ARLINGTON, Texas: Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon knew it was ball four to Ben Zobrist , who was already headed toward first base. Even Texas Rangers closer Joe Nathan expected that would be the call after his full-count pitch.
Except plate umpire Marty Foster called a game-ending third strike - one he later admitted was wrong.
Nathan mouthed “Wow!” when the strike was called to wrap up his 300th career save, which along with the Rangers’ 5-4 victory stood despite Foster’s postgame admission yesterday.
“That kind of call cannot occur. I don’t even want to say under those circumstances,” Maddon said. “The last inning, the last out of the game. I’m not even going to go there. That call can’t be made in a Major League Baseball game.”
The last pitch, a curveball, was low and outside. Zobrist put both hands on his helmet and took it off in disbelief while Maddon quickly came out and argued with the umpires for several minutes, even standing in front of them at the gate where they exit the field.
“I saw the pitch and of course don’t have the chance to do it again,” Foster told a pool reporter after the game. “But had I had a chance to do it again, I wouldn’t call that pitch a strike.”
AJ Pierzynski, the new Rangers catcher who was once traded for Nathan, said he heard Foster call strike, and went out to congratulate his team-mate on becoming the 24th major leaguer with 300 saves.
“Did I draw it up like this for my 300th (save)? No. But we’ll take it,” Nathan said. “I knew I was throwing it there. The fact is I thought it was ball four. I thought he might offer at it. When he didn’t, my mindset went more to concentrate on what we’ve got to do with (Evan) Longoria now. I think I might have been the last guy on the field to realize the game was over.”
Nathan’s milestone save was his second this year, and 39th in two seasons with the Rangers. He had 260 saves for the Twins and one for San Francisco before being traded by the Giants to Minnesota after the 2003 season for Pierzynski.
Meanwhile, Matt Harvey reared back and fired a 98 mph fastball on his 102nd pitch, and finished up with five more clocked at 95. On a night when Roy Halladay looked more like an aging star on the decline, Harvey showed he’s got the stuff to replace him as the big-time ace in the NL East. Harvey threw seven impressive innings, John Buck hit a three-run homer and the New York Mets roughed up Halladay in a 7-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies yesterday.
“A lot of things were working good for me,” Harvey said. Agencies
