NEW YORK -- Given another chance, umpire Doug Eddings said
he would've been more emphatic in making the call that helped the
Chicago White Sox win Game 2 of the American League Championship
Series.
"The only thing I'm down on myself is I should have sold it
either way," Eddings said Thursday. Chicago beat the Los Angeles
Angels 2-1 to pull even in the best-of-seven series on Wednesday
night.
"I should have either said, `No catch,' or, if I did have a
catch, that he was out. Which I never said: `He's out,"' Eddings
said.
Eddings talked to reporters from The New York Times, New York
Post, Los Angeles Times and Sports Illustrated at the airport after
taking a flight to the West Coast. He was escorted by two Orange
County sheriffs and a Major League Baseball security officer as he
exited the flight from Chicago.
White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski struck out swinging with two
outs in the bottom of the ninth Wednesday night, but he hustled to
first and was safe because Eddings ruled the pitch was not gloved
cleanly.
Thinking the inning was over, Angels catcher Josh Paul had
rolled the ball to the mound with the Angels already coming off the
field. Eddings' call stood and Pierzynski scored the winning run on
Joe Crede's double.
Eddings told the newspaper that he planned to change his style
to more clearly reflect the difference between calling a strike and
calling a batter out.
Plate umpires are trained to shout "No catch!" or indicate
that the ball is in play after a swinging strike; Eddings, who has
maintained that he was right in saying the ball hit the dirt before
Paul gloved it, was silent.
Mike Port, baseball's vice president of umpiring, told The
Associated Press on Thursday that Eddings did nothing wrong and
that umpires are not required to audibly call "No catch."