Since the whole instant replay fiasco came out, I try to keep my nose out of these controversial stances. I’m all for the integrity of the game and all the same for improving the game as our standard of living allows.
However, after tonight’s recent game of the Tampa Bay Rays vs the Minnesota Twins, I have opted to break my silence.
To clarify, I am a Twins fan and will openly admit it at the heart of my argument, however I do believe those that lose (besides the team on the wrong end of an obviously bogus call) are the fans. They are being cheated of a fair and firm game.
Last season, as the nation watched, the Twins went into New York to face the Yankees in the Divisional round of the playoffs and faced the bombers in Game 2 in a hard fought match.
Many will recall that despite having a left field umpire, Phil Cuzzi, standing 20 feet from the play, Cuzzi blew an obvious ground rule double call and calling it foul. In that play, the ball not only bounced off of the left fielder Cabrera’s glove IN fair territory, but it also bounced IN fair territory then out of play.
The play would live in infamy for the Twins as after Mauer’s hit was called back, he hit a single and would end up on third base, but never scored. Whereas if he would have been on second with two singles following it that in reality filled the bases would have instead easily scored Mauer.
The play would cost the Twins by the bottom of the 11th as the Yankees would hit a game-winning homer.
There is no excuse for this and the fact there is no repercussions almost makes any Twins fans feel like the umpires are out to get them. The Twins would never recover and ended up losing in a sweep to the Yankees.
Tonight there was a different story. The play would result in a run either way, but the fact is the play happened in extra innings less then ten feet in front of the umpire, Alfonso Marquez. With men a on 1st and 2nd, Willy Aybar hit a single into left with no outs. Crawford would score from 2nd as Shoppach would try and stretch a run from 1st to 3rd.
According to replay, he would have been out by 10-15 feet. However, the umpire claimed third basemen Michael Cuddyer missed the tag and that Shoppach was safe.
Let’s not forget Jim Joyce’s blown call that cost Detroit’s Armando Galarraga’s perfect game earlier this very season.
These plays should not be happening and the fact remains that Selig will be burned in the media and by players and coaches of the league the longer he turns a blind eye on it.
True, he could ignore it for the sake of the integrity of the game. I’m all for keeping the game traditional. However, as broadcasts use replay to revisit plays and check on close calls, Bud is going to discover he will live and die by it.
As technology advances, the MLB and umpires can grow with its assistance or get burned by the inaccuracies of human umpires. Especially on calls that are not close and have influential plays to overall outcomes of a game.
Last October’s events are unacceptable. Phil Cuzzi was not punished for his blown call and on top of that got burned on national television AND in extra innings AND being 20 feet from the play itself.
It’s getting to the point we can keep acting noble and try and keep it traditional or we can take it seriously and consider that maybe our baseball playing forefathers would have used replay had the technology been available to them.
In the opinion of this Twins fan and avid baseball fan, now is not the time to be proud.
To see the play from the 2009 ALDS against the Yankees,
An article with more detail can be found click here .
To see the play from the game on July 1, 2010 against the Rays (last night), click here .
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