Petecrow wasn't out at second

On Tuesday night, the umpires in New York found Petecrow Armstrong guilty of what would have been an unforgivable sin if it were true. Being Ronny Cedeno.

In the seventh inning of a game the Cubs were leading 7-2 (and would go on to win 9-6), Mets' pitcher Tobias Myers walked Petecrow to lead off the inning. After one of Alex Bregman's patented infield pop ups, Michael Busch walked. Ball four was a pitch that Petecrow attempted to steal second base on. Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez didn't assume ball four, so he threw through to second base. That's when all the dumb broke out.

Second base umpire Stu Scheurwater didn't signal anything, because in his mind it was just Petecrow going from first to second on a walk. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was briefly awoken from the coma that he appears to be in while his Mets amble aimlessly through the schedule. He was hoping that it would be ruled that Petecrow lost contact with the bag as Mets' second baseman Marcus Semien was tagging him.

It brought back shades of an infamous moment 19 years ago. (Has it really been that long?)

It was April 20, 2007 and the Cubs were hosting The Genius, Tony LaRussa and his Cardinals. The Cubs trailed 2-1 in the ninth when with one out Mark DeRosa singled and Lou Piniella sent out Ronny Cedeno to run for DeRosa, carrying the tying run.

The batter was Jock Jones, and I'm going to start the video one pitch before the pitch, so you can see what Jock swings at 3-1. You can almost feel Lou's rage from the dugout which causes him to think, "Fuck it. This asshole's going to strike out. I'd better start the runner."

OK, now watch what happens.

Jock, against all odds, takes ball four with Cedeno running and Yadier Molina throws through. Ronny slides past the bag, but is called safe by second base umpire Ted Barrett.

Cubs' TV announcers Len Kasper and Bob Brenly are confused as to why David Eckstein is throwing a little hissy fit, and then, of course The Genius comes out to argue.

The umpires huddle, and crew chief (and Roscoe, Illinois native) Larry Young decides that Ronny overslid (it's past tense, so it is overslud?) the bag and is out.

That's the key part of this ruling. Cedeno went past the second base bag as he was losing contact with it, and by quite a bit.

We've been making fun of Ronny for this for 19 years. The reasons we got so mad were a) it cost the Cubs the tying run in scoring position in the ninth inning of a game against the Cardinals, b) people were giving Yadi credit for being "smart" when he was just being a red-ass by throwing down when he knew it was ball four, and c) The Genius won the argument and got the ruling changed. Oh, and d) Ronny was a fucking moron.

Now go back to Tuesday night. Pete doesn't really go past the bag. Ronny's ass is in left field when he gets tagged out. Petecrow's barely past the bag and he never is completely off the bag at any point after he passes the bag.

This shot right here is him getting his oven mitt on the bag after he supposedly was out. His right hand isn't past the bag, it's right in the middle of it.

The Mets announcers can't understand why there would be any reason to call Petecrow out.

And they're right. He's not out.

And, you know what?

Neither was Ronny.

Because neither Pete or Ronny attempted to advance to third, which is what you'd have to rule for them to be out when they were entitled to second base because of the walk.

It's basically the same principal that applies at first base when a runner beats out a grounder, and everybody watches to see if he turns towards second base when he turns to return to the bag after running past it or if he turns towards foul territory.

And even that is wrong. Because in order for teams to get to do the thing they love where they tag the runner on his way back to the bag and point to the umps and yell, that runner is only supposed to be ruled out if he makes "an attempt" to advance to second and then returns to the first base bag. The whole "don't turn left to go back to the base thing isn't a rule, it's a coaching point beaten into the head of every player since little league so that there's no way an over-officious jerk umpire can incorrectly rule you out.

Neither PCA or Ronny made any attempt to go to third, which is what would have had to happen for them to be correctly ruled out.

Now if they get up, stand on the bag, then take their lead between second and third and get tagged off the bag they are out, but that's because they have established their position as a baserunner on second and are now leading off for third.

Scheurwater is the crew chief so it was his job to explain to the crowd why Petecrow was being called out, but he botched that. He said Pete "lost possession of the bag" which is not a thing. He didn't fumble a football before his knee touched down. He'd entitled to second base on the walk until he attempts to advance to the next base, which he never did.

In 2007 it was Larry Young being talked into a bad ruling by Tony LaRussa, in 2026 it was apparently just some bored umps in a replay room in New York, going "Should we call him out? Fuck it. Let's do it. It's 7-2, who cares? Ha ha!"

They've never met the Cubs' bullpen, apparently.

So, do we owe Ronny an apology all these years later?

No. He did all kinds of dumb shit as a Cub.

Screw him.