Thursday, June 3, 2010

Wanted: replay in baseball

I wonder if you will believe me or not, but I have wanted instant replay in baseball for a long time.
Forget what happened in Detroit on Wednesday night, when an obvious blown call by respected umpire Jim Joyce caused Armando Galarraga a perfect game against the Cleveland Indians.
Joyce admitted he blew the call. Baseball did the right thing in not overturning the call. Obla Di, Obla Da, Life goes on.
MLB Commissioner Dud Selig, uh, I mean, Bud Selig, has confirmed that he will look into expanding instant replay in some capacity.
Long overdue.
Currently MLB replays questionable homerun calls. It needs to go deeper than that. The game is quicker, the umpires are not. They are older, more out of position (more out of shape too) and slower to react. There needs to be a safeguard in place that will protect the integrity of the game going forward.
I love the human element of officiating in sports. But the camera is quicker than the eye. Tennis has the eagle eye replay. Hockey has replays to make sure the puck did or didn't completely cross the goal line. Football allows coaches and the replay official in the booth to challenge a variety of calls.

Wednesday night's events show that it's not just a homerun that can impact the game. Detroit still won the game so the blown call didn't hurt in this case.
But suppose, just suppose, there was instant replay available in the Bartman Game at Wrigley Field in 2003. Or suppose during the 1985 World Series there was replay available on the infamous Don Denkinger call. The Cardinals would have won that series in six games.
There are too many close plays where the naked eye could be wrong. Replay would also help get rid of bad calls made due to unwritten rules, such as "if the ball beats the runner to the bag he is out." I've seen lots of player slide under a tag and replay confirms it.
It would also eliminate the second base vicinity rule, aka the Shawon Dunston rule. That's where if a player making the pivot on a double play at second is within an area code of the base, the runner is called out even though 90% of the time, the defensive player is already off the bag or nowhere near the bag when he receives the ball.
Unfortunately, replay won't help my biggest problem with umpiring ..... the strike zone. Actually we don't need replay to fix that issue. Baseball's rules define the strike zone. Nowhere does it give the umpires the authority to adjust the zone. Selig needs to man-up and tell umpires to call the zone as baseball dictates or have a seat in the bleachers.
Those against replay say it would make the game, which goes at a snail's pace at times already, even longer.
Not true. Replay, I hope, would eliminate a lot of the arguing that can delay a game. And it shouldn't take too long to look at the replay and decide if the right call was made.
So what are some of the plays that should be reviewable? I'm glad you asked.
1) Out or safe on a play at any base.
2) Did a fielder catch or trap the ball?
3) Did a ball clear the outfield wall for a homerun?
4) Is a batted ball fair or foul?

Trivia time
Since we are sort of talking about perfect games, I wonder who knows this answer ..... without looking it up: Who is the only catcher to catch two perfect games? For a bonus point, name the pitchers who threw them. Hint: He caught one in each league. Hint No. 2: He was a northsider and a southsider.

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