KIDS THESE DAYS:

With the knowledge that not all readers are baseball fans, here is a brief explanation of a baseball batter’s “count.”

Each batter has two options. Option 1 is to do something to get on base. Option 2 is to do something to get “out” and go sit in the dugout with your teammates.

One option for getting on base is to get four bad pitches. Those are called “balls.”

One option for getting out is to get three good pitches and not hit any of them. Those are called “strikes.” Together, the number of balls and strikes make up the count. Balls are indicated first in the count, then strikes. So a 2-2 count means the batter has two balls and two strikes.

In the fourth inning of a Sept. 4 game, Angels’ rookie second-string second baseman Sean Rodriguez was facing a 2-2 count when the umpire, Tim Welke, asked the opposing catcher, Brandon Inge, what the count was. Asking the opposing catcher to confirm the count is like asking a political candidate to conduct his own poll and report the results as gospel.

They’re already doing that? OK, bad example, but you get the idea.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Rodriguez said, “[Inge] said he thought it was 1-2, and I said I thought it was 1-2 also,” Rodriguez said. “He thanked me for my honesty.”

So Welke asked to have the scoreboard reflect the unanimous decision that the count was 1-2. The trouble was that the count was actually 2-2, meaning Rodriguez was robbed of a significant advantage in his plate appearance.

Welke had the scoreboard reset to 1-2, and Rodriguez continued his at-bat. On what should have made the count 4-2 and given Rodriguez a trip to first base, he continued to bat because the official count had been changed, and it was now showing 3-2.

Rodriguez wound up striking out.

The lesson for our kids is not that major league umpires make mistakes. Everyone knows that. The lesson comes from what happens next.

Before his next at-bat, all of the parties involved had been told what had happened — that Rodriguez had struck out on a 4-2 count.

In an unprecedented act of decency and honesty, Welke apologized to Rodriguez during his next at-bat.

Back to The Times story: “I told him don’t worry about it,” Rodriguez said. “It was more my fault than his. I struck out on a 4-2 pitch. How many guys do that?”

So what we have is an umpire, a person in a position of supreme authority in an important sporting event, freely admitting that he made a mistake.

Then we have a professional baseball player — you know, the guys who are supposed to be the prima donnas with the big egos — who accepted the apology and moved on.

But wait, there’s more.

According to other reports, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia realized the mistake after Rodriguez struck out.

“That’s something that slipped by us,” Scioscia said. “He reset the count from 2-and-2 to 1-and-2. We just missed it.”

Huh? “We just missed it?” Is that any example to set for kids? Scioscia is supposed to rant and rave and kick dirt on the umpire. Then, after he gets thrown out, he’s supposed to file a protest with the league office.

Instead, what we got are three people who each owned part of this mistake. The umpire could have swept this under the rug and said “Play ball!” and he certainly did not have to apologize to Rodriguez.

Then, by not blaming Welke for any bad consequences, Rodriguez acknowledged his part in the affair.

All that is followed by the admission by Scioscia that he’d been asleep at the wheel.

There is a great lesson here for kids involved not only in sports, but life. That is, the sooner and more completely you own your part, the more respect you will command.

There is, however, one exception. That stonewalling, finger-pointing, denial stuff does work in politics.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to [email protected].