K-Rod Blows Save; Ump Blows Call; Mets Avoid Sweep

Article first published as K-Rod Blows Save; Ump Blows Call; Mets Avoid Sweep on Blogcritics.

Any Mets fans watching the almost sweep of the Mets in the four-game series in San Francisco this weekend should have been listening to Tony Bennett. If the Mets didn't leave their hearts in San Francisco this weekend, maybe they should be looking for them on the team bus or the airplane that brought them there. It was a weekend of poorly played games and only a blown call by an umpire stopped it from being a sweep.



Having written about the notorious blown call by umpire Jim Joyce that robbed Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers of a perfect game, I have been bothered by the idea of umpire incompetence in Major League Baseball. In San Francisco yesterday umpire Phil Cuzzi joined the Joyce Fraternity with a call that cost the Giants a win and sweep over the Mets.

Travis Ishikawa, who had already tied the game with a two-run single off Francisco Rodriguez, was coming home on a bouncer to David Wright by Freddy Sanchez. Wright's throw to home was high, but catcher Henry Blanco got the ball and brought down a tag. The problem is that Cuzzi called Ishikawa out but replays showed that he was safe. Even catcher Blanco said as much after the game. Giants' manager Bruce Bochy argued the call to no avail.

So here we had a blown save, a blown umpire's call, and the Mets going on to get the win when red-hot rookie Ike Davis doubled home Jason Bay with the winning run in the tenth inning. As a Mets fan I am happy the team avoided the sweep, but not with the way they did it. The team looked lethargic this weekend, and the Mets's brass needs to face the facts that K-Rod is looking more like BS-Rod (Blown Save) everyday. With the trading deadline quickly approaching, it is painfully clear that the Mets need bullpen help as much as they need a front-end starter.

Getting back to umpire Cuzzi, he insisted after the game that he thought Ishikawa was out, but that he would take a look at the replay. Cuzzi and Joyce and all the other horses and king's men can't give a win back to the Giants, or a no-hitter to Galarraga, or the countless other missed opportunities to all the players and teams that have been robbed by bad umpiring recently and over the years.

Once again, this is a golden opportunity for Major League Baseball to think about expanding the use of instant replay. I have argued for its use on a limited and equitable basis in all professional sporting events, but never has it been more obvious that baseball has to be the place where it gets done as soon as possible.

Umpires are indeed human and thus likely to make mistakes. Why not put a system in place that will limit the cost factor of human error? If such a system were in place, my Mets would have lost that game yesterday, but maybe there would have been other games won over the season and in the years to come. The time is now for fans to get the message out to Major League Baseball: we need instant replay for questionable calls by umpires and we need it now!

Replay Has to Be Considered for All Sports

Article first published as replay-system-has-to-be-considered on Blogcritics.

The time has come to bring a replay system to all professional sports for disputed calls that will impact the outcome of the game. In the past, I have argued for replay in Major League Baseball, based on an early June game involving the Detroit Tigers. But just in the past week at the FIFA World Cup games and in another baseball game involving the (bad luck) Tigers, there were some very bad calls that changed the outcome of the final score.


California's Maurice Edu

In the USA soccer team's game against Slovenia last week, Koman Coulibaly - a referee who, for all we know, has cousins working as umpires at major league baseball games - made a terrible foul call on American midfielder Maurice Edu's goal, which would have given his team a 3-2 lead in the 85th minute. We cannot be sure how that impending victory would have changed things in the game USA lost against Ghana last Saturday, and maybe it would have meant nothing, but such an injustice has to do things to a team in a psychological sense that causes a difference in their playing mentality.

An opportunity to challenge the call using some kind of replay system would have proven that there had been no foul. Clearly, such a system would have also helped Frank Lampard, whose disallowed goal for England against Germany on Sunday would have proven to be what it was: a total disgrace of a call and maybe one of the worst calls in the history of sports.

Now, back to baseball.

We had the terrible call by umpire Jim Joyce on June 2nd that caused a pitcher, Detroit's Armando Galarraga, to lose a perfect game. Then on June 27, Detroit got burned by a bad call again, this time by umpire Gary Cederstrom, who admitted he made a mistake when he called a game-ending third strike on Tigers batter Johnny Damon with the bases loaded against the Atlanta Braves, who won by a score of 4-3.

Watching the replay, anyone could plainly see that the final pitch was outside. Damon correctly took the pitch, should have had a walk, and an RBI to tie the game at 4-4. Cederstrom's apology is all well and good, but Damon is still credited with being struck out and the Tigers have another game in their loss column.

Why is this all coming to the surface now? I think it's because both fans and players want and deserve better from game officials in all sports. It is just not acceptable for a referee or umpire to adversely affect the game with amateur-caliber calls, leaving room later for them (and everyone else) to second guess what they did. Right or wrong on a call, an umpire or ref should be held accountable, because he/she is a professional and there is more at stake than wins or losses: it's the integrity of the game.



Tennis seems to be way ahead of the pack here with the usage of Hawk-Eye replay used for close line calls. Tennis umpires use the system to settle all questionable calls at Wimbledon, and it is a much more equitable way of doing things than asking an umpire to make the call from a distance when it may not be possible to be certain. The replay takes away the second guessing of the players and the fans and seems to be the best way to settle disputes quickly and decisively.

Something does have to be done in all professional sports to alleviate the human error that we are seeing become more of a reality these days. Tennis has its replay system, and so does the NFL. Baseball has been reviewing questionable home run calls and that has been embraced by fans, and I think the next step is pretty obvious to everyone.

A manager or coach should have the right to dispute a call that impacts the outcome of a game. There should be a comprehensive and collegial attitude across the board from all parties that this is nothing but good for the game in their respective sport. Human beings can make mistakes, and this will alleviate all the after-the-fact apologizing and wondering, "What if?".

All the apologies in the world - or lack of them for that matter - do not hand a team a championship trophy it deserved. It is time to use the modern technology available in the interest of equity for players, coaches, managers, and those officiating a game.