Dodgers Triple Play: Bud Black Ejected After Los Angeles Triple Play Against San Diego Padres (VIDEO)

San Diego Padres manager Bud Black, left, argues with plate umpire Dale Scott after the Los Angeles Dodgers turned a triple play in the ninth inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles Sunday, April 15, 2012. Scott ejected Black from the game. The Dodgers won 5-4. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers have turned a triple play in the ninth inning of their game against the San Diego Padres.

The bizarre play came with the score tied 4-all Sunday, a game the Dodgers eventually won 5-4.

Chris Denorfia led off with a single against Javy Guerra. Chase Headley walked and Jesus Guzman squared to bunt the runners over, but the pitch came high and tight and hit Guzman's bat as he backed up from the pitch. The ball landed in front of the plate and catcher A.J. Ellis alertly picked it up and threw to third.

Guzman, startled by what happened, didn't run to first base, which made it easy for third baseman Juan Uribe to relay to shortstop Dee Gordon at second base. In turn, he threw to James Loney to complete the triple play.

Padres manager Bud Black came out to argue with plate umpire and crew chief Dale Scott, who ejected him.

It was the Dodgers' first triple play since June 13, 1998, against Colorado at Dodger Stadium.

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Comments

[wkb2texans]

04:44 PM on 04/17/2012

The home plate umpire raised both hands after the hit, which means the ball is dead .. not in play. That's why all the Padre players on base remained in place. The ump may have called it a fair ball, but when he threw up his hands to indicate that the ball was not in play, it's over. Too bad for the Padres ....

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

01:52 PM on 04/17/2012

One of my baseball dreams is to see a triple play. Damn, I missed it!

[Roland19]

09:10 AM on 04/17/2012

Padres got jobbed here. I understand why Black was upset; Scott had signaled play was stopped before the Dodgers started their "triple play".

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

01:57 PM on 04/17/2012

It was a fair ball.

Players are supposed to follow through on the play unless actually stopped by the umps.

[Roland19]

02:16 PM on 04/17/2012

And the ump behind the plate initially signaled the play was dead. Not the players responsibility to keep playing after that.

[zx1196d]

08:06 AM on 04/17/2012

Thanks for the clarification, I appreciate it :)

[PirateJohn]

01:43 AM on 04/17/2012

Here is the definition of a foul ball in the official MLB rule book:

Page 16 -- http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2011/Official_Baseball_Rules.pdf

"A FOUL BALL is a batted ball that settles on foul territory between home and first
base, or between home and third base, or that bounds past first or third base on or over foul
territory, or that first falls on foul territory beyond first or third base, or that, while on or
over foul territory, touches the person of an umpire or player, or any object foreign to the
natural ground."

In other words, a ball is not foul simply because it touches foul territory. The definition of a fair ball, on page 14, confirms this.

"A FAIR BALL is a batted ball that settles on fair ground between home and first
base, or between home and third base, or that is on or over fair territory when bounding to
the outfield past first or third base, or that touches first, second or third base, or that first
falls on fair territory on or beyond first base or third base, or that, while on or over fair
territory touches the person of an umpire or player, or that, while over fair territory, passes
out of the playing field in flight."

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

01:59 PM on 04/17/2012

In this case it was a fair ball and the players did what they were supposed to do-play the game.

[Sh00Fly]

12:49 AM on 04/17/2012

G❤ D❤DGERS!!!!

[jl4141]

06:49 PM on 04/16/2012

How many outs were there at the time?

[varnerchris]

06:57 PM on 04/16/2012

.....0.....

[Sh00Fly]

12:47 AM on 04/17/2012

5

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

02:03 PM on 04/17/2012

Remember the 4 out inning a couple of years ago?

[irishkids1234]

06:13 PM on 04/16/2012

Where the heck did the video go??

[drgnfr363]

06:30 PM on 04/16/2012

LOL remember you're on aol, enough said.

[irishkids1234]

06:50 PM on 04/16/2012

DOH !!

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

02:29 PM on 04/17/2012

I have checked about 5 places, can't find it.

[irishkids1234]

03:01 PM on 04/17/2012

It's with with Clay's phantom punch of Sonney Liston.

[cakibler]

05:31 PM on 04/16/2012

I couldn't watch it. MLB made aol or Youtube pull the video clip. I see more and more of this. Sucks.Need to redo the page title so people don't waste their time trying to view a clip that has been pulled.

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

03:39 PM on 04/17/2012

Try Dodgers dot com.

[Octagonalsign]

05:14 PM on 04/16/2012

What a mess! The umpire signals it is a foul ball, and the runners all react to the call. The Dodgers throw the ball around the bases and then the ump changes the call and calls it a triple play retroactively. Disgraceful.

[JoanneRM]

11:24 PM on 04/16/2012

The umpire DIDN'T signal a foul ball. The ball hit the bat, bounced toward the pitcher and the catcher picked it up and threw it to third. The third baseman threw it to second, and the second baseman threw it to first. The batter who was confused because he didn't intend to hit the ball, didn't run to first, so the ball got there before he did, and was out at first. A perfict triple play. I'm writing from San Francisco.

[brinash]

10:06 AM on 04/17/2012

The umpire DID signal foul ball, not once but twice. If the clip were still available, you'd hear the game's best announcer--Dodger's Vin Scully--immediately recognize that the ball should was called dead and that the outs being recorded wouldn't hold up. If Scully is seeing it this way, let's realize we have an ump who blew the call and lacked the integrity to say "I screwed up." BTW--I'm writing from about five hours north of San Francisco.

[help4mac]

12:02 PM on 04/17/2012

So what was the ump doing waving his arms around? EH?? Giving everyone a dose of his sweat?

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

02:58 PM on 04/17/2012

The players should always follow through with the play.

Whining about the umps afterward is just whining.

[BaseballFan44]

05:03 PM on 04/16/2012

Lots of ignorance out there on the rules of baseball. A ball is neither fair nor foul until it passes 1st or 3rd base OR is touched in fair or foul territory in the infield. A ball can bounce back and forth over the foul line twenty time, but until someone touches it (or it stops, or goes past 1st or 3rd) it is neither fair or foul. If it's touched in fair territory, it's fair. If it's touched in foul territory it's foul. I didn't see the play, but if the ball hit the bat and dribbled right out in front of the plate, the ump shouldn't even have made a call. It's a fair and live ball just like any other hit ball. What probably happened was that the ump thought that the ball struck the bat and THEN the batter WHILE he was in the batters box, and then dribbled out in front of the plate. Then it IS automatically a foul ball as soon as it strikes the batter.

[myopinion2]

06:56 PM on 04/16/2012

Thx for the explanation.

[PirateJohn]

01:29 AM on 04/17/2012

I remember a video from about 20-30 years ago when a ball was slowly rolling along the foul line, so the pitcher went on all fours, lowered his head, and started blowing on the ball until it rolled foul, then picked it up when it did.

[DismayedRepub]

04:28 PM on 04/16/2012

What matters is where the ball is when it is touched by a defender. Fair Ball is the proper call. The umpire did blow the call by signaling foul before he changed his call to fair. I've umpired many youth games.

[PirateJohn]

01:31 AM on 04/17/2012

Yeah, he messed up the call not by eventually calling it fair, but by initially calling it foul. Once he calls it foul, the play should have stopped right there. I agree with the Padres on this one. It's no different than an inadvertent whistle in football.

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

03:00 PM on 04/17/2012

If you have ever coached, you were a bad coach.

Play the play.

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

03:04 PM on 04/17/2012

The umpire first puts his hands in the air, then indicates fair ball.

This may actually be the first base ump's call.

100 percent fair ball. If it was called foul the Dodgers would have been the ones who got screwed.

[ReelBusy]

03:32 PM on 04/16/2012

bad call
the ball was foul.

[calisel99]

04:20 PM on 04/16/2012

totally blown call ,it was foul

[Terry Shulaw]

04:24 PM on 04/16/2012

The ball was foul... but rolled fair. Fair ball! Learn your rules then comment.

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

03:41 PM on 04/17/2012

The ball never touched foul territory. It was a fair ball.

[Catherine Bateham]

08:58 PM on 04/16/2012

No, it never hit the batter or went foul. They should all be EXTRA heads up when attempting to bunt. The call was bad because the ump INITIALLY called it foul

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

03:06 PM on 04/17/2012

I have seen the same play-but not a triple play-where the ball hits the bat and goes fair.

Great heads-up by the catcher.

I am not sure if the ump, while getting out of the way, is signaling "foul" or "I can't see"...

BUT

the ump DOES make an instant fair ball indication.

[Trisha Lynn Dragon]

03:28 PM on 04/16/2012

Wow...I forgot the Padres were still a team.

[djromo]

02:53 PM on 04/16/2012

I umpired for 15 years. The ball was, in fact, a fair ball. However, once the umpire initially ruled a dead ball, which he did, it no longer matters where the ball ended up. It could have been a home run and it would not have mattered. Once he killed the play, it is over and he has to eat the call. The Padres were robbed. However, the Padres have to take some blame too. Bud Black could have protested the play and the league would have backed him once they saw the umpire first kill the play, then rule it fair. They would have then had to replay the game from that point. I think what made it all worse is that all the umpires got together to discuss....and still did not get it right. What an embarassment!!!

[Samiiam]

06:43 PM on 04/16/2012

Very good.

[myopinion2]

06:57 PM on 04/16/2012

thx for the info