In Chicago yesterday, the home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom had an embarrassing moment when he lost track of the ball and strike count, causing a lengthy delay in the game between the White Sox and the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.
It happened in the bottom of the fourth inning with White Sox designated hitter Adam Dunn at the plate. Dunn swung and missed at the 3-1 pitch, but started having a discussion with home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom about the count. As Cederstrom lifts up his mask, he certainly seems to be a bit confused about something. He then heads into the White Sox dugout to make a call upstairs, then goes downstairs into the dugout, presumably to find some video replay of the Adam Dunn at-bat so he can get an accurate count of balls and strikes.
Cederstrom eventually comes out of the dugout after a lengthy delay with the correct count of 3 balls and 2 strikes on Dunn. Not shown in the video here was that he supposedly tripped on the stairs on the way out of the White Sox dugout, adding more embarrassment.
You would think that the most important job for the umpire would be to keep track of balls and strikes. If an umpire can't do that, he shouldn't be out there. Maybe Cederstrom was caught daydreaming because it's close to the end of the regular season, but there's no excuse for that.
Ump loses count [MLB]
It happened in the bottom of the fourth inning with White Sox designated hitter Adam Dunn at the plate. Dunn swung and missed at the 3-1 pitch, but started having a discussion with home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom about the count. As Cederstrom lifts up his mask, he certainly seems to be a bit confused about something. He then heads into the White Sox dugout to make a call upstairs, then goes downstairs into the dugout, presumably to find some video replay of the Adam Dunn at-bat so he can get an accurate count of balls and strikes.
Cederstrom eventually comes out of the dugout after a lengthy delay with the correct count of 3 balls and 2 strikes on Dunn. Not shown in the video here was that he supposedly tripped on the stairs on the way out of the White Sox dugout, adding more embarrassment.
You would think that the most important job for the umpire would be to keep track of balls and strikes. If an umpire can't do that, he shouldn't be out there. Maybe Cederstrom was caught daydreaming because it's close to the end of the regular season, but there's no excuse for that.
Ump loses count [MLB]
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
