Can you believe the two big blown calls by the umpires last night? Was anybody surprised?
It’s gotten so bad this post-season that it’s not even a surprise any more that umpires blow key calls during games.
With the Phils trailing three to one and runners on first and second, Chase Utley stepped to the plate and hit a sharp ground ball to Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, who spun and threw it Derek Jeter, but Jeter’s throw to first was late.
It was a bang bang play at first but you can’t miss that call at that point in the game.
Utley was safe but called out for an inning ending double play. The Phils should have runners on first and third with two outs.
It was a big call and a big miss.
‚ÄúUtley was safe,‚Äù Charlie Manuel said afterwards. “Go look. Yeah. He was safe.‚Äù
There’s no reason a team should get an advantage from a blown call with all the technology we have now to make sure the call was right.
The Phils also got a big break when the umpires blew another call.
Ryan Howard caught a one hopper and the umpires treated it like he caught the ball. Clearly if he had caught it, he would have touched first base for the double play.
A kid in the little league would have known that. Yet, you’ve got all these experienced umpires in the World Series and they can’t get the call right. Are you kidding?
“Did I catch it?” Howard said afterwards. “Well, they called him out.”
Even though he questioned the call on Utley’s ground ball, Manuel denied he wasn’t going after the umpiring.
“I’m not saying nothing about the umpiring,” said Charlie said afterwards: “I’ve probably never thought umpiring was good, if you want to know the truth.”
Phils centerfielder Shane Victorino seemed to have no desire to see replay come to baseball.
“Then you take away from the nature of the game,” Victorino said. “They’re human. Everyone makes mistakes. It kills you, but again, how many times does it happen?”
“Well, are you going to replay every damn play?” he went on to say. “If you’re going to do that every play, we’re going to play seven-hour games.”
I think the pathetic performance by the league’s umpires during this post-season will prompt the league to bring today’s technology to today’s game.
I think we’ll soon see some type of replay in the national pasttime and I think it’s a good thing. What about you, do you think we need replay in baseball?
