If you've watched baseball this past week, chances are you saw some blown calls by the umpires. It seemed like there was a blown call and a subsequent ejection in virtually every game. There were phantom tags at first base and home plate during the Phillies and Marlins series as well as during the Red Sox and Blue Jays game two days ago. The latter circumstance stirred up quite a bit of talk about the use of replay, prompting me ans many others to adrress this evolving issue.
It was the bottom of the ninth during the Red Sox and Blue Jays game on Tuesday and Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon found himself in an all too familiar sticky situation. The Blue Jays were down to their final out and Edwin Encarnacion was leading off second, representing the tying run. John McDonald was at bat and eventually hit a soft-liner into left field. Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald charged the ball and threw a one hop strike to catcher Jason Varitek who was blocking home plate. The throw beat the hustling Encarnacion and the umpire called him out, ending the game and giving the Red Sox a 3-2 victory. The call looked accurate in real time and even after the first badly angled replay or two, but after a better angled replay was presented it was clear the umpire had blown the call. Varitek's tag came after Encarnacion's right heel swiped the plate; the game should have been tied.
One constant among blown calls, especially on tag plays at second, third, and home is the notion among umpires that if the ball beats the runner then he's automatically presumed to be out. It's absolutely ridiculous. It shouldn't matter when the ball gets there, the only thing that should matter is whether or not the tag was placed on the runner before he touched the bag. This concept goes hand-in-hand with the "in the neighborhood" play at second base during double-plays. Baseball purists will argue that those "human errors" are part of the game. I completely disagree. Human errors are ones made by fielders letting the ball go between their legs or base-runners failing to tag up properly on their way home, not blatantly wrong calls by umpires that affect the outcome of the game. They're two totally different things.
The most important aspect of any game or sport is fair play and getting it right. Many will argue that baseball is slow enough on its own and implementing replay beyond home runs will further slow the game. I disagree. The MLB could adopt the same system used by college football and hockey. They could have another umpire or official upstairs in the booth who reviews every play on the bases and down the left and right field lines. By the time the call on the field is made and the infield throws the ball around to another the replay official upstairs would be able to radio down to the the umpires on the field if the play was wrongly called. It's a fairly simple concept. Now, don't get me wrong. I absolutely do not want balls and strikes to be under replay, but I do think that calls on the bases or at the very least scoring plays at home plate should be reviewed. I hope commisioner Selig and the MLB owners take advantage of the technology available to them and get up to speed with the NFL, NBA, and NHL. If not, I fear Major League Baseball will continue to lose respect and credibility among fans and eventually become an afterthought.
Matthew Anello - I am currently a summer intern at NBC Sports & Olympics and Senior Writer at ChatSports.com for the New York Knicks. I live in Middle ...
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