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HOUSTON – This idea has crossed the minds of almost everyone who has ever been to a baseball game: See the ball, try to catch the ball.
For two men, it might be worth rethinking now.
When the Houston Astros named striker Jose Altuve connected on a fastball at 90.8 mph (4.85 km) during the first round of the fourth game of the American League series, Troy Caldwell and Jared Tomanek jumped out of their seat, thus sensing the possibility of getting a hit. ball.
Jose Altuve, of the Astros, was declared the winner by two referees, who said that a defender had interfered with the attempt to take Mookie Betts.
It goes without saying that Twitter users had something to say about the controversial call about the interference of fans in the fourth game of the ALCS.
From the Wild Cards round to the World Series, we'll be covering the 2018 playoffs.
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Positioned one in front of each other on the row seats located at the forefront of their respective sections in Minute Maid Park 's mailboxes, the aliens, both longtime fans of. Astros, watched closely the training of the Altuve lines.
"The ball was coming hard," recalls Tomanek from section 153, row 1, seat 1. "We wanted to catch him."
Only one problem. Someone else also wanted this ball and, anxious to get a World Series ring, he was determined to catch it.
"I was pretty sure I could catch him," said Boston Red Sox right-winger Mookie Betts.
Betts' valiant attempt to line up the Altuve ball became a controversial game in the first round of the Red Sox's victory over the Astros on Wednesday night. The 8-6 win gave the Red Sox a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, to a victory in the Fall Classic.
Betts sprinted violently toward the right field wall, then took off by jumping well over the 7-foot fence. Caldwell, Tomanek and a few others, dressed in navy and orange stab the scalded baseball.
"This ball was from"Caldwell said.
As the balloon approached the frenetic corner of 43,277 spectators, those closest to the alleged landing zone settled. About a foot separated their seats from the edge of the yellow-striped fence.
Tomanek, a six-foot-four man dressed in a blue shirt with orange lettering, leaned his body slightly to the waist. While reading the trajectory of the ball and trying to stay on his side of the wall, he realized that partial flexion was the best way to catch him. For him, it seemed like the ball was going to land at his seat.
Meanwhile, Caldwell, dressed in a bright orange Astros shirt that had to move one foot to the right and into Tomanek's section, had extended his two arms. In his mind, the ball was his.
A third man dressed in a white shirt with rolled up sleeves, sitting just behind Caldwell, and a fourth to the right of Tomanek, wearing a red Astros jersey and an orange hat, were also in withdrawal. All four believed they were maneuvering others for what they supposed to be a historic Altuve round trip.
But none of them would leave the stadium with a souvenir. Altuve would also not be credited with a two-run circuit. Just as Betts opened his glove to grab the ball from the mass of hands behind him, he felt something.
"I had the impression that someone was pushing my glove or something," Betts said. "I had the opportunity to see a little recovery, I guess they were going to catch the ball and spread my glove."
These replays, as well as Caldwell and his three friends, suggest that it was Tomanek's hand.
"I do not think that has hit any of us," said Tomanek.
Al Pernitza, a man dressed in the red jersey, a spectator from Victoria, Texas, near Tomanek and two of his relatives, said that if anyone closed the Betts glove, he was acting of the fielder himself.
"When he was against the wall, the glove was automatically closed," said Pernitza, a former highball referee in high school.
In the same fraction of a second that the Betts glove closed, the ball bounced and hit Caldwell's hand. From there, he was back on the playground, rolling on the alert trail when a sprawling Betts found his foot and threw the ball to the battlefield.
"I've never touched his glove, I can guarantee it," said Caldwell. "But I definitely touched the ball, the ball hit me directly in the hand.
"I'm so ashamed of having missed that."
Tomanek deadpanned: "I would have caught that ball, but I played left field in high school, not right."
For about four minutes, the confusion reigned as the referees, managers and replay officials tried to determine what had happened.
S addressing fans to where the controversial ball Jose Altuve "interfered" with. They say the Mookie Betts glove was at least as far above the wall. pic.twitter.com/447gPzbpCO
– Coley Harvey (@ColeyHarvey) October 18, 2018
While the team leader and right-field referee Joe West – who had called Altuve out due to fans' interference – was given the final decision by the video feeders in New York, sections 152 and 153 were in full swing.
Why does not Altuve round up the basics? What could they possibly replay? Was not it a homer-sure?
"At first I was not worried about it," Caldwell said. "I was like:" It's a customer, no matter what it is because I'm behind the line when that hit me. "
"I did not think it was a big problem."
But it was a big problem.
When West was told that his call for a fly-out via fans interference was to be confirmed, the boxes sections were livid. During the rest of the night, fans shared their disbelief.
Quickly, Caldwell was seen on social media as a fan who interfered with the ball and placed the game on a sawtooth path that eventually ended with two missed points for Houston.
Instantly, Caldwell's phone lit up. His friends sitting with him also received their share of the notifications. People they knew and watched from afar bombarded them with Snapchat direct messages, screenshots of tweets showing where Caldwell was blamed for interfering, and multi-angle GIF text messages bouncing off the glove. from Betts and Caldwell's hand.
In the end, fearing retaliation from angry Astros fans – and a repeat of Steve Bartman's infamous foul / interference moment in Chicago in 2003 – Caldwell left the scene. He thought that if he wanted to enjoy the rest of this game with his team, he had to hide his appearance.
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About two innings went by before those with Caldwell heard of him or saw him. Part of the reason was how busy his phone was. The requests for interviews poured in. "Good Morning America" was among those who found it, looking for comments.
When Houston 's batting order summit was restored to the top of the third third, Caldwell regained his seat. A moment ago, George Springer, center player at the center Astros, had launched a straight line about 15 rows of arrival, making forget momentarily the previous hubbub.
At the end of the party, following the Springer explosion, a man dressed in a new navy blue Astros sweatshirt, laden with food and a cold beer in his hand, reinstalled himself into the row 1, seat 1.
His biggest concern? Have your name deleted online. Caldwell insisted that he had not interfered with the ball and that he was staying behind the yellow line.
"If Boston wins this series, then Joe West is the most useful player, I'll give it to you now," said Caldwell, echoing the feelings shared throughout this part of the stadium.
As soon as these words left Caldwell 's mouth, he jumped up, raising his arms as a sign of celebration. Altuve had tipped a ball on the wall of the left field for one more shot. The double, a hitter after the Springer circuit, was started by Houston. Later in the round, Altuve scored to tie at 3.
After that, Caldwell refused to talk more about it. At the end of the match, a security guard took him with his friends, took him out of the stadium after having almost emptied him. After walking down an alley and into the main hall, the group disappeared.
"What would you do as a fan I would do the same thing," said Altuve after the game. "They are trying to catch the balloon.I have nothing against him.He is another fan of Astro, he is passionate about us, and I appreciate that. he tries to help me. "
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