Disputed call costs Phillies in 3-2 loss to Houston

Begin with this: Ryan Howard says he tagged Michael Bourn. That would make this existential debate about where baselines do and do not exist quite moot.

"I know I did," Howard said after the Phillies' 3-2 loss to Houston. "He knows I did, too."

Bourn played coy, saying: "That's between me and Ryan. He was asking me questions, and we were talking about playing video games."

Two hours and 37 minutes of baseball at Citizens Bank Park yielded merely confusion Monday. In the Phillies' coaches' office, pitching coach Rich Dubee leaned back in his chair, closely inspecting the rule book.

Across the hallway, a group of Phillies sat in the clubhouse awaiting an explanation from the umpiring crew. There was none - crew chief Sam Holbrook declined comment.

Charlie Manuel, ejected by umpire Greg Gibson for the second time this season, was baffled by this: Two different explanations for what he thought were identical plays.

Let's say this: If the Phillies miss the postseason by one game, they will remember this night. Forget about the call; Jayson Werth's inexplicably being picked off second base following an intentional walk and Wilson Valdez's failed bunt in the ninth were dreadful gaffes, too.

But the game turned on a disputed call in the eighth. Bourn scored the eventual winning run after he reached base on a bunt up the first-base line. Howard fielded the ball on the grass. He made a diving attempt to tag the speedy Bourn, whose foot touched the grass in foul territory. Gibson called Bourn safe, and Howard and second baseman Chase Utley immediately protested.

Manuel was quick to emerge from the dugout, and he, too, disagreed as the sellout crowd chanted "Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!" He was ejected minutes later.

After a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, Carlos Lee hit a broken-bat flare to left field that scored two former Phillies - Jason Michaels (who led off the inning with a pinch-hit single) and Bourn.

Now this is where the abstract begins. Manuel argued Bourn was out of the baseline. (Howard said he never told the umpires he tagged Bourn, saying it was irrelevant because Bourn was out regardless.)

Rule 7.08(a)(1) is ambiguous. It says, in part: "Any runner is out when - He runs more than three feet away from his baseline to avoid being tagged unless his action is to avoid interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A runner's baseline is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely. . . ."

Howard's tag attempt appeared to occur on the foul side of the first-base line. So it could be argued that Bourn - even though he might have been three feet away from the actual baseline - was in the baseline established by Howard's attempted tag.

That is what Gibson told Manuel. Problem is, Manuel said, Gibson told him the exact opposite on a similar play June 24 when the Phillies beat Cleveland at Citizens Bank Park. In that game, Manuel was ejected in the second inning after Shane Victorino was ruled out of the baseline while trying to avoid a tag by the pitcher, Fausto Carmona.

"In my opinion he established his baseline when he was running in the dirt part, between the two lines," Manuel said. "Then all of a sudden, he goes out. He went out more than you realize, too. He was out of the baseline. He didn't see it that way."

Gibson declined comment after the game.

Holbrook, the crew chief, said this: "Per MLB policy, we're not allowed to talk." It is common practice for umpires to explain a disputed call to reporters following games.

"The rule comes up every year in spring training," Howard said. "It's always under scrutiny. You have to come up with a way to figure it out."

There was confusion: "Really, right now, there is no understanding," Howard said.

There was anger: "After he comments," Victorino said of Gibson, "I'll comment."

And there was disappointment. "These are the kind of games," Manuel said, "that we have to win."