The one good thing here is that this is very, very likely going to be the incident that causes the MLB to incorporate a sensible replay system, so hopefully this will be the last time we see something of this magnitude decided by an umpire's ineptitude.
With the amount of backlash the sport is receiving because of this, they'll likely be forced to if they wish to compete with other sports with more modern ways of dealing with human error, other than just plugging their ears and just saying 'oh well'.
No official in any sport is going to get more than 98% of the calls right at initial observation. No one. Period. Not even those people who claim that umpires are morons who should be shot despite the fact that they've never officiated anything themselves. And to be Captain Obvious for a second, it's always the 2% of calls that are erroneous that are remembered.
Not a knock on you, WD. I'm just using your post as a springboard to b!tch about the ever-increasing population of fans who keep forgetting that, going into a game where they have rooting interest, they aren't going to be yelling at the television at some point during the game because of an official's call (or perhaps sitting quietly because a referee made a bad call that went their team's way) and then harping on it for days like it was the only thing that happened in the game. I understand that this post has little to do specifically with this situation, but honestly I am fed up with people focusing on officiating instead of actual game play...so I need to vent a little.
All I'm saying is, yes the umpire made a bad call. It sucks for the pitcher. Bad calls happen every game, since the beginning of time. Do what you want to "fix" it, but for people to single out a guy who does an incredibly common act (i.e. make a bad call) that they themselves wouldn't be immune to is, yet again, a bit too dramatic for me. Even for an almost-perfect game. Hell, equally so for a bird flying across the field that gets hit by the ball and the umpire doesn't see it in a Brewers/Marlins game in the 5th inning in July.
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Last edited by botankus on Jun 4th, 2010 at 03:26 PM
I think, in order for replay to be integrated in such a way that it is fast and also successful, it needs to be in a way that mirrors the NFL. The manager of a team should only have two or three challenges per game for non-home run calls, meaning boundary issues and base calls. Home run calls should always be challenged, but needless to say, strike or ball calls should never be challenged. I think that would be a happy medium between the purists who want the human element and the neo-fans who want the calls to be correct.
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I also think the replay should be not be used for foul calls.
The reason I think that is because if the call was foul but fair, if somebody was on base, where do you put them? The next base? It would create too much confusion.
Then again, it could be use like ground rule double.
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botankus point is valid but my point remains that MLB needs to get rid of these umpires and comissioner. They're attitude is too self important and think that the game is about them and not about the performance of the players. These people are too in love with themselves and consider that the power of authority given to them can allow them to do what they want...oh sure!
What MLB needs to do is the following...since we keep track of the errors committed by the players...there should be also a scorecard that keeps the errors of the umpires.
Well no, but asking someone to repeat 11-1 with a sub 1 era is like asking halladay to give you a perfect game every season. It is not reasonable. Can he be a 15-20 game winner with a high 2 low 3 era and 200+ k's though? Sure no reason to think he can not repeat at that high level.
While I think he will be one of the best and his first game was damn good but I always feel the first couple of games tend to go really well. Hitters never faced him before, he played the Pirates and etc...etc.
It would be nice to see how well he does 3 months from now.
I agree with the first game thing, but what Strasburg did last night was insane, even against the Pirates. I like him a lot and hope he has a great career, but I hope the Phillies put a 10-spot on him every time.
Yea it gets harder once he is facing a team for the 2nd or 3rd time. But the his stuff is ridiculous, everyone has known that since he was in college. Nationals are setting him up great too, his 4 starts are against 4 of the worst offenses in the entire league. Pirates hit under .240 as a team.
The craziest thing as dominant for his age at pitching Strasburg is, Harper is the same on the offensive side.
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Jun 4th, 2010 01:50 AM
