Baseball's human error factor could affect World Series
With all the blown calls in the Major League Baseball postseason this year, the league should expand its use of replay to improve the quality of the game.
Currently, the MLB only uses replay for "boundary calls," which are calls that focus on whether or not a home run had gone over the fence or whether a home run was fair of foul. This new rule was only introduced to the game in August 2008 after a plethora of missed home run calls that season. Baseball is the only sport that seems to be resistant to using replay to get the call right.
Many "baseball purists," including MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, argue that overuse of replay could delay the game too much. These people also argue that human error is part of the mystique of the American pastime. First of all, most baseball games are about two and a half to three hours long, which does not include postseason games which are more than three hours long because of the elongated commercial breaks between half innings. Taking two to three minutes more per game to get the calls right seems to be fair addition to the rule book to keep the integrity of baseball intact.
Human error should not be an integral part of baseball now that there is the technology to assist the umpires in making the correct call. The MLB should use the modern technology available to them to make to outcome of the game be based on teams' performances, not a blown call by an umpire.
I am not saying that baseball should be officiated by robots, certainly ball and strike calls cannot be reviewed by replay because those calls are subjective to the interpretation of the umpire. However, calls on the bases and whether or not a ball is caught are certainly areas where replay could help the umpires and managers a great deal. For instance, in Game Four of the American League Championship Series this postseason, New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada and second baseman Robinson Cano were both near third base, but they were both clearly off the bag. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim catcher Mike Napoli tagged them both, and they should have both been called out. Instead, third base umpire Tim McClelland mistakenly called Posada safe and Cano out. On several replays that followed it was clear that both Posada and Cano were out, yet McClelland blew the call. Replay could have been used to help McClelland make the correct call, but that option was not available to him.
I hope the MLB will change its stubborn ways before a blown call affects the outcome of a World Series.
(c) 2007 Daily Skiff.
MLB must make right call and expand replay help for umps
It pains me to advocate a replay system that could extend Major League Baseball games into more of a sports version of ''War and Peace,'' but this breakout postseason of umpires gone blind is ridiculous.
Sometimes, you have to put aside baseball tradition for the sake of doing the right thing. Like avoiding the disaster of possibly having the wrong team in the World Series.
Rather than just have instant replay to decide home runs, it's time for baseball to expand the system to allow managers one challenge per game on safe-or-out and fair-or-foul calls (non-home runs only). Almost like the NFL, if a challenge gets a call overturned, the manager retains his challenge, but loses the privilege for the rest of the game once an on-field ruling is confirmed.
This won't be an easy change, especially because replay would have to be negotiated in labor talks. But better for a radical transformation of the rules than having an umpire's gaffe cost someone a championship.
If you've been watching the playoffs, it's been one black eye after another for the men in blue. Plays that should be rather obvious judgments, even before television gives viewers multiple looks, are being missed by umpires deemed to be the best MLB has to offer.
Unlike football or basketball, where officials have a tougher job because it's more difficult to anticipate a call or sometimes get in the correct position, an umpire should be right more often. Outside of calling pitches, where the strike zone can vary a bit depending on the home-plate umpire, it's pretty rare for umpires at the highest level to flat out miss the easy stuff.
Yet for whatever reason, they're almost matching the players error for error since the playoffs began. Instead of a one-time thing, it seems like a once-every-game thing.
Game 4 of the AL Championship Series, thankfully a lopsided 10-1 win for the New York Yankees over the Los Angeles Angels, was a nightmare. Umpire Tim McClelland watched Angels catcher Mike Napoli tag out both Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano, after Posada was caught in a rundown, as both of them were clearly off the third-base bag. Shockingly, he only called Posada out.
McClelland also ruled Nick Swisher out for leaving third base too early when scoring on a sacrifice fly, but replays showed he waited until the ball was caught. Moments earlier, replays showed Swisher was picked off at second base, only to be called safe.
There were also blown calls in three of the four division series games, the most egregious being a ground-rule double by the Minnesota Twins' Joe Mauer that was called foul, costing the Twins a go-ahead run in the 11th inning. The Yankees eventually won 4-3.
It's been one umpire blooper after another. Rather than wait for this to really blow up in baseball's face, it's time to take full advantage of replay technology.
Not just for the sake of the umpires, but for the good of the game.
(c) The Florida Times-Union. All Rights Reserved.
Foul Umpiring: Something Stinks About MLB Playoffs
Bad umpiring and white hankies have once again stamped their deleterious effects on Major League Baseball's post-season playoffs. And the 2009 playoffs aren't even at the midway point.
Although umpiring is not a perfect science, players and managers grudgingly accept questionable rulings most of the time through the regular seasons. But they should have the right to expect excellence from umpires working the all-important playoff games because it is assumed that the best umpires are chosen for these assignments.
Yet throughout the American and National League Division Series that ended last Sunday and Monday, respectively, there were enough bad calls to make umpires admit to poor judgments and display some rare embarrassment.
The worst blunder came nine days ago in the second ALDS game at Yankee Stadium between the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins.
Joe Mauer, currently one of the two or three best hitters in MLB, led off the top of the 11th inning for Minnesota. The superb left-handed batter sliced a fly ball out over third base and down the left field line. It landed at least a foot fair inside the left field foul line. The ball bounced into the left field seats for what should have been a ground-rule double.
For some inexplicable reason, Umpire Phil Cuzzi called the ball foul.
This was a ball that everyone in Yankee Stadium and millions of TV viewers saw was clearly fair. Television replays kept showing Cuzzi's major gaffe. Following the game Cuzzi and the other umpires admitted he blew it, and badly.
What followed showed how such a terrible call can play havoc with the result and possibly ruin an entire year's work by a team.
Mauer stayed in the batter's box and eventually singled off the Yankee relief pitcher, Dave Robertson. Then Jason Kubel and Mike Cuddyer singled. These three consecutive singles did no more than load the bases for the Twins with nobody out.
Had Mauer been awarded his rightful place at second base with a double to start the 11th inning, he surely would have scored to break the 3-3 tie on the first or second of those subsequent singles. As it was, the Yanks and Robertson got the Twins out without allowing them to score. Then Mike Teixeira won the game for the Yanks with a home run in the bottom of the 11th.
MLB assigns four umpires to all regular-season games but six umpires for playoff, World Series and All-Star games. Ironically, one of these two extras is stationed well down each foul line for the sole purpose of seeing that balls hit to the outfield that land near or on a foul line or foul pole are correctly called fair or foul. Thus Cuzzi, working the left field line, simply botched his primary duty.
Of course the Twins and their fans will forever wonder, "If Mauer got the double and scored would the Twins have scored more and won the game to turn the ALCS around to 1-1 instead of 2-0 for the Yanks who swept the Twins in the series, 3-0?"
That is why "if" is the biggest two letter word in our language and for some, "umpire" is a dirty word.
Cuzzi's blunder was the worst of numerous umpiring miscues in this year's playoffs during which the strike zone is expanding and contracting like an elastic band. I hope for the day when there is a uniform strike zone that pitchers and batters can rely upon. I am tired of listening to broadcasters say a given umpire's strike zone is OK "as long as he is consistent throughout the game".
That is hogwash. No umpire should set the strike zone. It is set by MLB rules. Unfortunately, few umpires stick to that rule.
Another very bad call cost the Phillies a run in the bottom of the sixth inning of their first NLCS game against the Colorado Rockies. With two men out and a runner on third, the Phils' Jimmy Rollins hit a ball to the Rockies' second baseman, Clint Barmes, who bobbled the ball. Although Barmes recovered and threw to Todd Helton at first base, the throw was too late as Rollins, one of baseball's fastest runners, beat the toss.
But Bob Davidson, the umpire at first, called Rollins out. This cost the Phils a run but did not really impact the outcome as the Phils had already scored 5 runs and won, 5-1. However, it was just another glaring mistake by a MLB umpire.
The white hankies or towels that are handed out to fans when they enter MLB stadiums are becoming a real impediment for players, particularly outfielders attempting to catch low line drives. Usually these hankies (about 12 inches by 12 inches) are white on one side and have team colors on the other side. But when fans wave them over their heads as their home team is at bat the hankies appear to be mostly white.
Then, when a home team player hits a ball that remains below the sight line of the last row of seats, an outfielder can lose the ball in the swirling mass of thousands and thousands of white hankies waving in the stands.
The Detroit Tigers' left fielder, Ryan Raburn, lost just such a ball at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Oct. 6, when the Twins beat the Tigers, 6-5, in 12 innings in the one-game playoff to decide the AL Central Division championship. Also, the Rockies outfielders had some problems in Philadelphia with fly balls they could not pick up against that background of Phillies fans waving white hankies.
Keep your fingers crossed that umpiring improves during the remaining ALCS and NLCS games and the World Series and that someone will deep six the white hankies.
Year in and year out MLB officials from the commissioner down through the chief of umpires and working umpires themselves claim umpires do a superb job. I disagree that all MLB umpires do a good job. Those who do not perform should be gone along with the white hankies.
(c) The Pilot LLC.
MLB and Instant Replay: What's So Impure About Getting It Right?
It's not often I change my mind. Friends and family would say that's because I'm stubborn.
I think it's because I don't rush to judgment. Before I form an opinion, I try to do the following: (A) find as many facts as possible; (B) see both sides of the situation; and (C) eliminate as much bias as possible. Furthermore, I think I'm pretty good at all three tasks.
In short, I'm trying to say there's a very good chance I'm stubborn.
This is pertinent because what I'm about to write was not my initial reaction to the current wave of outcries demanding instant replay in Major League Baseball.
I'm not in the chilly States of Colorado, Minnesota, or Massachusetts, but I bet the radios are burning up with justified urgency regarding the matter. That is, of course, if Beantowners can spare the time in between calls for Jonathan Papelbon's job.
Apparently, that last item isn't a joke--a story for a different day.
As far as paid professionals, FOX Sports' Kevin Hench made his voice heard on the matter, as did ESPN's Buster Olney.
Sorry folks, I'm not an Insider, but Hench's was probably better anyway.
The FOX writer did an excellent job of mentioning only the essential abominations "rendered" by the umpires thus far in October Baseball. He even spared C.B. Bucknor a richly deserved reaming--C.B.'s calls are BY FAR the worst of a horrendous postseason for the blues...and the Championship Series haven't even started.
Bucknor's boners didn't ultimately matter too much, so Hench instead focused on the other butcher jobs that did materially alter the courses of games. I don't know if it was intentional, but it was an inspired choice as far as I'm concerned.
Without the emphasis on C.B., I realized that Hench was being generous and, yet, seeing the laundry list of blunders still made for a disgusting array.
It's an irresistible collection of errors made by the men entrusted with officiating the culmination of so much time, money, and effort invested by men who have but a brief window in which to reach the Promised Land. You just can't argue against the need for something drastic to be done before the Bill Buckner of umpiring is born.
Or worse--a call that actually costs a team the World Series.
Especially because it seems the umpires are getting worse, not better.
As long as I've been a die-hard baseball fan, I can't remember a second season with this many shameful exercises in misjudgment. Maybe it's because the wrong umpires are being handed the jobs, but I'm not sure that's an argument against replay--it'd be easier to spot poor umps if they're constantly being overruled.
Granted, let's not get carried away. At heart, I'm a baseball purist.
I love the National League because it's the way baseball is supposed to be played. Or at least was when I played. You're supposed to want to hit--it was always the reward for shagging flies and taking infield (ironically, I always liked defense better).
This included the pitcher.
Furthermore, the designated hitter is the one-night-stand of the sport--Mom, skip this part--it's a cheap thrill that requires a shower and several days of self-reflection afterward.
C'mon--tell me Jason Giambi's game-tying single as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the eighth on Monday wasn't infinitely more satisfying than seeing him flail away three or four times as a DH. But, again, that's an argument for a different day.
Back to the purist in me.
When it comes to the diamond, I can appreciate the value of a certain amount of human error. It's a provocative wild card that inspires conversation about what is ultimately a trivial game (except for the teams and fanbases that directly suffer the slight). Additionally, it nostalgically connects the present game with its sepia years.
More persuasively, the contests are already slow enough--it used to be that a six-hour, nine-inning game had about 45 runs scored between the two teams. Now, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox might flirt with that territory in a 6-5 affair.
Baseball Gods forbid, you heap a bunch of new stoppages onto that mess.
Consequently, I'm not advocating an optional replay within the purview of either manager, similar to what we have in the National Football League.
Hench lightly touched on an idea that I think has real merit--an additional replay official in a booth with access to all the slow-motion replay angles the television audience has and the ability to manipulate them (or someone trained to do so).
If that umpire can't decide whether the play was correctly called by the time the next pitch is thrown, the call stands.
Thusly, the game wouldn't be artificially lengthened by replay and the human element would remain via genuinely bang-bang calls that couldn't be conclusively reviewed by the time the irate manager or coach or player had his say.
You want icing on that cake?
It'd be a perfect excuse to simultaneously introduce, say, a 10-second limit on the batter and pitcher in between the action. Such a rule would be necessary to prevent stalling by whichever side stood to benefit from a conclusive replay.
There would be loopholes--for example, a pitcher could repeatedly throw to first--so the actual men on the field would still come into play. I'm sure other tweaks would be necessary, but think about the basic idea for a second.
As others have observed, it takes all of two seconds for the television audience to see when a play is blown as badly as many of these have been blown. Honestly, the specimens by Bucknor could've been overturned in essentially real-time by an official watching the television feeds.
Now consider how much time Terry Francona spent out there arguing, which wasn't very long by Major League tantrum standards--even the non-ejection variety.
With a little help from the magic of wireless connectivity, both calls could've been reversed before Francona even made it to first base.
On the tougher calls, the game still wouldn't be delayed any more than it currently is because a manager can keep coming out of the dugout, close play after close play. As far as I can tell, the only limitation rests within the umpires' discretion and that wouldn't have to change.
If a manager started abusing his ability to disrupt play--a possibility that already exists--in order to facilitate replays, the crew chief or whoever could step in--as he would now.
Deployed correctly, the only impact on baseball would be fewer botched calls.
And even a purist has to be in favor of that.
(c) 2009 Bleacher Report, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Joba does not rule over KC
"It's his first year as a full-time starter," Girardi said. "He had his ups and downs, there's no question about it. I think he's learned a lot this year, and there are some decisions that we have to make." "If they want me to fold towels, I'll fold towels," Chamberlain said. "I don't really care. I'll do anything to win on this team."
That's the response from both Joe Girardi and Joba Chamberlain following Joba's pitching performance against the Royals. He went 3 2/3 innings, giving up 3 ER on 7 hits while walking 4 (he struck out 3). The Yankees lost after some shoddy bullpen work from Damaso Marte and Sergio Mitre, though they kept it close and almost rallied against Joakim Soria. The final score was 3-4.
What do you make of Joba? At this point, I wonder if he could even fold a towel without walking somehow walking someone. Sure, that doesn't make sense, but it gets my point across. Does Joba really deserve to be on the team's playoff roster against the Tigers? I think it's clear that Chad Gaudin has given the Yankees an extremely tough decision---one of many---as the team heads into October.
(c) 2004-2009 Most Valuable Network, LLC.
Replay converts Roberts' homer to double
SAN FRANCISCO -- An apparent home run hit by Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Ryan Roberts in Tuesday night's fourth inning against the San Francisco Giants became a ground-rule double after the umpiring crew viewed replays of the drive.
After Miguel Montero prolonged the fourth inning against Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez by homering to right field to cut the Arizona deficit to 2-1, Roberts followed by belting a pitch over the left-field wall. But Giants left fielder Andres Torres jumped high enough to reach above the barrier and catch the ball -- which squirted out of his glove then bounced off the top of the wall before caroming back toward the field.
"I had it, but my glove came off," said Torres, whose glove slipped off his left hand as he fell over backward on the warning track. He caught the ball two-handed before brandishing it for the umpires, briefly causing many fans at AT&T Park to believe that Roberts was out.
"You have to act like you caught the ball," Torres said conspiratorially, prompting laughter from reporters.
Third-base umpire and crew chief Dana DeMuth initially signaled "home run" by twirling his hand, but after conferring briefly, he and two other umpires retreated out of sight to watch the replays, which proved that Roberts' hit was neither a home run nor an out.
"I don't have a monitor in the dugout, so I just went out for their interpretation," Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said. "You can't really argue that. [DeMuth] said when he originally called it, he thought the ball bounced out of Torres' glove and hit the back railing, which would make it a home run. After the review, [they saw] it hit the top of the wall and came back in play. It's a good rule, but this was a tough one, because it took a run off the board."
Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who left the dugout to talk briefly with the umpires, spoke favorably of the review process.
"I totally agree with this replay thing," Bochy said. "A guy should not get a home run if it wasn't over, or the other way around."
San Francisco won the game, 8-4.
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Are expanded rosters fair for all?
ATLANTA -- Whenever Brewers general manager Doug Melvin has suggested to his peers that Major League Baseball needs to amend the usage of September's expanded rosters, he has felt like a man on his own island.
Melvin's arguments have fallen on deaf ears so frequently, he opted not to even bring up the subject during last year's GM Meetings.
"You play 80 percent of your season with even rosters," Melvin said, "and then all of a sudden, you throw that out. It's like playing three-on-six in basketball or 11-on-18 in football. I don't know of any sport in the world that does it like ours, with this kind of imbalance of rosters. I'd like to find out if there's any other sport that does that at the most important time of the year."
Baseball is certainly unique, with its time-honored tradition that allows clubs to expand their active rosters once Sept. 1 arrives. Instead of dealing with the normal constraints of a 25-man roster that were present during the season's first five months, managers spend the stretch run with the added resources that come from the varying number of Minor Leaguers getting a taste of the big leagues.
"They expand the roster for two reasons," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "For Minor League players who have had successful seasons, good seasons, and we want to look at them -- we figure they deserve to be given a look the last month of the season, and also to help if we have a weakness.
"Teams that aren't in contention, they can use those players to beat somebody who is in contention. That can stop somebody from getting into the playoffs. That doesn't bother me. That's baseball. It should be that way. If I've got better players than you, that's good. That's the whole name of the game."
With Minor League seasons ending during the first week of September, many think that the only logical time to expand the rosters is during the season's final month. This has caused some to counter that it isn't a good time to allow a rule to affect the way a game can be managed.
Other managers and players have suggested that the addition of too many players can prove to be distracting.
Still, the grind endured during 162 games causes some to reason that clubs should have the ability to use extra resources late in the season. Some even argue that there could be advantages to expanding the rosters at other times as well.
Braves manager Bobby Cox believes that Major League Baseball could adopt a rule allowing clubs to carry an extra pitcher or two in April. He says this could reduce the stress placed on arms and possibly reduce the amount of pitching-related injuries a club encounters during the season.
Major League Baseball used a similar setup from 1958 to 1967, when clubs could begin the season with 28 players on their active rosters. But since 1968, clubs have used 25-man active rosters, with the only exceptions occurring to account for the circumstances of strike-related stoppages.
"I think it would help, even if you just added one pitcher to just get you through the first month," Cox said. "When you lose your starter after just one inning because it's cold and rainy, you're really scrambling for the doubleheader, or when you resume that game, you end up using the whole bullpen."
In addition, Cox is among the managers who share Melvin's belief that once Sept. 1 arrives and clubs activate varying numbers of players, the playing field could be leveled if managers were forced to make just a certain number of players available before each game.
Melvin fully understands the benefits clubs can receive by giving some of their bright-eyed prospects a chance to experience the big league lifestyle they could be living the next season. Thus, his crusade isn't to abolish the opportunity to expand rosters.
Instead his focus is on providing a competitive balance within this same setup by asking managers to present an active roster of 30 players (15 pitchers and 15 position players) before every game during the season's final month.
"Pennants are won and lost by one game all the time, and when you compare us to all the other sports, it doesn't make sense," Melvin said. "It's like a Spring Training game. At game time we should have to designate a certain number of active players. When you exchange lineup cards, it should be 30 versus 30. It's five-on-five in basketball, 11-on-11 in football and it should be 30-on-30 in baseball."
Clubs are provided the opportunity to promote any member of their 40-man roster. The Rockies and Giants, who are fighting to claim the National League's Wild Card entry, have 36 players on their active rosters.
The two teams with slimmer hopes of gaining that Wild Card slot chose to fortify their respective rosters at differing levels. The Marlins are carrying 35 players whereas the Braves chose to add just six players.
"It is a level playing field in the sense that everybody can bring their players up," Phillies GM Ruben Amaro said. "They can bring up as many players as they want. It's a choice that every organization makes. We all play under the same rules. If it was different for one team than the other, then it would be different. But I think, as it stands, everybody is on the same playing field."
Obviously, Amaro doesn't share the feelings of Melvin, who hopes to draw support from managers who understand how much the game can change during this period, when they can show less discretion about how early and often they begin using their reserves.
"I actually don't like it," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "I think there needs to be some amendments to the rules. I understand why you call up players. I think that's great. But you play all year under one set of rules and then, all of a sudden, Sept. 1, and it's vastly different.
"I just think that you could maybe every night turn in an official roster. That would still allow a lot of teams to call up young prospects but not have a lineup full of names where you're double-spacing players. You could maybe have 30 players available. I understand you need to expand, but not crazy numbers."
The Tigers, who are battling the Twins to win the American League Central, arguably gained their 6-5, 10-inning win against the Blue Jays on Sept. 14 with the benefit of using 16 of their 18 available position players.
One of the four players they inserted into the ninth spot of their lineup was Aubrey Huff, who entered the game in the ninth inning and hit a game-tying three-run homer.
Still, Tigers manager Jim Leyland is among those who believe that it would be best for Major League Baseball to adopt a system similar to the one that Melvin has proposed.
"I just don't believe you should expand it to whatever you want," Leyland said. "I don't think that's good. You play six months to get into a position to win something, and all of a sudden, you can't get matchups or anything because you have six guys over there to pinch-hit. If you pinch-hit a guy, you don't have to be worried about using another guy all of a sudden, because you've got so many extra guys. I don't think that makes sense, to me, but that's just my opinion."
Throughout his long tenure in Major League Baseball, Braves president John Schuerholz has heard numerous debates about the use of expanded rosters. Still, over the years, he hasn't gained the belief that this system produces an unjust impact.
"That option is available to everybody if they choose to use it," Schuerholz said. "It's not that half the teams are allowed to use it. There are some constraints. But we all have those constraints throughout the year. We can't operate a $140 million or $200 million budget, but some clubs can. There's disparity all year long."
Melvin isn't upset that large-market clubs possess the financial resources that allow them to have no concerns about the number of players they promote in September. Nor does he have a problem with the reality that the Major League Baseball Players Association wouldn't allow MLB to simply erase the opportunity that gives additional players a chance to accrue service time and earn a prorated portion of the minimum big league salary.
Instead his focus rests primarily on the belief that clubs should be working with an equal deck before the start of every game played throughout the entire season.
"It's the most ludicrous thing I see in sports," he said.
"I'm pretty adamant on this. I don't get too excited, but this is one thing that I just think gets completely overlooked every year. It's brought up at GM meetings every year, and the large-market teams don't want to touch it.
"Really, it's the large-market teams. I'd like to see a large-market team lose the pennant once because the team that's chasing them wins an extra-inning game with all of their extra players."
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
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