The good news for the baseball community: The Nationals forced a Game 7 in the 2019 World Series by beating the Astros 7-2 on Tuesday night.
The bad news for that constituency: There will also be a seventh game for this umpiring crew, a sextet that became part of the story again after more controversy.
Lance Barksdale, Gary Cederstrom, Doug Eddings, Sam Holbrook, James Hoye and Jim Wolf will be on the field at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday. It's a big stretch to say Washington third baseman Anthony Rendon bailed them out with his game-breaking seventh-inning go-ahead home run in Game 6, but the dinger certainly reduced the heat on Holbrook, who called Trea Turner out for obstruction on a throw to first baseman Yuli Gurriel two batters earlier, a call that could have killed a Nats rally.
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By the letter of the rule, Rule 5.09, Turner was called out for not being inside the 45-foot "lane" for runners headed toward first base:
The Correct Call;
— Major League Baseball Umpires Association (@MLBUA) October 30, 2019
The runner is only allowed to EXIT the lane to touch 1st base. Turner was NOT IN THE LANE when he stepped towards first BASE and interfered with Guriel so he was NOT afforded the protection the lane provides. #MLBUA #2019WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/CFR28t0xpb
MLB's chief baseball officer, Joe Torre, also backed Holbrook after the game. Torre emphasized that Turner interfered by running into Gurriel's mitt as the ball was arriving.
Torre also clarified what was going during what the world thought was a video review. He said the call was not being reviewed, because it was a judgment call and thus not reviewable. Instead, Nationals manager Dave Martinez was seeking to protest the game for a rule misinterpretation, and the umpires were huddling with MLB's replay center in New York to determine whether Martinez could protest.
He could not, because, again, Holbrook made a judgment call.
"It shouldn't have been that long," Torre said of the on-field confab. "It should never be that long, and we have to take ownership of that." (MLB also needs to take ownership of the fact that people didn't know what was going on because MLB, as usual, chose not to explain anything in real time.)
Holbrook eventually ejected Martinez between half-innings after a long, loud and angry rant by the skipper. Cederstom appeared to give Holbrook a glance that seemed to say, "When are you going run him?"
"I saw things differently," Martinez said, "but I'll never criticize the umpires. They're a big part of the game."
The Martinez-Holbrook-Cederstrom dance put the spotlight right back on the umpires after Barksdale was blasted for his erratic strike zone Sunday in Game 5. Barksdale also earned ridicule for denying Washington a called third strike because Nats catcher Yan Gomes jumped out of his crouch to start moving the ball "around the horn." Barksdale essentially told Gomes the catcher was showing him up.
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That show of arrogance added to the increasingly negative impression fans and baseball people have of umpires.
This crew will need to be fully on point in Game 7. Wolf will call balls and strikes and Holbrook will be on the right field line. There's less of a chance that Holbrook will need to make a big call, but as the baseball saying goes, "The ball finds you."
There's another saying from different sport: "Ball don't lie." Rendon's home run, in the judgment of Nats players and MLB fans, felt like justice for Holbrook's call, even if it wasn't.
