Seriously? Did that really just happen? You mean this stinking awful rotten series wasn't a horrible nightmare? Yikes.
Recap:
Monday: Do you even want to know? Ugly ugly ugly.
Tuesday: Twins 3 - A's 2
Wednesday: Even uglier than Monday's
Ok, so it's over. Put it in the past.
Besides, I don't have anything to say that wouldn't be incredibly depressing or offensive (Hi Mom!). So I'll just leave it alone.
~~~
Well, wait. I do want to say something about the series. I have some thoughts about The Play. You know The Play -- the one at home plate with Cuddyer, and the bad call, and the resulting punch in the proverbial gut? Well, I don't actually want to talk about The Play; I want to talk about The Fallout From The Play.
Gardy wants baseball to adopt a "red flag" ruling like football has -- a way to announce to the officials that the manager begs to differ with the call and would like them to take a look at the film. I don't agree. Nope, not at all.
I'm against instant-replay, and I have been for a long time. I am willing to tolerate the current homerun-or-not-fair-or-foul replay baseball has -- there aren't umpires at the fair poles, and it might be hard to see that far away. However, I really can't stand the thought of any more possible instances.
I know the idea of IR is to "get the call right." However, there is every reason to believe that a play at home plate, where an umpire resides the whole game, will be called correctly 99.9% of the time. In this particular case, the umpire was out of position to make a good call. His bad. Yeah, I'm mad at him, and he should probably be disciplined for the gaffe, but in reality, he screwed up -- nothing more. And nothing more should be made of it. Who hasn't messed up the job? (No, please don't ask my boss if I have. He might enjoy relating those stories too much.)
It's understandable to react like Gardy did. But the true test would be to ask him if the tables were turned and we WON on a blown call, would he feel the same way. I can't speak for him, but I kind of doubt it.
~~~
Keeping Up on the Bull Pen Revolving Door:
After Wednesday's game, Kevin Mulvey was sent down and Jesse Crain was called back up.
Oh, it sounds like Joe Crede and/or Glen Perkins might land on the DL. There seems to be a shoulder virus going around.
2 comments:
Yeah--I've never seen a manager go out to an ump and say, "Hey, my guy was out by a country mile, take the run off the board." These calls happen every day of the season, every year.
I'm not so sure why everyone wants instant replay--the "forefathers" of the game didn't have that benefit. One thing I would change is to give more of a gap between the outfield wall and the fans--nothing upsets me more than some stupid fan sticking out a glove or hand and interrupting a play, fair or foul. It's in the "don'ts" before the game--why doesn't anyone listen? Oops. /topic hijack :)
These calls happen every day of the season, every year.
Fortunately for MLB and the umpires, that is not true. To the umps' collective credit, calls blown as badly as the Cuddy play at the play don't happen every day. Not even close.
I'm also against expansion of instant replay. I don't think the disruption to the game of NFL instant replay is worth the result. So many bad calls in the NFL stand, because the replay is inconclusive or the play is not reviewable. I don't think MLB needs to go down that same path.
That said, when there is a call so obviously blown, I think MLB needs to acknowledge it and give fans a sense that they're working to make sure they stay rare and don't become accepted as "part of the game" that "happens every day." That is false. And laughable. And embarrassing to MLB and the umpires. And just not acceptable to me as a fan.
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