A substitute ump, disputed calls, post-game (!) ejections and Moises Alou’s wonderful sense of perspective, courtesy of the SF Chronicle’s Henry Schulman.
“That was a horse — call. That cost us the game right there,” Moises Alou said. “We’ve got a good thing going right now. We’d won two in a row. We were already upset about letting the game get tied up. To lose like that is not fair. They don’t understand that, and I get fined because of a bull — call?
“I guess (first base umpire Adam Dowdy) was intimidated by the fact it was a big series and the home-field advantage, and the fans were going to get on him,” he said. “It was a terrible call. He knows it, everybody knows it.”
Catcher Yorvit Torreabla (above, right) never got so animated on the field before and said, “It’s obvious the umpires are not perfect, but it seems most of the time they make a mistake with the game on the line it hurts us. It was so obvious. We just saw the replay. For me to get that mad, for the team to get that mad, it’s got to be real obvious he swung the bat. Obviously we’re disappointed.”
Indeed, this is a massive series between the Dodgers (41-50) and Giants (39-51), as the entire state of California, if not the baseball universe, finds itself riveted to the battle for 4th in the NL West.