This column originally ran in The Standard-Times on March 9, 2014.

By Nick Tavares

Despite the cold and the calendar still declaring us within the confines of winter, as far as baseball is concerned it's already spring.

But save for the Marlins brass having an internal meltdown after the Red Sox brought a less-than-star-studded lineup to their park in Jupiter, and Jake Peavy nearly cutting off his left index finger, it's been a quiet spring. Players are tuning up and coaches are figuring out final spots, and the Red Sox are feeling good entering a season on top of the baseball world.

So before things blow up, let's look at last season and a major mistake that might have been missed by the baseball masses. Namely, a misplaced loss in the World Series.

A friend of mine e-mailed me a couple of weeks ago with this particular question regarding Game 3, which is mainly remembered for Allen Craig scoring the winning run on an obstruction call on Will Middlebrooks after catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia threw down trying to nab Craig.

The focus, of course, was on that call for the next 20 hours before Game 4. It was a mental mistake by Saltalamacchia, an arguable yet correct call by the umpire and it put the Red Sox in a 2-1 hole from which they, famously, rebounded.

Brandon Workman was credited with the loss in that game, but Koji Uehara was on the mound when the winning run scored. So how did this happen?

Workman had entered the game to start the eighth inning and remained for the ninth. He struck out the first batter, Matt Adams, to start. The second batter, Yadier Molina, singled to right field in front of Shane Victorino.

At this point, John Farrell made the switch and brought Uehara into the game. The first batter he faced, Craig, doubled on the first pitch. The second, John Jay, hit it to Dustin Pedroia at second base, who threw home to erase Molina on a fielder's choice for the second out.

It was here that chaos took over: Saltalamacchia tried to nail Craig rounding third, the ball skipped past Middlebrooks, and third base umpire Jim Joyce awarded Craig home plate when he declared that Middlebrooks had interfered with the runner.

Workman would have been responsible for Molina on the bases, and Uehara for Craig. When Molina was called out at home on Pedroia's throw, it seems that Workman should have been erased from the decision. Had Craig stayed at third, Uehara would have faced Pete Kozma with two outs in the inning and Craig would've been his responsibility.

In looking over rule 10.17, which dictates who is credited with wins and losses, it doesn't mention whether an obstruction call should have changed the decision in the game. The most it says in this respect, in section (d), is, "a losing pitcher is a pitcher who is responsible for the run that gives the winning team a lead that the winning team does not relinquish."

Under that reading, Uehara was responsible for Craig. He scored the run that gave the Cardinals the lead and the win, and Uehara seemingly should have been credited with the loss.

Ultimately, this isn't a major deal, and pitcher wins and losses aren't as meaningful as much as they are symbolic anymore. And it's understandable; the play unfolded so quickly that it would've been easy to think that Workman was still on the hook.

All challenges to the official scorer's decisions must be reviewed and made within 24 hours, and with all the focus on the obstruction call, it's easy to see how this was missed entirely.

Still, it's a curious footnote to a World Series that turned out to be a memorable and entertaining one. The Game3 loss becomes a chapter in the Red Sox' championship story, and the team is already at work defending that title now.

So before those new chapters are written, now seemed like a good time to look back at a curiosity from one of the last meaningful games we saw.

Nick Tavares' column appears Sundays in The Standard-Times and at SouthCoastToday.com. He can be reached at nick@nicktavares.com