Chicago ? As calls go, the odor from this one was worse than anything that ever emanated from the old Chicago Stockyards.

The Angels didn’t really lose Game 2 of the ALCS, 2-1.

Plate umpire Doug Eddings took it, swiped it from right under their noses as they stood there watching in astonishment.

This wasn’t just a screwup. It was the worst postseason botch by an umpire since Don Denkinger blew that infamous play at first base in the 1985 World Series.

Amazing, isn’t it? Every time you think you’ve seen everything there is to see in baseball, the game slyly winks and shows you something new.

TV replays don’t lie, and they not only seemed to show Angels catcher Josh Paul catching the ball thrown by Kelvim Escobar before it hit the ground, they officially caught Eddings ringing up A.J. Pierzynski, who swung and missed, for the final out of a tense 1-1 game in the bottom of the ninth here Wednesday night.

Paul sure thought that’s what happened. So did everyone in U.S. Cellular Field and the millions watching on national television.

That was it. Ninth inning over. Start the 10th.

Except Eddings’ bizarre decision extended the inning, giving the White Sox not only a runner at first, but an extra out, something Joe Crede quickly took advantage of by doubling home the so-called “winning” run.

“It was a swing, our catcher caught it, Doug Eddings called him out,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “And somewhere along the line, because the guy (Pierzynski) ran to first base, he altered the call.”

That’s the real essence of this juicy controversy. Eddings claimed it was just his “strike-three mechanism,” and not a ruling that the batter was out. The Angels, to a man, vehemently disagreed.

As Paul pointed out in the Angels’ clubhouse, almost all umpires shout “No catch, no catch,” in those circumstances.

By his own admission, Eddings did not.

What made this even worse is that none of the other five umpires, including crew chief Jerry Crawford, had the courage to override what clearly was a terrible call.

Scioscia understandably was screaming at all of them after the decision, coming out three times before play resumed. He even ran down to right field to plead his case to Crawford.

“He just said, ‘Hey, he called him out,'” Crawford said. “I said, ‘Mike, he didn’t call him out.’ I said, ‘He called it a strike.'”

That’s what Crawford and major league baseball wants the world to think, anyway.

Sorry, guys, but it is impossible to buy that theory. If it wasn’t a strikeout, Eddings should have signaled either with his hands or his voice that the ball was still in play. He owed that much after his so-called mechanism of flashing the thumb sign that usually means an out.

Eddings will take a lot of heat for this, especially in Orange County. He is a human being, and he can make a mistake like anyone else.

But he, or any of his fellow umpires, could have made it a lot better if they’d only been honest and mentioned the possibility that they might have been wrong. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t, or couldn’t.

So it is difficult to sympathize.

By failing to at least suggest there might have been a mistake, they have to realize they’ve not done Eddings any favors.

He now is apt to be one very lonely, blue-clad figure this weekend in Anaheim.