Soto’s inside-the-park homer should have been automatic

Good to see someone throwing Joe West under the proverbial bus. Now if only someone would throw him under a literal bus.

Bob Watson, Major League Baseball’s vice president in charge of rules and on-field operation, acknowledged Geovany Soto’s inside-the-park home run Monday night should have been ruled a regular home run, which would have saved Soto from racing around the bases at full speed.

“That’s the way the ground rule reads,” Watson said, referring to the ball hitting above and to the right of an L-shaped yellow line on the left-center-field wall of Minute Maid Park.

Umpire Joe West said he lost sight of the ball, according to Watson, which is why the ball was ruled in play after it hit above the yellow line. Of course, Soto made that a moot point by running around the bases and scoring anyway.

“For me, it wasn’t that difficult a call,” Watson said. “But I’m not an umpire.”