the A's started with an error and a walk and with runners on second and third and no outs Ed Class delivered a game-tying single. This set the stage for Laddie Mawrey who came through with a game winning bloop single to left. Ed Class led the A's with 3 hits, David Schillinger had 2 hits and 3 stolen bases, and L. Mawrey, K. Golden, and J. Moore all had a hit. Great win against a quality Orioles squad.
Yet another note. There was an interesting play in the extra inning that required a little thinking. The O's had 1 out - men on second and third. There was a fly ball to center that was caught for the second out, The runner at third tagged up, headed down the line and scored ahead of the throw. The runner at second did not go back to tag up and proceeded to third base. After the ball was picked up, it was then tossed back to second to get the runner for not tagging up. The interesting question...does the run count?
The umpires, after conferring, determined that the runner was not out by force but rather by appeal and thus, because the runner crossed the bag before the third out, the run would count. An interesting dilemna for us - I was not sure of the rule. I had to abide by the call, but lodged a protest at that point.
I have to commend the umpires for a great job of talking it out and making the call - and it was the right call. It goes back to baseball rule 9.1.1. Looking at a "Baseball Case" book, it describes this very situation and upholds the umpires' call. Thanks to my teammates who came through in the last of the inning and made the protest moot.
But thanks to the umps for discussing the play with me and accepting the protest. They did a very fine job.
