“I was right on top of it, and it was wide of the bag. What the ball did when it went past me is irrelevant . . . I understand that’s the winning run, but in my opinion it was foul.”
-- Bob Davidson, third base umpire in last night’s Phillies-Rays game, not letting anything get in the way of his opinion.
And Davidson is right to say that where the ball is after it passes the bag doesn’t matter. It’s just that based on repeated viewings of the play in question, I can’t see how anyone can say the ball wasn’t fair when it passed the bag. It bounced fair in front of the bag. It bounced fair behind the bag. Unless it took a left turn and then an immediate right, I’m not sure how it could have ever been foul.
