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| The first out of the 9th was in question. I have my answer. |
Unfortunately, the best shot of the close play at first in which Tyler Colvin was called out (after a pretty phenomenal barehanded flip from Brandon Phillips) isn't that great. Phillips' body partially obscures the image of Colvin's foot as he's reaching the base. But (as you can kind of see here) Colvin's foot does reach the base a fraction of a second before the ball arrives in Joey Votto's mitt.
Even more unfortunately, there's no replay in baseball on the bases. Even more unfortunatelier than that is the fact that even if they did have replay, there's a pretty good chance this play would be upheld. And to toy with the question of fortune even further, there's no way of knowing Derrek Lee still would have homered on the next play as he did with the bases empty and one out. Maybe he would have hit into a double play had the situation been reversed. There's no way of knowing?
So why belabor the point? Because I'm a belaborer. Sue me.
I've seen the Cubs get lucky with calls in their favor, too. I'm not for the instant replay, other than for the one reason that they have it now (HR calls). Some games are slow enough without haggling with that on top of everything else. The umps do the best they can, and I think most of it works out in the end.
ReplyDeleteI really just want replay instituted when it works in the Cubs favor. It wouldn't take that long, right?
ReplyDeleteActually, I think baseball replay could work well on an expanded level if they conducted it similarly to how it's done in college football. Have an umpire in a booth looking at replays. Have him review every call. The crew chief wears an earpiece and a mic, and he can hear any dispute the replay ump has and communicate with the replay ump. If they need to reverse a call, they do it. Arguing with the umps about any call becomes grounds for ejection (as it currently is with balls & strikes). I guarantee, the game would move a bit quicker if they cut out the replay pageantry, eliminate the need for all umps to convene and watch replays together, and ban arguments from players and coaches, the game will move along quicker than it does now.
Ban arguments from the managers? That's part of the fun. LOL
ReplyDeleteWell, banning them probably wouldn't put an end to them. It would just guarantee that when there was an argument, it would be a BIG one.
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