[Colonel_Flagg]

Good catchers tag every hitter after every close third strike.

Correct. This was a good, heads-up play by Pierzynski. He shouldn't be blamed for running out the play to the end. The quality of the umpire's call is another issue, but it's certainly not cheating to run out a play to the end. Angels fans can blame the umpire if they must, but at least half the fault lies with the catcher for not making sure of the out.

[sinkspur]

The ESPN press conference just concluded included somebody from the umpiring crew or an umpiring rep who said they "observed a change in trajectory" of the ball on the replay as the ball went into the catcher's mitt. They even went to the "booth," where Jerry Crawford, a retired ump, was helping with replays.

When it's close, you don't leave any margin for error. The Angels were back on their heels in that situation.