Ruling a black mark for game

CHICAGO -- As bad as it gets.

Hang your head, Major League Baseball. That means you, Bud. And all you umpires -- Doug Eddings, Ted Barrett, Ron Kulpa, Ed Rapuano, Randy Marsh, and crew chief Jerry Crawford. You stole a playoff game from the Los Angeles Angels last night. It's a game they'll never get back. A black eye on the sport. A disgrace.

Am I clear here?

The White Sox beat the Angels, 2-1, in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2 of the American League Championship Series last night when Joe Crede doubled home pinch runner Pablo Ozuna on an 0-and-2 pitch with two outs.

But Crede never should have batted. He got to hit only because A.J. Pierzynski was allowed to run to first base on an alleged dropped third strike by Angels catcher Josh Paul.

Some might put Paul in the Goat Hall of Shame alongside Mickey Owen, but that's totally unfair because replays showed conclusively that Paul did not drop the ball. Replays also showed what 41,013 fans in attendance and a national television audience saw: Eddings, the plate umpire, rang up Pierzynski. Every kid knows that when the umpire signals ''out," the play is over. That's why the Angels started jogging toward their dugout, and Paul rolled the ball toward the mound and started for the dugout. That's why Pierzynski took a step toward his (third base side) dugout.

But then Pierzynski had an idea and reversed direction and started toward first. Chaos ensued and not one of the other five umpires would admit they saw Paul catch the ball and/or Eddings signal ''out." It was difficult to tell whether Paul made a clean catch, but there was no mistake about Eddings's emphatic strike three call.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia came out to argue and made his case with every umpire he could find. No dice. Pierzynski was allowed to stay at first. Ozuna stole second, drawing no throw, then cruised home with the winning run when Crede crushed a pitch off the wall in left. Series tied, 1-1.

Good thing a call like this did not go against the home team. Had this happened to the Yankees in New York, or the Red Sox in Boston, one shudders to think about what might have transpired. I was reminded of Bill Lee's complaint that Darrell Johnson didn't argue emphatically enough on the infamous Larry Barnett/Ed Armbrister play in 1975. Lee said, ''I would have Van Goghed him."

Scioscia was composed when it was over.

''[The umpires] said the play wasn't finished," said the Angels manager. ''They said the ball hit the dirt. We asked for help from five other umpires. We would have asked six if there had been another one out there . . . When an ump calls him out, when he rings him up with a fist, he's out."

Eddings claimed he never called Pierzynski out. He said he merely called ''strike." ''That's my mechanism for calling 'strike,' when it's a swinging strike," said the plate umpire.

He was asked if his mechanism for calling a strike had ever been confused with an out call and said, ''Not until now."

It's a cheesy explanation.

''Doug did not signal 'out,' " said umpire supervisor Rich Rieker.

Oh yes, he did, Rich. We all saw. If that's his ''mechanism" for calling a swinging strike, he needs to change his game. Everyone stopped playing when he made the signal, and that's why the controversy will live in infamy.

''Doug ruled that the ball was trapped," added Rieker. ''And the replay shows there's definitely a change in direction. At best, it's inconclusive."

Not to these eyes. The ball was caught. And not one of the five umpires facing the play ruled in the Angels' favor.

It's customary for the plate umpire to yell, ''no catch, no catch," if he believes a third strike was trapped or dropped. All parties agreed that Eddings did not do this.

''I didn't hear him call me out," said Pierzynski, who happens to be a catcher, as well. ''Josh didn't tag me. I think he thought he caught it. It was a tough situation. I ran."

Of course, if Paul had merely made the standard tag, we would have moved on to the 10th inning and who knows what would have happened. Or maybe if Scioscia had appealed to third base umpire Rapuano initially he might have had more luck than he did when he went to Rapuano on his second visit. Instead, the White Sox were allowed to hit after three made outs in the ninth, and Chicago was the winner.

Paul was in the game only because Scioscia had pinch hit for Jose Molina in the eighth, and Bengie Molina was designated hitter in Game 2.

Too bad. This was a terrific baseball game, with great pitching by Chicago's Mark Buehrle and four Angel hurlers. The Angels and White Sox have played a couple of tense games with little to choose. But now there's a cloud over the entire series.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is dshaughnessy@globe.com.