The problem has come up again. Problems with umpires in the MLB. Yesterday was just sad, probably as sad as it has ever been. In the Angels vs. Yankees game there were three really bad and obvious calls made. Calls so bad that umpire Tim McClelland actually made an appearance in the press conference to apologize.
The first call was on a pick-off attempt where it seemed that Yankee outfielder Nick Swisher appeared to have been tagged out at second, but was called safe. That happens a lot, so not that big of a deal.
The second questionable call was when Swisher was at third base and tagged on a fly-ball to center field. He made it safely and after the whole Angel team complained, he was called out for leaving third too early when footage showed otherwise. Again, that happens too, but it cost the Yankees a run.
The last call was just ridiculous when Jorge Posada was chased back to third base by Angels catcher Mike Napoli and was awkwardly met there by teammate Robinson Cano (pictured above). Not knowing what to do, both Yankees just stood there, none on the base while Napoli tagged them both out. However, umpire Tim McClelland called only Posada out as after the game he admitted that he assumed Cano was on the base. He gave Cano too much credit.
I wasn't even upset at these calls, I actually felt bad for the umpires. We can only catch so much as humans, and 95 percent of the time the umps get the calls right. It's that 5 percent that's so critical.
I'm usually against the incorporation of replay in baseball, but Mike Golic made a pretty good point this morning. Golic made the point that baseball already runs between three and three-and-a-half hours. Taking an extra 10 minutes to get a call right really wouldn't take away from the game.
He's pretty right. There are so many stops in baseball already, it wouldn't mess with the flow of the game. The way I see it, the 10 minutes that it would take Lou Pinella to argue and get kicked out of a game, could be used to see a quick replay and make the correct call.
I've always been in favor of the human error, it makes the game interesting and gives good stories with controversy, but I'm starting to come around to the idea of replay.
It was sad to watch the umpire have to apologize. Something will be done soon, almost guaranteed.
