mlb

So will replay reverse the three errors by the Atlanta infielders (nice throw, Chipper)? Or the 10 runners they stranded? I'm sick of these teams whining about blown calls. Don't put yourself in a position where a call like that determines the game. Perhaps if Aaron Rodgers doesn't get sacked 175 times in the Green Bay-Seattle game, that one wouldn't have been decided by a bad call, either.

How do you review what is a judgement call? There may be many situations that would be reviewable but there are many that have to be made by best judgement and best judgment is always going to be open to human error. It is just a part of baseball that people have to accept or go watch soccer. The best they could do is agree on a list of reviewable situations and give the teams challenges like they have in football.

When we learn to play games/sports part of that learning is to accept the calls of officials whether right or wrong. A "poor-sport" is one that cannot accept loss whether being bested in the competition or by what they feel was an incorrect call. Certainly it has become accepted for baseball managers to take to the field to argue with an umpire; they can certainly state their case, but I've yet to see a manager win the argument and change a call. Sports officials will never attain 100% accuracy and that's a part of the game that we have to accept. Stopping a game for review of plays and this idea of replays or do-overs will only detract from the game (it certainly has in football and hockey). Questionable calls must be accepted and the game must proceed. The behavior of Atlanta Brave fans last night was disgusting and should be an embarrassment for Atlantian's and Georgian's. Some claim they wouldn't behave in the same manner if the call had happened to "their" team; I recall all too clearly the NFL football official knocked unconscious by a glass booze bottle thrown from the stands at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington some years ago. I also recall the poor behavior of Chicago Cub fans and the ugly aftermath of the Steve Bartman affair. Yes, there's big money and pride at stake, but when it comes to threatening people's lives, personal injury and endangerment the game has been spoiled. Some claim last night’s call was bad; others call it questionable. In this age we of high-definition, super slo-mo, multiple angle views we can review plays over, and over from our sofas and sports bars, and conclude that an official’s call was wrong or questionable. How many times to you see the right call made? How many times do you find yourself unable to determine if the call was right? If you were on the field having but a moment to signal a decision of an event that may have occurred in just a split second, could you do better?

Maybe they should play a game without the umpires, see how that works out.

No.... you shouldn't accept calls "right or wrong." The idea behind this is to GET IT RIGHT and there was an opportunity to do that in this case. The umpires should have got together, as I have seen hundreds of times in sports, talk about it, and then make a decision about what the right call should have been. Don't give me that "judgement" crap either. Simply, one umpire blew the call because ordinarily he would have been at third base instead of left field. The correct thing to do would have been to call it a dead ball, with runners on first, second, and third (bases loaded) with one out and then the game should have proceeded. Every fan in the stadium knew this was wrong; every fan watching on TV knew this too including those that live in St. Louis. The umpires could have taken the high road here and shown some integrity, but chose not to. Sad.

Bad judgement calls are usually a result of the speed of the sporting event relative to the rules that dictate what should be called. In this case, literally every single fly ball to the outfield, as long as the infielder goes out to try to catch it, could be interpreted as an out according to the interpretation of the infield fly rule as it was applied in this game. It was the wrong call, it was correctable, and it should have been done. Anything less than that, means you are willing to accept lowering the standards of a the game and I don't buy that when the technology and means is there to make it right.

Don't similar issues arise in the State and Federal courts systems?

In umpire school they teach you that the ball does not have to be on the infield or fielded by an infielder in order to qualify for the IFR. They say its your discretion to determine if the fielder were to not make the play it would put them in a position to make an easy double play, which theoretically could have happened on this play. Therefore there umpire was not wrong. This is discretion, not a question of fair or foul where there is clearly a right and wrong.

Replay has totally ruined professional football- baseball games are too long already. I like the human element. If they go with replays- then they need to have electronic sensors in baseballs, strike zones/batter boxes, baselines, foul poles, bases, baseball shoes. The technology exists but if you do all these things you end up with... tennis- which nobody watches! Where's the fun in that? Part of the beauty of baseball is it's like life ... it isn't perfect and it isn't totally predictable either.

Actually, calling the IFR was the correct call. The SS was "playing" the ball. The SS has the fielding authority of the third base side. The Left Fielder has no authority in this situation. IFR was the rule based call, and if these Professional players don't understand the game, maybe they should have a remedial course in Baseball rules and regulations.