Mike Port, baseball’s vice president in charge of umpiring, on what and what isn’t an out:

According to M.L.B., the second-base umpire Jerry Layne made the right decision when he called Cabrera safe on what should have been a routine double play. Television replays confirmed that Aybar never made contact with the bag while he had the ball in his possession.

“The right call, and in my opinion, a tremendous call,” said Mike Port, baseball’s vice president in charge of umpiring.

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For instance, there is no such thing as tie goes to the runner. And pitches are not strikes if they go over the so-called “black” part of the plate for the simple reason that there is no black part of the plate in Major League Baseball.

And umpires do not give credit to a fielder for making a good throw, Port said. If a tag is not made before the runner hits the bag, then the umpire is supposed to call him safe.

If the wrong call is made, Port said it is only because the umpire missed it, not because of some unwritten rule book that umpires follow.

Port said umpires have two choices: “Safe or out. Ball or strike. Fair or foul. There is no third category.”

The play from Saturday night’s game, demonstrated something else. Tim McCarver originally thought that Aybar had not touched the bag on other plays. He had. When I was growing up, it was common knowledge that first basemen “cheated” by taking their foot off the bag to extend their stretch on throws. No one talks about this anymore because it doesn’t happen. Every replay I saw of “cheating” showed the first baseman holding the bag. What happens is that the first baseman’s foot comes off the bag very quickly after the catch, so if you’re watching in real time, and you’re looking for it, the cheating is there.

Are runners called out at second when the pivot man fails to touch the bag? Yes, but those are bad calls, just like when someone is called safe when a first baseman’s foot is off the bag.