I just happened to be watching the last inning of tonight's ALCS match pitting the Chicago White Sox against the Los Angeles Angels, and I tuned in just in time for a travesty of justice. Angels catcher Josh Paul caught a very low pitch thrown by relief pitcher Kelvim Escobar, striking out White Sox batter A.J. Pierzynski. Right?

Apparently not. The pitch was so low that Pierzynski thought it had hit the ground. If the ball hits the ground on a third strike, a batter is allowed to run for first base. And that's exactly what Pierzynski did. The home plate umpire, Doug Eddings, apparently called a third strike, but Pierzynski didn't hear the umpire call him out, so he assumed that the ball had hit the ground and ran for first base. Sure, I enjoy baseball. But I have no heartfelt connections to either the Angels or the White Sox. Looking at the replay, it's clear that Josh Paul caught the ball before it hit the ground. It was extremely close, but he did it. Eddings apparently didn't call Pierzynski out, and after an umpire conference, the head umpire determined that the ruling had to stand. The score was tied 1-1 and it was the second out of the ninth inning. The inning should have been over. But the next batter up hit the ball to deep left field, allowing the runner on second to score. The White Sox won -- but they shouldn't have.

So, catcher Josh Paul now has an error on his record that doesn't belong there. Sure, maybe if he had thrown the ball to first, things would have been fine. But he knew he caught the ball and that Pierzynski was out. "So why throw it to first?" he thought. But the error on his record is actually the umpire's record, since the home plate umpire failed to let Pierzynski know that he was out. This game will go down in history as one of the great disputed sports matches. The White Sox didn't win because they were superior to their opponents; they won because of a bad call, a technicality. At least this wasn't game seven, or there would have been riots in the streets.