Adrian Beltre Foul Ball? Umpire Makes Controversial Call Late In World Series Game 1 (VIDEO)

It's not the Fall Classic without a controversial call. Just ask Don Denkinger or Dave McNally.

In the top of the ninth inning of Game 1 of the 2011 World Series, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa sent right-handed reliever Jason Motte out to the hill to protect a 3-2 lead. He retired the first Rangers' batter that he faced with hardly any help at all: Motte induced a comebacker from Michael Young, snagged the ball and fired a strike to first. One away.

With the second out, though, the Redbirds' bearded reliever may have gotten a little extra help.. from the home plate umpire.

The right-hander fired a 96-mph two-seamer to Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre, who tried to turn on it. Beltre swung, hitting the ball straight down, hard. He reflexively pulled his left foot off the ground as if he'd been struck and then hopped out of the batter's box. As Beltre gingerly got his balance back, FOX play-by-play announcer matter-of-factly said, "That's a foul ball."

But a strange thing happened as Beltre hobbled around near home plate, Cardinals third baseman Daniel Descalso fielded the bouncing ball in fair territory and threw across the diamond to first base. Apparently, no umpire had ever signalled foul ball. The Cardinals played on, initially to the surprise of Buck up in the booth, and recorded the out. Two away.

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Texas manager Ron Washington immediately popped out of the dugout to question home plate umpire Jerry Layne. A flustered Beltre vainly pleaded his case, pointing at his shoes. Two out.

"The ball hit the front of my foot," said Beltre after the game, who stumbled on the play and never attempted to run to first. "But when it kicked down to third base, the umpire said he didn't see it. I told him to check my shoe and the ball, but he couldn't tell. He found nothing, so he wouldn't change the call. There was nothing I could do."

Although it seemed a gimmick only slightly more useful than the Cleatus the robot who has been featured during FOX football broadcasts, the infrared camera, called "Hotspot," that FOX used during the game actually came in handy on this play. The heat-seeking replay seemed to indicate that the ball did in fact strike the tip of Beltre's foot. Nevertheless, the umps non-call on the potential foul ball stood, and the Rangers were down to their last out. Motte retired Nelson Cruz to earn his first World Series save.

If MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is hesitant to adopt video replay for all calls then odds are that infrared replay is still a few years away...

Scroll through these photos to attempt to decipher if the ball was fair or foul:

Comments

[CANTHATBE]

04:59 AM on 10/22/2011

Get replay out of all games. Keep the game moving. Bad calls are just part of the game.

[LCDTV]

10:12 PM on 10/20/2011

who cares about the xray video. the umpire called him out. simple as that. i do not konw why mlb (or fox) introduce the xray video. i do not want it in the game.
mlb should control the quality of the game. for example, tbs had the annoying strike box. remove it.
the post season tv announcers on tbs and fox are awful. please put some baseballers with personality to call the game. personnally i like jim palmer, mike flannigan (passed on), joe morgan, rob dibble, jon miller. mlb should visit each baseball market and pick the best annoucers. this will improve the game.

[gintheb]

09:21 PM on 10/20/2011

An umpire has to make a call on the spot. They don't have the luxury of "hotspot". I'm sure he made the call he was certain was correct.

[Tibby Oct31]

08:17 PM on 10/20/2011

If Leyland wouldn’t have stubbornly stuck with Drabek and brought in Wakefield in the 9th, my Pirates… Sorry, wrong board. I thought this was a safe place to finally release the 1992 NLC game.

[awheck7]

06:12 PM on 10/20/2011

Fox sports need to do something about Buck and mccarver they seem to think they are calling a cardinal broadcast game.The bias is clear.Kinda like listening to Aikman call a Cowboys game.

[Big Jap]

04:39 PM on 10/20/2011

What makes this game great is the human element, sometimes you get the call right, sometimes you don't! If we start to scrutinize and x-ray every close call, it makes the game sterile and cold! Close calls are great because you talk about them for years! If the umpires start using instant replay, we having nothing to argue about in the barber shop! Leave instant replay out of the umpires hands!

[cameron d]

02:29 PM on 10/20/2011

Can we all just talk about how awful Joe Buck & Tim McCarver are? I watch games online just to avoid them both.

[Thunder Chicken]

02:56 PM on 10/20/2011

Yeah, it's pretty rough. But I like listening to the radio broadcasts with the TV sound muted anyway. Listening to Mike Shannon call Cardinal baseball is a real treat.

[cameron d]

04:18 PM on 10/20/2011

After listening to Joe Buck anything is a real treat.

[tenzenz]

02:12 PM on 10/20/2011

As much as I usually come down against the officials in Pro Sports, when they make a bad call, this is a play where it would be impossible for an Umpire to see for sure, if the ball actually hit the Player's foot, and even with the XRay imaging Video, it still could not be seen with enough certainty to warrant overturning the call. MLB, may want to ban the XRay Imaging Video, altogether, to avoid the controversy, that this causes. It is not something that should or would be used in Pro Sports, and MLB to determine if a play or call should be overturned, by the officials. Rarely, does a call get made like that, when the ball is fouled off the batter, so, it's not worthy of changing the rules of the game, or introducing a technology into the game, for that lone reason. MLB should ban it's use, immediately, and avoid any future, unwarranted controversy, going forward, especially within the Format of the World Series Championship.

[Tperl]

01:59 PM on 10/20/2011

I commend Fox Sports for having such a closeup that we miss the actual event. Well done. When I am at a baseball game I am thinking to myself "I sure do miss the super closeups of the managers and players when I am at the ball park." "I mean why would I want to see the actual game when I can see the game in the eyes of people at the stadium."

[bfcg]

01:44 PM on 10/20/2011

Cry babies.

[Swimdude]

06:16 PM on 10/20/2011

The replay clearly showed the Ball went off his foot. Which would be indicative of a Foul Ball. The Umpire got it wrong, but the Cardinals need all the help they can get against the Superior Talent of the Texas Rangers.

[bfcg]

06:51 PM on 10/20/2011

Balls are called strikes and vice versa, umpires make mistakes, it is all part of the game. As I said... cry babies.

[Richard Blais]

01:35 PM on 10/20/2011

umps made a good call, what a faker ...

[kapalabhati]

01:34 PM on 10/20/2011

Ohgoodgod. This is one of the reasons why there are 7 DANG GAMES.

[leorangerie]

01:10 PM on 10/20/2011

Tough call. Just like calling balls and strikes. But what's the alternative? Go the way of tennis with electronic determination on questioned line calls? I don't know. It's a pretty slow game as it is.

[BUTCHER99]

12:51 PM on 10/20/2011

Minor bad calls like this are to be expected and need not be automatic replays but a one or two shot at a replay in a game would not be unreasonable. The old men who run things need to be replaced with people who still have a bit of an open mind as to changes. I say this as an old man btw. Some people's minds just end up closed as they age and they are unable to see past their old thoughts.
When a call is disputed that has a direct affect on the score there is absolutely no reason not to use replays. Mistakes by the umpire always have occured and are part of the game is more of a reason for replay thn to not have it.

With the game on the line correct should not be an option

[JuniorBug]

12:33 PM on 10/20/2011

I don't think it's possible for us to form unbiased opinions based on such a negative picture.

[eugenegerard]

12:45 PM on 10/20/2011

I think you can. Umpires are always right. That's baseball. Sometimes its hurts really bad. Like Don Denkinger in the Cardinals loss of the World Series.
The Cardinals played really good defense.
There's six games to go. You never know. sometimes umps try to even out the mistakes. Next bad call may go against the Cardinals. That's baseball.
The only way you change it will be to get computers, camersas and really good computer programs together and dump the humans (umpires).

[Thunder Chicken]

12:59 PM on 10/20/2011

Ha! That's clever.