From: pcaster@mizar.usc.edu (Dodger)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Dodgers/Padres Friday Night Game for East Coast gang
Date: 10 Apr 1992 23:07:33 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: mizar.usc.edu

The Padres beat the Dodgers 8-3 tonight.
I KNOW some of you will think this report is tainted, but I consider
myself to be very objective...and there is no doubt that the
Padres were helped a great deal tonight by several really bad
calls by the umpires....three umpires made bad calls, in fact.
In the 2nd inning, with the score tied 1-1, the Padres hitter
hit a foul ball and Daniels ran it down and tried to catch it.
A fan leaning way over the rail, also tried to catch the ball
and ended up hitting Daniels right in the top of Daniels head,
knocking him down.  The ball dropped harmlessly.
Wendelstadt didn't see the interference, and replays showed quite
clearly and unequivacably that the fan had interfered...and could
have hurt Daniels as well.
Naturally, that would have been the third out when Padres pitcher
Eiler hit a surprising 2 run blast off Ojeda to make it 3-1.
Eiler injured his rib cage slightly covering first base in the
second inning.  In the top of the 5th, the first batter for
the Dodgers, pinch hitter Javier hit a line drive up the middle
that knocked Eiler down.  Eiler re-injured his rib cage and was
pulled from the game.
Tim Crews entered the game with the score Padres 4, Dodgers 2.
He pitched ok in the 6th inning.  But in the 7th, the umpires
struck again.  The Dodgers were threatening, and loaded the bases.
Eric Davis was called out on a strike that was AT LEAST 6 inches
below his knee.  Dave Hansen, pinch hitting for Offerman with
bases loaded and two outs was called out on strikes on a pitch
that was nearly a whole foot inside...nowheres near the plate.
It is rare that Vin Scully ever criticizes an umpire, but even
Scully admitted it was "a questionable call."  That is truly
something if you have followed Scully over the years.
By the way, the Dodgers did score one run in the 7th, so Crews
actually entered when the score was 4-1, not 4-2...sorry.
Anyways....Tim Crews pitched poorly as usual in the bottom of
the 7th and promptly loaded the bases...he couldn't get
Ron Darling to make ANY of those lousy strike calls he made
for the Padres pitchers.  Well, in came John Candelaria to
face Fred McGriff with the bases loaded, and McGriff deposited
a 2-1 count pitch into the bleachers for a no doubt about it
grand slam home run.
The other bad call against the Dodgers was made by the 2nd base
umpire.  Daniels hit a single deep to right field and didn't
stop at first, testing Gwynn's arm.  He made an excellent hook
slide into second base and was safe...except he was called out
by the umpire.  Again, the replay CLEARLY showed Daniels foot
on the bag before the tag was applied, though it was a close call.

I'm not saying the Dodgers would have won if the calls hadn't
gone against them...don't get me wrong.  Some games you get the
calls your way, some games you don't.  I am merely reporting
the facts of this game as I and the replay cameras showed it.

One last note of interest...Darryl Strawberry was kicked out of
the game by Darling when Samuel struck out on a called third
strike that again was about 6 inches below his knee.  Strawberry
yelled something to Darling who threw him out.  Lasorda argued
very calmly...I was surprised.

Padres made two errors, and should have been called for a third error.
Line was Dodgers 3 runs, 8 hits, 1 error, Padres 8 runs, 7 hits, 2 errors.
Umpires at least 3 errors :-)
						BleedsDodgerBlue

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