Colorado's Matt Holliday slides into home as San Diego catcher Michael Barrett mishandles the ball during the 13th inning of the wild card tiebreaker on Monday. AP Photo - Jack Dempsey.
Baseball's career saves leader, Trevor Hoffman, had a quick outing in Monday's one-game wild card playoff. Unfortunately, it was an outing the Padres would like to forget.
After grabbing the lead in the top of the 13th inning on Scott Hairston's two-run homer, the Rockies battled back against Hoffman.
Kaz Matsui and Troy Tulowitzki hit back-to-back doubles to lead off the bottom of the inning, cutting the deficit to one. Holliday then tripled off the right field wall to tie the game 8-8. After San Diego intentionally walked Todd Helton, Jamey Carroll's shallow fly ball out allowed Holliday to tag from third.
Replays were inconclusive at best whether or not Holliday actually touched home plate, but umpire Tim McClelland called the play safe.
The Rockies 9-8 win is their 14th in 15 games. Colorado advances to play Philadelphia in the NLDS starting Wednesday.
After grabbing the lead in the top of the 13th inning on Scott Hairston's two-run homer, the Rockies battled back against Hoffman.
Kaz Matsui and Troy Tulowitzki hit back-to-back doubles to lead off the bottom of the inning, cutting the deficit to one. Holliday then tripled off the right field wall to tie the game 8-8. After San Diego intentionally walked Todd Helton, Jamey Carroll's shallow fly ball out allowed Holliday to tag from third.
Replays were inconclusive at best whether or not Holliday actually touched home plate, but umpire Tim McClelland called the play safe.
The Rockies 9-8 win is their 14th in 15 games. Colorado advances to play Philadelphia in the NLDS starting Wednesday.
6 comments:
I'm a little biased here, but the replays weren't inconclusive. For the sake of tradition I can't imagine baseball adopting instant replay for all calls (nor should it), but for home plate calls or fair v. foul homerun balls etc. the game would be better for it. I'm not talking about adding replay to "challenge" balls and strikes at the plate, but only to correct egregious calls like the one identified in your blog as "inconclusive".
I do understand the traditionalist's reluctance to embrace replay. It would change the way umpires call games. Like in the NFL, umpires might call a play contrary to their initial viewing only to ensure that they get a second glance at the replay to get it right. Unlike the NFL, however, baseball's rules aren't as susceptible to that happening. Simply reviewing a tape of the Rockies-Padres game would show, and I think decicively, that the plate was blocked and the umpire is an idiot. I'm curious to know after seeing the play on the replay whether the home plate umpire stands by his call. We'll never know, but I bet umpires would like the opportunity to overrule themselves after seeing the play in slow motion. After all, that call did determine whether the 13 inning wild card spot playoff game was over or not.
I know you're way too much of a traditionalist for this approach. I also know that you mostly dislike the impact of instant replay in football. I can understand the traditionalist fan that defends the old guard as an imperfect beast. I view it completely differently. I like the games of football and baseball enough to want the plays that actually occur on the field, rather than their sometimes ridiculously incorrect offiating interpretations, to determine a victor. To some degree the perfectly refereed or umpired game is impossible, but shouldn't we work toward that goal as much as possible?
For example, I think what's happened in football is a great thing. I am not sure about the overturning percentage, but even if you stack the outcomes with "inconclusive evidence" calls I bet you still come out with a large body of calls that even a group of referees would agree serve the game better. I am all for an additional few minutes to my game viewing experience if that's what it takes to ensure that what happens on the field is more likely to be what determines the game's result.
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I think "inconclusive at best" isn't being honest. It seems like from every angle available the Padre's catcher had his foot blocking the base, and the Rockies' runner didn't get his hand on it. Even ESPN's baseball tonight panel believes that he probably didn't make it.
That said, I think the umpire just wanted to go home. If that had been an out and the next ball a pop up we could be watching a very different game this afternoon.
It was a nice block of the plate, but the fact was, the catcher dropped the ball! I think the umpire might have made a different call if it had been a bang-bang play where the catcher hadn't made an error on the play. That little fact makes the umpires call legitimate because out of the corner of his eye he saw the ball pop loose.
As for instant replay, I think it has not helped the game of football. All those overturned catches and interceptions have screwed teams over and over again. I doubt, half the time that the player who "drops" the ball even knows if they did. I absolutely hate, when I am watching a game, to have to take two or three breaks to watch a play over and over again in the middle of a game. I say play on and whine later. Lets cut our officials some slack and let the game be imperfect. Nothing else in real life is perfect, why should every game be?
I suppose we'll let disagreement prevail here, but I do have one last comment to make on the missed call by the umpire. Ball or no ball, you MUST touch a base in order to be declared safe at that base. That goes for first, second, third and home - but especially HOME PLATE! I think the drop highlights something MLB umpires do on a regular basis that is a shame to baseball, and that's guess at a play when it's close based on what typically happens in a 'bang bang' play at the plate. I think that's a terrible approach and he was very wrong in this case.
I’d like to start by saying sorry for the delay in my “official” response. OK, I’m changing my position here. The replays of the play at the plate were inconclusive to probably “no.” It doesn’t look like Holliday touched home. But what matters is that the umpire called the play safe. I give a lot of credit to catcher Michael Barrett for his block. However, if Barrett had any doubt that the runner did not touch the plate, he should have hopped up, scrambled to retrieve the lose ball and applied a tag like his life depended on it.
The game of baseball is imperfect. Human error has been a part of the game for 135 years. Most of the time the umpires get the calls right. A few times they make the wrong call, including earlier in the game ruling Garrett Atkins home run was not a homer. This is probably shocking, but I would be OK if baseball instituted replay to review home run balls and whether homers are hit fair or foul, that’s it. However, I’d prefer if baseball stay away from replay altogether. My main objection to replay in baseball has to do with the unique pace of the game. You can’t stop a baseball game for 90 seconds or more, looking at a specific play, and not affect the players in the field. I personally think the game was decided on the field and like it or not the Rockies won.
I would just like to reiterate my point that deferring to the 135 years of tradition in baseball as an excuse to accept an "imperfect game" is crazy. If the Gods of baseball that descended on our lowly planet could only have bestowed upon our 19th century bretheren the type of technology that we have today, don't you think they would want the game to be called as it happened "on the field" instead of how it was interpreted (often wrongly) in an umpire's mind. I'm not a 100% supporter of replay in baseball, but I have to say that for big calls like this a 90 second break wouldn't hurt.
I agree that it would slow the game up. I disagree with you that baseball's pace is somehow unfitting for a stoppage of play. Baseball is one of the only sports I know where any player at any point in the game can call timeout for whatever reason they see fit. Certainly a rhythm is established by the pitcher and often that's the set pace for a given game (which is appropriate), but reviewing major plays like homerun balls and plays at the plate wouldn't greatly alter this rhythm. As it is, umpires can huddle together and discuss their calls for as long as they desire. After coming to a decision on major plays they will inevitably be approached by a team's manager. These arguments can take minutes - just ask Mr. Cox.
Anyhow, by this time the Rockies have advanced to the World Series. I suppose the ump's blown call is even more consequential now. Also, I am having a hard time believing that you want plays to be judged on how much of an acting job the players give on a given call...
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