Buster Posey slides into home to give the Giants a 1-0 lead -- which might not have happened if baseball had instant replay.
The San Francisco Giants Buster Posey steals second base in the fourth inning of Thursday night’s National League Division Series playoff against the Atlanta Braves.
Two batters later, Posey slides safely into home on a single by Cody Ross, providing the deciding run in the Giants 1-0 win.
Glory to Posey, right? The rookie’s first-career stolen base puts him in position to score the winning in Game 1 of the playoffs.
Wrong! Posey was out at second. Television replays showed that second base umpire Paul Emmel missed the call.
MLB.com: Watch the questionable stolen base call
Even Posey knew it. "I guess it's a good thing we don't have instant replay right now,” he said after the game.
Emmel’s blown call is just the latest in a litany of game-changing officiating errors in pro sports in 2010 – errors that could be corrected if the powers that be realize what century we’re in and use instant replay.
Emmel’s call cost the Braves the game, or at least a chance to get away from Tim Lincecum and a shot at the Giants bullpen in extra innings.
Justice prevailed earlier in the baseball playoffs, but just barely.
In the ninth inning Wednesday night in Minnesota, New York Yankees outfielder Greg Golson trapped a sinking line drive from the Twins’ Delmon Young. At least that’s how right-field umpire Chris Guccione saw it. Instant replay showed it differently – a clear catch by Golson.
With Young on base, the tying run in a 6-4 game came to the plate in the person of slugger Jim Thome. Luckily for the Yankees – and the integrity of the game – Thome, who had 25 homers this season, popped out to the end game.
Other bad calls have cropped up in the baseball playoffs but none so blatant as the one that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game in June.
Instant replay showed the ball clearly beats the Cleveland Indians Luke Donald to first base to seal baseball immortality for Galarraga – only 20 perfect games have ever been thrown.
First base umpire Jim Joyce thought he made the right call. "I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay,” Joyce said after the game.
Joyce or Guccione or Emmel shouldn’t have been put in these positions. Baseball has the technology. Why not make it right?
Of course, America’s pastime isn’t alone in its rejection of modern technology. Just ask Frank Lampard and England’s national soccer team.
Frank Lampard's shot his the crossbar and on replay showed it well past the goal line.
The midfielder’s clear goal against Germany – replay showed it well past the goal line – wasn’t allowed, denying England what could have been a momentum-swinging tying goal just before halftime and maybe a chance to stop their German arch-rivals. Germany eventually won that one 4-1.
Hey baseball and soccer, why not take a lesson from the National Football League, where replay rules? And gets it right. Maybe.
Ask the Detroit Lions. Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson appeared to catch a game-winning touchdown pass with seconds left in a game against the Chicago Bears in September. The official on the field initially called it a touchdown. But after an on-field and replay review, the officials concluded that Johnson did not control the ball through the end of the play, the TD was disallowed and the Lions lost.
That one made no sense to me, but at least it did to Lions’ coach Jim Schwartz. "The rule is if you are going to the ground in the process of making the catch, you need to finish with the football. And we didn't finish with the football," he said.
Can’t argue with the coach, I guess. Watch and learn, baseball.
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Sports fans everywhere care. That was a blown call. A few minutes of instant replay would have held a completely different outcome for the game. Posey knew he was out, but integrity vs. winning... it'll lose every time.
Kat, the umps make the calls. Sports fans respect that. No player would ever be expected to take himself out of the game because he thought he was out but called safe. THAT'S ANARCHY. Not baseball.
Baseball is a radio sport... having one thing happen at a time fit the old days.
In today's world, it is dull and dying out ...
Case in point. Michael Young hit a three-run home run after a "questionable" call of "ball three" instead of a strikeout. If I were a Ray, I would probably think his bat went around further. But "checking a swing" is an inexact science that even replay would not help.
He hit his home run afterward, but Texas was already up 2-0, and Tampa never scored. So how did that call affect the outcome?
it didn't go RANGERS!!!
Yeah, it did. Every sport is mental as well as physical. When a team feels they have to play against the umps as well as the other team, it has an effect. Remember – a blown call also happened in Game 1 w/Carlos Pena. A run would have been walked in and there would have been 1 out, not 2. It was clear the ball and bat never touched. It was also clear that Michael Young "broke his wrists" in the replay resulting in strike 3. I'm not defending the Rays play – it's totally sucked during the playoffs, but please give them half a chance with fair officiating. The big ticket teams buy their players; do they also buy the umps? One has to wonder.
Bruce,
Thank you for your excellent point. I have been saying this since the game ended. How did that one call cost Tampa that game? It was a 2-0 game and finished 6-0. Take away the 3 run homer and you still have 3-0. So all Ray's fans, or should I say supposed fans because they are horrible supporters of what was a good team, need to stop they whining and get over a loss. Now the bad call in the Giants game I agree did cost a team a victory, but it is still a judgement call that replay should not have to be used on.
atleast they aren't talking about stupid basketball or hockey
At least they are not combining two words in one while using no punctuation.
I'm a Braves fan and yes we got robbed. But I have to agree that instant replay doesn't belong on baseball. I know that if the tables were turned and it was one of our players that were called safe, we would consider our selves "lucky". It's just part of the game.....
i agree with baseball being baseball no matter the century we live in, but it does hit you when the blown call means a game. MLB does have some instant replays, why not huddle quickly, get it right and move on? sucks when that call means the game, even more during playoffs, and a lot of people care about baseball
All wrong, all wrong. Hurray for baseball for resisting the TV execs. Replays are for video freaks, not sports fans. Sport is being RUINED by the second-guessing game. Sports is a human activity, with hits and misses. Errors are part of it. Accepting that is a sign of good sportsmanship. BAN ALL REPLAYS in stadiums, and BAN THE WHOLE IDEA OF CHALLENGES.
Yep. It's kind of hard to charge a baseball manager with a "time out."
Have a look at Cricket they have used replays for years and it is a far better way of doing it. There are no hard feelings it is easy to tell if he is in or out, caught or not caught.
Football is slow. But that is because of all the time outs for TV commercials. Everything is about maximizing profit and generating revenue in today's world.
In America, Money is God. That is why there is so much cheating. It should be dishonorable to fake a foul or pretend you as ball was in when it was out but winning justifies everything in our society. But it's not just sports. Same goes for our elections...
Sports are hurt when games are stopped for instant replay checks by umps/refs. Part of the interest in sports is the human condition. Sports fans can talk about botched calls, good or bad, for years to come. Taking out that human element cheapens the game.
And really, does the MLB really need anything that will slow down the games even more?
In 1986 I saw a divisional championship awarded to the Mets because the umpires allowed a player to run outside the baseline toward first on a close call. Any video review would have shown this is what happened. Houston would have won. I was a huge Houston fan at the time, and felt cheated, even victimized by baseball's need for large-market teams to get into the Series.
But even then - and now - I would not want video reviews invading baseball. It's made enough of a joke of football (which I still love to watch, in spite of that incursion).
Yes, it was a blown call. But the third baseman should have knocked the ball down to save the run following that.
Whoever the retard was that said in slow-mo you could'nt tell must be related to Helen keller. Also,bad calls being part of
baseball is stupid logic, there is always a better way to handle situations. A team that works hard all year long should not be eliminated because of a blown call by a holier-than-thou never made a mistake and would not admit it if I did idiot
umpire!!!
You mean like the umpire who blew the perfect game call and did admit his mistake. The way ump and player handled that did more good for baseball than a blown call ever harmed it.
Grow up.
I think replay would be bad for the minor leagues,. Triple A ball and such is great 0- it's not on TV and there isn't millions of dollars involved.
But my experiences at the last few MLB games I went to was boring... even the hotdogs cost $5 and were lousy...
"MLB games I went to was boring" Been going to Cubs games have you?
To "J" who said the steal at second was a close call should get his eyes checked. I watched the game last night and when they showed the replay it was quite obvious Conrad got him out at second. I was surprised the commentators kept saying he was out when it was clear as day that his right leg was well underneath him and the tag was made before the base.
The argument people make against expanding replay rule is that it will extend the game because every play will be questioned. Why does it have to be so extreme. In the NFL each team only gets at the most 3 challenges, baseball can adopt a similar rule. I realize every umpire has their own strike zone but as long as they impose that zone on both teams it doesn't matter – fair is fair. It's when one team has a smaller zone than another arguments begin.
I don't believe expanding replay with limited challenges will result in long games. Umps need to check their egos at the door and admit they make errors and replays will assist them.