Chappaqua Clippers

   At the pregame conference at Greenwich High School, both teams and the ump agreed that the area to the left of the dugout would be in live ball territory up to the fence that runs down the right field line at Greenwich High School.

   But Miguel refused to call the third out when Clips first baseman Howard Parks caught a fly ball in that area in the bottom of the third. So the Dodgers batter doubled home the runner on second base to cut the Clips lead to 2-1. Clips player-manager Tom Dixon argued to no avail. Miguel first said this area was a dead ball.

   He claimed that both teams agreed that the determination would be based on an invisible line from the left edge of the dugout down the right field line. Yet the field umpire, who is his son, supported the views of both teams regarding the pregame conference. Then Miguel said he was allowed to change the ground rule since he is the head ump. Ugh?

   Things went from bad to worse in the 6th. Miguel again ruled that Howard’s catch of a pop up to the left of the dugout was a dead ball. This extra out allowed the Dodgers to notch six runs and take a 9-4 lead.

   The Clips bailed out the ump with the late-game rally. But a bizarre decision cost the them at least one run in the 8th. Miguel called Mike McGivney out for runner’s interference while standing on second base. With runners on first and third and two outs, Mike took off and stopped at second base while the ball was skied 30 feet to the right of the base. After the Dodgers second baseman lost the ball in the sun, the shortstop bumped into Mike while he was standing on the base.

   Miguel ruled Mike out for the third out, even though the ball was too far way for the shortstop to catch. Miguel stated that Mike should have left the base after running there from first during the fly ball. The ump did not care as Tom pointed out that Mike was entitled to the base and would have been tagged out if he ran past it. Compounding his mistake, Miguel ejected Mike for arguing over the highly questionable call.

   Needless to say, both teams filed complaints with the league regarding this pair of umpires. Not surprisingly, there had been many complaints about them, ranging from Miguel’s nasty attitude to their lack of knowledge regarding the rules. Fortunately, justice was served. The pair not longer works league games.