High fly ball hit deep to left, and it's gone....wait, the umpires are saying the ball hit under the yellow line. Let's see a replay. Even after replays showed that Adam Rosales' ball clearly hit the railing above the yellow line on the left field wall in Cleveland, the umpires ruled it did not and Rosales was given a double and not a game tying homerun in the 9th.
That was the scene from the 9th inning of last night's Indians and Athletics contest. It left almost everyone around the game not only wondering why the call was made even after video review and it left many more asking for MLB to step in and say something.
"Everybody else said it was a home run, including their announcers when I came in here later," Melvin said. "I don't get it. I don't know what the explanation would be when everybody else in the ballpark knew it was a home run. I went in and looked at it later. Clearly, it hit the railing behind [the wall]. I'm at a loss, a complete loss."
Yet the umpires found the evidence "inconclusive". How is that? Do you have any idea how many TV camera's can be found at any major league game? The answer is, a lot. So if the umpires had a chance to go in and check the call, then how did they get it wrong?
"It wasn't evident on the TV we had [that] it was a home run," said second-base umpire Angel Hernandez. "I don't know what kind of replay you had, but you can't reverse a call unless there is 100 percent evidence, and there wasn't 100 percent evidence."
If they're not seeing the same replay that the average viewer can see at home, then what are they seeing? Over the years, expanding instant replay has been a hot topic issue in the MLB. Though Bud Selig has said they plan to expand instant replay in 2014, it couldn't come soon enough.
If there's any sport that needs expanded replay more the anything, it's baseball. It showed last night in Cleveland that a blown call can cost a team a game. And it wasn't just in Cleveland that some noticeable blown calls took place.
Last night in Tampa, with Maicer Izturis of the Blue Jays batting in the 6th. He grounded a ball to 1st base, but home plate umpire Scott Barry ruled that the ball hit Izturis in the box. Replays showed the ball wasn't even close to touching Izturis. Though the Rays went on the win the game, you can't help but wonder why a call like that can't be looked at.
"Beyond the out, it's just a matter of we're low in the bullpen. Said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "We only have so many pitchers available. And I'm counting pitches. I'm counting every pitch that is thrown. So you know that permitting [Izturis] to come back into the box and continuing that at-bat, there's a threat of a really long inning going on versus Jamey."
There's another perspective of these calls. From a manager's stand point, if a call like that happens and a batter continues to hit instead at taking a trip back to the dugout, it makes things more difficult for pitchers. Instead of an inning ending out, a pitcher now must risk losing the hitter, giving up a walk, walk, and the inning continues, maybe runs even end up scoring.
So here's my proposal to Major League Baseball. It has a lot to do with the Little League World Series. Now in the LLWS a manager can challenge as many calls as he wants up until he loses a challenge. if they were able to come up with a solution like that for game played by 12-year olds, then why isn't something like that being applied to guys who play this game for a living?
Let managers challenge plays like in football. They play by that rule in football and in Little League baseball and most importantly it works. I understand that looking at every play that's brought up, will slow down the pace of play.
But what's more important, getting in a game in under three hours or making sure the right team ends the game with the winning score? The umpires cost the Athletics a win last night and who knows, maybe they even cost Oakland a much need win that will show in late September.
Follow @GavinEwbank2013 in Twitter.
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