Mets Win... But Was Reyes Safe

First... from a Mets fan. Metsblog.com:

…on the final play of the game, reyes may actually have been out, but, wow, it was close…it was a bang-bang play…the umpire was between reyes and the backstop, with the catcher on the other side, so if he did tag reyes on the back – before touching home – then the ump would not have known anyway…nevertheless, he was called safe, so he was safe…

Next... from a Phillies fan. Bugs&Cranks.com

It’s like 12:45 here in Philly. I’m pretty much exhausted from watching the (incredible) 12 inning marathon that was the Phils/Mets game, so I’m going to spare you the whiney, “That was BULLS**T!” rhetoric. Instead, I’m just posting a few pictures from the overhead camera on SNY and let the screen shots speak for themselves. I’ll let you decide whether or not this should’ve been the third out in the bottom of the twelfth.

btw, the tag had already been applied by the first picture. Reyes misses the plate completely with his right hand, and finally stutters in with his left hand a full second after Coste tagged him out.

Ahhh nevermind, I can’t help myself — That was BULLS**T!

And finally... a non biased opinion. Sporting news.com

Jayson Werth's strong throw home made it a surprisingly close play on the speedy Reyes, who slid around catcher Chris Coste and appeared to touch the plate with his left hand just before Coste applied the tag.

Plate umpire Ted Barrett immediately signaled safe, and Phillies manager Charlie Manuel popped out of the dugout for a brief argument as the Mets celebrated nearby.

"Safe, yes," Reyes said. "He hit the ball hard and they were playing kind of shallow. He made a perfect throw. It made the play closer than I thought."

After watching the replay, the Phillies disagreed with the call.

"The guy was out," Manuel said. "He didn't make it. Maybe Ted wanted to go home. He told me he got there first. Maybe he ought to go look at it."

Funny how Charlie Manuel refers to Jose Reyes (an All-Star) as "The guy".

To sum it up - Ted Barrett, the homeplate ump, appeared to be out of position. Whether or not it was the correct call could be argued for days. Regardless, it's a break for the Mets, which is something they haven't gotten a lot of when playing the Phils lately. Phillies fans seem to have forgetten about this play - a very controversial play that ended a game last year. All in all, the calls eventually even themselves out. It is frustrating as a fan though to have to deal with those calls when they go against your team.

These two teams will resume battle next Friday. Santana is scheduled to be on the mound for the Mets and if the Phils pitchers are on the same schedule, it will be Hamels for the home team. Should be a great matchup! Hopefully both teams are at full strength and there are no excuses to be made by the winners or the losers at the end.

I will be at the 1st two games... wearing this jersey :)

LGM!