Holy Heck What A Call

[WalkTheCourse]

Just saw Umpire Jerry Meals singlehandedly hand the Yankees a loss with one of the most unbelievably wrong calls I've seen in a long time in relation to a game-changing situation...

What is wrong with baseball? Seriously?

[iacas]

Same guy who ****ed the Pirates with one of the worst calls in the past 20 years, too, last year.

[WalkTheCourse]

Indeed, watching the local Yankees post-game coverage revealed that to me. That call was even worse, but it doesn't remove the sting of the completely UNACCEPTABLE conduct from Jerry Meals last night.

I mean, this is two calls of a similar nature in the course of a year. Jerry Meals needs to be fired, or relegated to Kansas City/Cleveland games only...

Or, can you say instant replay?

[burner]

Originally Posted by WalkTheCourse

Indeed, watching the local Yankees post-game coverage revealed that to me. That call was even worse, but it doesn't remove the sting of the completely UNACCEPTABLE conduct from Jerry Meals last night.

I mean, this is two calls of a similar nature in the course of a year. Jerry Meals needs to be fired, or relegated to Kansas City/Cleveland games only...

Or, can you say instant replay?

Don't you guys have a review system where such pure calls can be overturned (or upheld) by a video ref'? Bit archaic for a multi-million $ industry, if not.

[LuciusWooding]

Originally Posted by burner

Don't you guys have a review system where such pure calls can be overturned (or upheld) by a video ref'? Bit archaic for a multi-million $ industry, if not.

I don't think it should be used for balls and strikes, but for calls in the field? Ridiculous. It's already used to determine if home runs are in fair territory, so why isn't it allowed for such an obvious call?

I didn't see if the winning run scored or not, but still.

[WalkTheCourse]

Originally Posted by LuciusWooding

Quote:

Originally Posted by burner

Don't you guys have a review system where such pure calls can be overturned (or upheld) by a video ref'? Bit archaic for a multi-million $ industry, if not.

I don't think it should be used for balls and strikes, but for calls in the field? Ridiculous. It's already used to determine if home runs are in fair territory, so why isn't it allowed for such an obvious call?

I didn't see if the winning run scored or not, but still.

Yes Lucius, I in fact had this discussion yesterday.

Employ a 5th umpire that sits in a booth, and issue "challenges" to each manager, which can be used on fair/foul, safe/out. and homerun/no homerun calls... Simple as that.

Extra time would be spent getting the call right, but LESS time would be spent on managers running out of the dugout, guns a blazin, and yelling at umpires till they deliberately get themselves kicked out of the game to fire up their team!

[clubchamp]

Eventually the Jeffery Maier thing was going to bite them in the ass granted it is 16 years later but still...

[LuciusWooding]

Originally Posted by WalkTheCourse

Yes Lucius, I in fact had this discussion yesterday.

Employ a 5th umpire that sits in a booth, and issue "challenges" to each manager, which can be used on fair/foul, safe/out. and homerun/no homerun calls... Simple as that.

Extra time would be spent getting the call right, but LESS time would be spent on managers running out of the dugout, guns a blazin, and yelling at umpires till they deliberately get themselves kicked out of the game to fire up their team!

I think the manager throwing a tantrum is pretty entertaining and it adds something to their role. I think they'd honestly still argue balls and strikes, and any number of other minutiae in the rules.  Being the manager is pretty much a formality, you give interviews and walk out to the mound to change pitchers. At least you can show some emotion and personality when you put on a show like that. Fires up your players and the crowd, the officials get a verbal spanking which is generally quite warranted, and vents the frustration.

The thing that made this so stupid was that Girardi couldn't even do that; it was the end of the game. You could see him in the dugout thinking about running onto the field, but he'd just get suspended for the next entire game or worse. At least if they had another out to deal with, that batter would have a shot to save the game. But since it ended the game instead of tying it with 2 outs, it unquestionably affected the outcome of the game. In the 6th inning, you get a bad break but you can't claim you would've won, but in this case it was a tie at the very least, extra innings most likely. It's like a team scoring a touchdown with time expiring but the refs decide to award them 10 points instead of 6.

[WalkTheCourse]

Originally Posted by LuciusWooding

Quote:

Originally Posted by WalkTheCourse

Yes Lucius, I in fact had this discussion yesterday.

Employ a 5th umpire that sits in a booth, and issue "challenges" to each manager, which can be used on fair/foul, safe/out. and homerun/no homerun calls... Simple as that.

Extra time would be spent getting the call right, but LESS time would be spent on managers running out of the dugout, guns a blazin, and yelling at umpires till they deliberately get themselves kicked out of the game to fire up their team!

I think the manager throwing a tantrum is pretty entertaining and it adds something to their role. I think they'd honestly still argue balls and strikes, and any number of other minutiae in the rules.  Being the manager is pretty much a formality, you give interviews and walk out to the mound to change pitchers. At least you can show some emotion and personality when you put on a show like that. Fires up your players and the crowd, the officials get a verbal spanking which is generally quite warranted, and vents the frustration.

The thing that made this so stupid was that Girardi couldn't even do that; it was the end of the game. You could see him in the dugout thinking about running onto the field, but he'd just get suspended for the next entire game or worse. At least if they had another out to deal with, that batter would have a shot to save the game. But since it ended the game instead of tying it with 2 outs, it unquestionably affected the outcome of the game. In the 6th inning, you get a bad break but you can't claim you would've won, but in this case it was a tie at the very least, extra innings most likely. It's like a team scoring a touchdown with time expiring but the refs decide to award them 10 points instead of 6.

I know it's been a while, but, a couple things...

#1: No, managers basically cannot argue balls and strikes anymore. Those that do are immediately thrown out of the game. That's an unwritten rule in the umpire book now.

#2: Baseball management is NOT a formality, and goes way beyond pitching changes. Lineups and pinch hitting matchups, throwovers to first, steal attempts, bunts, hit-and-runs, even individual pitches in late innings... all called from the bench. These calls are relayed to the base coaches in offensive innings, or the catcher in defensive innings. It's quite similar to a head coach in football that calls plays.

#3: I don't disagree with you, I do love a good manager tantrum.

That is all.