Baseball: Javy Lopez's blunder

Did anyone see Javy Lopez get a home run turned into a single? He hit a deep shot that Darin Erstad almost gloved. The guy on first was on his way to second when he turned back, thinking Erstad had caught it. Lopez was not sure and just kept on jogging, passing the baserunner and thus being ruled out. What do you think? Was that a stupid play?

Dear BtB,

Excuse my cluelessness, but just to be real clear:

Are you saying that the ball went OUT OF THE PARK and that Erstad failed in his attempt to catch it?

If so, there is a whole lot of blame to go around here. Stay with me on this:

In order to play any position other than pitcher, you have to have either great vision or great corrected vision, so you can hit MLB pitching. AND, when a ball is hit for a home run, the umpire closest to the play (here, probably the 2B umpire, but maybe the 3B ump) repeatedly makes a small circular gesture with his forefinger.

Every major league player knows this and should be WATCHING for that signal in this situation. As soon as the signal is given, that's it and they should slow down and make sure this kind of disaster cannot occur.

Now, if the ump failed to give the signal because he didn't see whether the ball was gone, that could cause confusion. But it's hard to believe that neither the 3B coach nor the runner who'd gotten to 2B could see whether the ball was gone. And, even if the play was SO obscured because of a terrible angle that none of those people could see whether the ball was gone, then....

YES, I agree with you. Lopez should never have flown on by the baserunner. Not even if the ump made the HR gesture and Lopez saw it. He should have slowed down long enough to wonder where the heck that runner was, and BOTH coaches should have been screaming at him at the top of their lungs to stop running and not pass the baserunner. What exactly do those two guys get paid for?

THIS is the same hugely overachieving, banjo-hitting team that went all the way last year--in an enormous upset--with timely pitching and great fundamental baseball?

BHN

I'm sorry, I failed to stipulate that the ball did go out of the ballpark. Stupid move on my part. Yeah, the baserunners were waiting for the out sign, but none was given. They just assumed Erstad had caught it.

One of the first rules i learned in little league was to never, under any circumstance pass the runner in front of you because you are immediatly out. Let's hand some raspberries to the entire team, and give them a fundamentals of baseball and a rule book.