The Call

A piece of baseball history happend on Wednesday night. Video here. The critical play of the White Sox/Angels game was an umpire decision. Description found here.
Just thought I'd offer some thoughts of my own. First, let me say that I thought the umpire blew the call. It appears to me that Paul caught the ball to complete the strikeout. Others have differing opinions. The play was close and the umpire is in a particularly bad spot to make that call. Reports are that the 3rd base umpire didn't see it clearly either. Which shouldn't be a surprise. Any play that is disputed during frame by frame replays would be tough for someone 90 feet away.
The real problem is what happened next. The umpire's 'mechanic' had a sideways motion that apparently means 'no contact'. He also has a fist pump that means both 'strike' and 'out'. He used the fist pump and mass confusion occured. But...the replay shows that Paul rolls the ball back towards the mound before the fist pump. And most of the Angels position players move when Paul reacts. Clearly, Paul thought he'd caught the ball and the inning was over. But...the umpire never called the runner out. AJ had been behind the plate all night listening to the umpire. He reacted differently. Quite the heads up play.
So, if you think the ump blew the call, the situation has given the White Sox an extra out. With one runner on first and two outs. If the Angels can get one last out, the game goes on to the 10th. Bad calls happen in baseball. Earlier in the game, the Sox had a runner doubled off of second in a call I thought was horrible. With perfect umpiring, maybe that run scores. The human element is part of the game.
In any case, I'll take it.