Day 5: Mexico vs Australia

Well, it was only a matter of time ... more on that later.

Monday was our last day before the day off. Jim Jackson and I decided to walk around and take some pictures after breakfast. This was the first day it was kind of dreary and rainy. We heard that the Museum of Natural History was closed, but there was also purported to be botanical gardens near there and something called "The Path of Evolution." Since this was very near the hotel, we decided to take a look. The Path of Evolution turned out to be a walkway showing how life evolved through time through pictures embedded in the walkway itself. Along the way Jim and I got some good shots of some of the local people. Among those were several of children, and one of a bride-to-be, who was being professionally photographed with her dog in front of a waterfall. Many of those shots are available for viewing in the photo gallery and are also in a slideshow toward the top, right-hand sidebar on the main blog page. We started to get rained on pretty good, plus I was running out of batteries and Jim had used up the memory in his camera, so we headed back.

Now to my initial comment for the day. My game tonight was once again at Douliou Stadium; Mexico vs Australia. We made the hour + drive and arrived an hour and 45 minutes before game time (a little overkill, but what else were we going to do anyway). Edwin Hernandez was our plate umpire, Dale (Canada) at first, I was at second, and Chin-Hsien Chang at third.

The game was going along smoothly into the top of the 5th, with Australia leading 1-0. Mexico had a runner on second with nobody out. The left-handed Australian pitcher made a pick-off move to second base and didn't throw. The Mexico dugout started screaming that the move was a balk. In reality, the move looked awkward because the pitcher was using a step-through move and it was difficult for him to rotate his pivot foot around as he did so. After listening to the Mexico manager loudly complain repeatedly (yes, this was Jose Tolentino, the star of last night's show) that the pitcher had first stepped toward first before continuing on to second, I asked him from the middle of the diamond why the pitcher would do that with no runner on first. At some point another member of the dugout shouted out "Same as last night!" referring to their thoughts on the strike zone from the night before. They apparently said this for my benefit since I was the only one on the crew who had worked the previous game, even though I was not calling balls and strikes. Referring to the night before was enough for me to warn the dugout, and I told them if someone wanted to go, we could accommodate them. Jose volunteered, and I obliged. He then came out of the dugout and wanted me to come to the mound with him while he demonstrated what the pitcher did. Since I had already ejected him, I left him to parade to the mound while I returned to second base. He apparently was not aware that his show was only being witnessed by about 25 people in the stands. Shortly afterwards he left he field and the dugout. It was extremely calm and quiet in their dugout with their manager not around to stir things up for the remainder of the game.

Our other interesting play occurred in the top of the 8th. A ground ball was hit to the infield with the bases loaded and no one out. The throw came to the plate to force the runner from third. That runner's slide sent the catcher sprawling. The Australia second baseman and a number of people on the Australian bench started screaming that it was a dirty play. I came in to peel off the second baseman, and then to keep the coaches away from Edwin so he could talk to the manager. Dale and Chang came in as well. The argument was that the runner had interfered with the catcher, that it was a dirty play, and that interference should be called. (I watched the play on television later, and the runner's whole arm slid across the plate, disproving their theory). The situation was prolonged by the injury. It left the Australia bench longer to complain about the call. Eventually the catcher returned after some work with the trainer and we finished the game. Mexico finished the upset with a 7-4 win, their first of the tournament.

The only other thing of note that we had in the game occurred on a fair ball just inside the line at third that the Australian third baseman fielded and threw late to first. Our third base umpire vocally called the ball fair as he pointed, which I found out is the practice in the Far East. The Australia manager came out to question him, but Chang had no idea what he was asking. It was somewhat humorous to watch the coach ask Chang why he shouted fair, only to have him indicate that it was a fair ball with his arms. This just frustrated the manager more -- he said "I know it was fair, I just want to know why you shouted it fair." After watching a couple of rounds of this, I went in and mediated, telling the manager that I understood his concern, but that we've been unable to persuade the Taiwan umpires to abandon this mechanic.

Edwin did an extremely good job on balls and strikes. He had a liberal strike zone on the corners for both teams, has a solid strike mechanic, and has a very good presence on the field.

I was hoping we might go out upon our return to the hotel, but the umpires who worked the afternoon games had already been drinking for a while and wanted to get some sleep, and the people who had worked the late games were tired from the trip. Hopefully the social scene will pick up some on our day off tomorrow and continue through the end of the tournament.