Instant Replay Is Fine, But Already Needs Fixing

I know your thoughts have already turned toward tomorrow night’s early evening’s late afternoon’s NLDS showdown between the Dodgers and the Cubs, but please permit me a brief rant about Bud Selig’s idiocy. I believe it was Sunday when I was listening to Pat and Ron on the radio, and Pat mentioned that on Saturday an unusual play had occurred when Giants catcher Bengie Molina had hit a home run, but did not come around to score. I initially assumed it was some sort of injury. I was wrong.

Here is what happened.

In the sixth, Molina lined the first pitch from Scott Proctor to the roof in right and the ball ricocheted onto the grass below. Molina stayed at first and Emmanuel Burriss rushed out to pinch run before anybody could stop him, while Bochy hustled out to argue. After a brief discussion, the umpiring crew headed to the replay booth in the hidden umpire room behind home plate.

After about two minutes, they returned and crew chief Tim Welke signaled the home run—the second time since baseball began using instant replay that an on-field call was overturned. Dodgers manager Joe Torre came out for an explanation.

“I was curious to see how long it would take,” Torre said. “I didn’t have any problem with it. The thing that made it interesting was the fact this wrinkle (Burriss) was added and made it longer. It was lighthearted. There was no arguing.”

After a total delay of about 15 minutes, the crew ruled Burriss had to stay in the game and he was credited for the run scored, prompting San Francisco to play the game under protest.

“We conferred and decided to use the replay. We took a look and the ball clearly hit the green part of the wall, which is part of the ground rules that a ball hitting any part of the green thing it’s a home run,” Welke said. “Bochy wanted to reinsert Molina into the game but he doesn’t get another bite at that. We know the rules. Once a pinch-runner touches a base he’s in the game whether he’s put in or not. Bochy wanted to protest the game. You can’t go back and revisit history.”

Now, I probably hate Bud Selig less than a lot of people do. I like having three divisions in each league, I like the Wild Card, I like revenue sharing, and I like the idea of limited instant replay. I don’t want anyone on my team to play in the World Baseball Classic, but I think it’s at least a good concept. I hate interleague play, I hate what he’s done to the All-Star Game, I hate the Brewers, and Bud’s “handling” of the steroid situation was an absolute joke.

My biggest beef with Selig is that he has absolutely ZERO foresight. It wouldn’t have been difficult to envision a scenario in which the All-Star Game would head into extra innings with neither manager willing or able to use more pitchers. Hell, by about the 7th inning of that game, it should have at least entered Bud’s mind that a contingency plan might be a good idea if the game were undecided after nine innings. Instead, he seemed stunned that the managers would not want to continue trotting out pitchers beyond the 11th inning, and abruptly called the game.

The situation with Molina wasn’t difficult to predict, either. Imagine it’s the top of the 9th inning of Game Seven of the World Series. Tampa Bay is leading the Cubs 2-1. Pinch hitter Daryle Ward leads off the inning with a double that hits near the top of the wall at Tropicana Field. Lou wisely lifts Daryle in favor of the speedy Felix Pie, hoping a base hit by Alfonso Soriano scores him. But Daryle swears the ball was out, so Lou argues and the umpires review the play, overturn the call, and give Daryle a home run. But now Pie, since he was inserted into the game, needs to finish circling the bases for Daryle, and the Cubs have wasted Pie in a worthless substitution.

So now, the Cubs have to use Ronny Cedeno to pinch run for Jim Edmonds in the 13th inning. Cedeno is standing on second when Geovany Soto lines a ball into the gap, and unfortunately for the Cubs, Ronny runs directly from second base toward home plate. He is called out, and the Cubs go on to lose the Series.

It’s a scenario that could conceivably play out, it’s a scenario which should have been considered before instituting instant replay, and it’s a scenario that could easily be avoided, if Selig didn’t do things so half-assed. In Molina’s case (or Ward’s hypothetical), the rule should be simple. If a call on the field is overturned by instant replay, any substitutions made in reliance on the original call are null-and-void. It’s not hard, and anyone with half a brain would realize that the solution makes perfect sense.

Fix your half-assed plan, Bud, preferably before tomorrow.

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