Last night with a runner on third, Matt Cain (in his 5th one-hit start of the year) bunted a 2-strike pitch to the backstop, and Mike Piazza, ever the defensive genius, hustled to the backstop to catch the ball.  I say that’s a deadball and a strikeout.  The boxscore in my paper indicates it was ruled a foul popout.

From definitions section of the rulebook:

A STRIKE is a legal pitch when so called by the umpire, which—

6.05—“the batter” section
A batter is out when—
(a) His fair or foul fly ball (other than a foul tip) is legally caught by a fielder;
(b) A third strike is legally caught by the catcher;
(d) He bunts foul on third strike;

Which of these things occured first?  We’ve all seen balls in the air that fielders have touched, but not caught, so clearly the touch comes before possession and not simultaneously with it.  I think the proper ruling is that the ball is dead as soon as the ball is touched in foul territory.

However this cannot be the ruling of the official scorer unless the umpire rules it on the field

10.01 “The Official Scorer” section
4) The scorer shall not make any decision conflicting with the Official Playing Rules, or with an umpire?s decision.

So if the ump did not wave deadball at that moment, I don’t think the scorer can tally a K.  But such a ruling could easily have been missed, the scorer ought to ask the ump what the ruling was within his 24 hour window.

A little too much time on your hands? :)

But seriously, I think that it is a foul pop up.  It is not a third strike until it lands foul.  It never landed foul (nor was it dropped by someone in foul territory and then landed foul).

Edited:  Part in parentheses added to be overly anal.

Read again Daryn:

FOUL BALL is a batted ball that . . . while on or over foul territory, touches the person of an umpire or player, or any object foreign to the natural ground.

There’s about 12 more hours before that becomes an official part of the record.

That play might prove to be wholy insignificant or it might decide the K title for the NL this year.

I think you are misinterpreting CXS.  The event of touching the player excludes the event of it being caught by the player.  By your interpretation any foul pop that is caught should instead be ruled a foul ball because it was touched before it was caught.  It doesn’t work that way.

The relevant portion of the Official Scoring Rules
STRIKEOUTS
10.17
(a) A strikeout shall be scored whenever:
(1) A batter is put out by a third strike caught by the catcher;
(2) A batter is put out by a third strike not caught when there is a runner on first before two are out;
(3) A batter becomes a runner because a third strike is not caught;
(4) A batter bunts foul on third strike. EXCEPTION: If such bunt on third strike results in a foul fly caught by any fielder, do not score a strikeout. Credit the fielder who catches such foul fly with a putout.
(b)When the batter leaves the game with two strikes against him, and the substitute batter completes a strikeout, charge the strikeout and the time at bat to the first batter. If the substitute batter completes the turn at bat in any other manner, including a base on balls, score the action as having been that of the substitute batter.

Or, what Bob T said.  It is amazing how almost every eventuality is explicitly covered in the rules.

Another reason it’s considered a foulout and not a strikeout is that the runners could tag up an try to advance on the play.

Thanks Bob.

The rulebook is an amazing document.

What started me off on parsing the play was exactly the possibility of a rhubarb breaking out if the runner on third had attempted to catch everyone off guard with the C at the backstop and tried to score.

What the heck is a CXS?

Your name.  There could have been a comma there for clarity.