Welcome to The Pulse. If you want to know what the sports world is thinking, look no further. Every day on ESPN.com, SportsNation registers its opinion on a wide range of topics by casting votes and soliciting analysis from experts in The Show. We collect these daily highlights and put them in one easy-to-read, easy-to-find location called The Pulse. Need more? Then tune in to ESPNEWS 1-4 p.m. ET Saturdays for the weekly Pulse show, which recaps everything that's going on.
Story of the Day: Strike Three, You're Safe?
After catching (and SportsNation is convinced he caught it) what he thought was the final strike of the bottom of the ninth, Angels catcher Josh Paul rolled the ball back toward the mound. Did the Angels' World Series hopes go with it?
Chicago batter A.J. Pierzynski sprinted to first as the ball rolled to the mound, as umpire Doug Eddings ruled Paul had dropped the third strike. Pinch runner Pablo Ozuna took over for Pierzynski and eventually scored the winning run on Joe Crede's double, setting off a firestorm of controversy about a play sure to go down in LCS lore.
Looking back, SportsNation is convinced Eddings blundered more than once, with overwhelming majorities saying they thought Paul caught the ball cleanly and that the umpire's gestures after the pitch indicated the batter was out. Slightly more than two-thirds of voters rate the call as one of the 10 worst in postseason history, and a majority think Eddings should be disciplined for the mistake.
So what comes next? Had the Angels held on for the win, as more than half of voters suspect, nearly 90 percent think they would have eventually claimed the series. But for a lot of those voters, that chance slipped out of reach as the ball rolled away from Paul.
Do you think Angels catcher Josh Paul caught the ball cleanly on A.J. Pierzynski's third strike? (32,809 votes)
77.2% Yes
22.8% No
How did you interpret umpire Doug Eddings' gestures after the pitch? (32,809 votes)
72.8% Batter was out
21.3% Pitch was a strike
5.9% Ball was still live
How does this call rate among questionable calls in postseason plays? (32,809 votes)
53.0% One of the 10 worst
22.6% Bad but not historic
13.9% The worst of all time
10.5% I thought he called it correctly
Should Eddings be disciplined for the call? (32,809 votes)
56.7% Yes
43.3% No
Who is most to blame for the controversial ending? (32,809 votes)
64.8% Doug Eddings for the call
32.5% Josh Paul for not tagging Pierzynski
2.7% A.J. Pierzynski for running
Who is most to blame for the Angels losing Game 2 of the ALCS? (87,183 votes)
52.3% Doug Eddings (umpire)
33.7% Josh Paul (didn't tag hitter)
8.1% Vladimir Guerrero (0-4, 2 LOB)
5.6% Kelvim Escobar (losing pitcher)
If Doug Eddings had called A.J. Pierzynski out, who would have eventually won the game? (32,809 votes)
54.3% Los Angeles Angels
45.7% Chicago White Sox
Which team will win the series?
55.1 Los Angeles Angels
44.9 Chicago White Sox
If the Angels had won Game 2, which team would you have picked to win the series?
88.2 Los Angeles Angels
11.8 Chicago White Sox
Click here to vote on the controversial ending
Voice of the Fan
Regardless of anything else, the umpiring CREW was a failure. That's why you have all those guys out there, for redundancy. And they fell asleep. They were all leaving the field, too.
George (San Diego)
If it is that close, you have to call the out. Name a team that would go back out a have the focus to continue after getting hosed like that? It was the difference between extra innings and the result we saw.
Eric (S.D.)
Hey, I'm a White Sox diehard, and I'll admit, we got lucky with that stupid call! He clearly twice signaled A.J. out! But hey, we'll take it!
Alex (Chicago)
Smartest guy on the field is Pierzynski. That play doesn't happen without his hustle down the line. Don't hate the Sox, hate the umps. They ruined a what could have been a real classic.
Chris (Portland)
Boo hoo hoo. Tell Vladimir Guerrero to step it up, and this wouldn't even be an issue. The White Sox were better tonight.
Nips (Tempe, Ariz.)
There's no controversy if Washburn doesn't AIR-MAIL the throw to first early in the game!
Reggie (Orlando)
Actually, watching the replay, the umpire made the right-arm motion that said the ball wasn't caught cleanly, so the ring-up just meant that it was strike three. The problem is more that he didn't make the call clear.
Jose (St. Louis)
Click here for the entire transcript of Wednesday's live LCS chat
More from ESPN.com: Page 2 debates the play | Jim Caple's take | ALCS coverage
More SportsNation: Replay Debate
As fans watched replay after replay of the questionable call in Chicago, Eddings could do little but listen to Mike Scioscia's complaints and seek out second opinions from the umpires down the line. Should that be the case? MLB is never shy about marketing its long and storied history, but is human error a charming quirk or reprehensible anachronism? Does baseball need replay?
SportsNation doesn't want any part of taking the balls and strikes away from the umpires, but voters are more receptive to the idea of bringing in technology for close plays in the field. And before you chalk that up to knee-jerk reactionaries, this isn't a subject SportsNation takes lightly. When Jayson Stark proposed the idea of limited instant replay back in June, we took SportsNation's pulse on the matter. Turns out the fiasco in Chicago only convinced about four percent of voters to hop on the replay bandwagon.
Should baseball utilize instant replay on plays in the field? (32,809 votes)
51.6% Yes
48.4% No
Should baseball utilize instant replay on balls and strikes? (32,809 votes)
89.0% No
11.0% Yes
(Poll results from today): What's your take on the ''human element'' in baseball umpiring? (12,119 votes)
54.9% It's part of the game; no need for replay.
45.0% If replay might correct a mistake, we need it.
(Poll results from June): What's your take on the ''human element'' in baseball umpiring? (10,804 votes)
59.9% It's part of the game's tradition; replay breaks up the flow of a game.
40.0% If something is wrong, we should make every effort to correct it.
Voice of the Fan
Yet another example of baseball being too slow to adapt to anything. Be it drug testing, salary management, level playing fields for all teams, instant replay. This sort of thing just shouldn't happen in modern sports, and it shouldn't have happened here.
Garner (Louisville)
I watched the replay at least a dozen times, and I never saw that ball touching the ground. Terrible way to have a playoff game end up. I think this will bring instant replay to baseball sooner now.
SLUV (S.C.)
So are we going to hear the cry for instant replay on balls and strikes? It's human error, get over it. Besides, the video evidence is still inconclusive. By the way, not the worst call ever. Does Don Denkinger sound familiar?
Joe (Evansville)
Watching the super-slow-motion replay, you can see the ball hops up into Josh Paul's glove. One frame before it is in the webbing, it is closer to the ground than it ends up when it is in his glove.
Shane (Denver)
The blown-up version of the call they showed on television didn't make the catch look like such an easy call. Anyway, I think this is a good thing. Maybe now they will finally put instant replay in baseball and end this kind of junk
Mike (Cleveland)
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