THe walking toward the dugout is legit - he just swung and missed and it took a second to realize he was never called out. I can see that. Stopping at first I can't dismiss right away - for the zillion times I've seen that play I can't recall where the ball was in relation to any Angels by the time he was at first. Too many beers by then for my memory to replay it perfectly. You raised a key question with that.
Either can I, but you would think if he truly believed (which i dont, i think hes lying) that the ball was live, he would have proceeded to round the bases instead of stopping at first and waiting for yet another ump to tell him.