You may or may not have heard that I'm having trouble updating this site as regularly as I'd like so I've been looking for help and Matt has answered the call. So enjoy this little ditty from someone who I hope will chirp up with plenty more input even if it goes against my own personal views (hey, even I can be humble sometimes)
It’s the bottom of the ninth inning, score tied at 1-1, two outs, and a two strike count, the game looking to go into extra’s to the dismay of half the crowd, yet the relief of the other. The pitcher (in this case Kelvim Escobar) winds up, and lets loose a superb slider in which the White Sox catcher A.J Pierzynski took a huge swing and miss, and Angels catcher Josh Paul catches. The home side begin to walk off and prepare for extras. However, home plate umpire Doug Eddings is looking bemused, as he has sent Pierzynski down to first base. The question is, did Paul catch the slider BEFORE the ball struck the ground? Well according to the home plate ump, no, and to Paul, yes. All this in turn leads us back to the question, should television replays be allowed in the majors? (as we all know the Chi Sox went on to win the game with the following at bat, and as I write this have taken a 3-1 series lead)
There are many advantages and disadvantages to having television replays, which have all been discussed before, however I personally think that the Majors could benefit from TV replays. I mean, if the Chi Sox now get to the World Series at the expense of the LAA, in my opinion it is all down to that dubious call made by Eddings. The Angels had the moment with being at home and were playing good baseball, and I believe that they would have gone on to win that game, and take a 2-0 lead in the series. But now we may have a team in the October classic which (based on the ALCS) shouldn’t be there.
Don’t get me wrong the Chi Sox have had an AMAZING season, and overall do deserve to go to the WS, but not from the ALCS.
Television replays could benefit the game from many different view points. They could help decide on weather a homerun was or was not, as in if the ball cleared the yellow line (in game 4 of the NLDS between Astros and Braves, the ninth inning homerun was a difficult call), if the catch behind the plate or in the outfield was infact a catch. Whether a baserunner was thrown out, hit by pitch, foul ball or not, fan interference. All these decisions could have a massive impact on the turnout of the game, weather it be in regular season play, or post season play, all these decisions need to made correctly, and I believe that the best way for that is to have television replays. This means that the decision can be made correctly, and inevitably, quickly, so it will not interfere with the game. It just makes sense. I mean, take cricket for example. They have now introduced the rule where the on-field umpires can refer any decision to the 4th official (television replay, basically), which means that they can now make game altering decisions within seconds, and get them done correctly! It is so logical that I just cant believe that baseball hasn’t followed suit. No hassle, no stress needed, just a quick simple sign to the television umpire, and bob’s your uncle you get a correct, and possible game altering decision made in seconds.
I do see the other side of the argument as well, in theory it will all run soundly, no mistakes, no long delays, and all the correct decisions, however in reality we all know that this is not true. On such a hard call, like the one mentioned in the opening paragraph, it could and most likely will take a few minutes to make a judgment, it will inevitably ruin the course of the game, as it will cause a hold up. Yes, I'll admit it, the umpires on the television replays do sometimes get the calls wrong, but this is by no means any reason to just so quickly and forcefully go against this idea because in the end the umpire will have had ample time to study the numerous angles available to them, which in turn allows them to make a quality and educated call, which 9 times out of 10 will be correct.
So I am all for the television replay system being introduced to the wonderful game that is baseball as, by and large, we all want the best team to win every game, even if it means we have to send a few calls to the replay to make sure that ultimately the best team does in fact, win.
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