Major League Baseball

Questionable call dooms Braves in loss to Giants

Published Oct. 8, 2010 6:35 a.m. ET

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Bobby Cox has been ejected more than any other manager in baseball history, getting tossed 158 times in a career that will end when Atlanta is knocked out of this postseason.

That's what made it so surprising that Cox remained in the dugout after a key call went against the Atlanta Braves in a 1-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants in the opener of their NL division series on Thursday night.

On a day when two other managers - Ron Gardenhire of Minnesota and Joe Maddon of Tampa Bay - were ejected from playoff games, Cox got to see the end of Game 1 of the best-of-five series.

The blown call by second base umpire Paul Emmel was followed a strategic call by Cox that backfired, leading to the only run of a tight pitchers' duel between San Francisco's Tim Lincecum and Atlanta's Derek Lowe.

The key moments in this game came in the fourth inning after Giants rookie Buster Posey singled to left field off Lowe to lead off the frame.

Then with a full count on Pat Burrell, Posey broke for second base. Burrell swung and missed at the pitch for a strikeout and Brian McCann made a strong throw to second to try to complete the double play. Second baseman Brooks Conrad caught the ball and appeared to slap the tag on Posey just before his foot touched second base.

But Emmel called Posey safe, giving him his first stolen base of his major league career.

''I saw him safe. That's what I called,'' Emmel said.

Emmel said he had not watched a replay of the call and said no one disputed it on the field.

After the game, Conrad said he believed he tagged Posey in time for the out.

''It was a tough call that didn't go our way,'' Conrad said. ''It was a bang-bang play. It was the kind of throw I had to reach up and try to tag him high. I can't really do anything about it. You have to put runs on the board to win.''

The lack of an on-field reaction from Conrad was why Cox did not come out of the dugout to dispute like he has so many other times in his brilliant career.

''I haven't seen it,'' Cox said of the tag play after the game. ''Some of the guys came down after that inning and said he was out by six, eight inches. I didn't see a reaction from anyone. From the dugout you can't see anything.''

This was just the latest example of a questionable umpiring call tainting a postseason game. Major League Baseball began trying replay on a limited basis in late 2008, using it only to review potential home runs. But it still is not used on plays on the bases or fair and foul calls, leading to some controversial calls in key moments in the past few postseasons.

Despite being burned by the call, Cox is not in favor of expanding instant replay.

''Just leave it as it is,'' he said. ''It's fine the way it is. We'd be arguing and throwing red flags 10 times a night.''

Posey feels the same way as Cox after benefiting from that call.

''I guess it's a good thing we don't have instant replay right now,'' he said. ''It was a beautiful slide, wasn't it?''

The call became even more important the way the rest of the inning and game played out. With two outs in the fourth, Cox ordered Lowe to intentionally walk the struggling Pablo Sandoval.

Sandoval had a rough season and batted just .224 with four extra-base hits after Sept. 1. But Cox chose to face Cody Ross instead. The move backfired when Ross' grounder got under third baseman Omar Infante's glove for an RBI single.

''I think we made the right move,'' Cox said. ''He made the pitch and got the groundball.''

That proved to be the only run the Giants needed on a night Lincecum struck out 14 in a two-hit shutout.

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