What is going on with Major League umpires recently? This past week has seen two, if not more, significantly blown calls by baseball umpires that beg the questions, “When is enough..enough?” and “When is a baseball officiating crew held accountable for embarrassingly blown calls?” It would seem that with the onslaught of so many miscues of late, it might not be that long before changes are instituted, either in the personnel or in the system itself.
What makes the miscall of the obvious home run on Wednesday night even more outrageous, is the fact that replay video was used by the crew and STILL the umps (all four of them), made the wrong call. If you look at the video below you will clearly see the ball going over the yellow line which indicates a home run. And it clears that line by several feet, not inches. Watch…
Oakland Athletics manager, Bob Melvin was correct when he said after the game that the only four people who thought that hit was a double were the four umpires. Although we do not know how the regular baseball season will end up, that loss could prove to be a significant one.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia goes nuts when an illegal pitching change is made during a game vs the Astros. Photo: USA today
One night after the home run faux pas, a second more blatant miscall was made by another umpiring crew who decided to allow an illegal pitching change to be made before one pitch was thrown to start an inning. If only they would have read the rule book which they have readily available, they would have noticed that their call was totally illegal and if allowed it would make it legal for ALL major league teams to duplicate.
Scioscia lodged a formal protest, and rightly so, after the call was made official and our feeling is he will win the protest and the call will be over turned. We’re not sure if the game will be replayed if Scioscia is successful but in any case it will speak volumes for the recent ineptitudes of some MLB umpires.
It’s imperative that changes need to made and a complete review of these and other calls have to take place in order to insure that the integrity of the game is not impacted.
Here’s the video…
FANTASY FURNACE 
And MLB executive Joe Torre is meeting with these umpires to offer them seeing eye dogs or to severely reprimand them ? The MLB hierarchy is a goddam joke at every level .
And why are the Cubs spending $500 million upgrade Wrigley Field , instead of spending that a money on improving and upgrading their roster ? These are meant to be the new influx of ideas and initiatives that Theo Espstein is bringing to the organization or simply making them what we already know them to be over the last decade , absolute crap ! The Cubs are simply and have been simply pitiful and absolutely nothing is about to change anytime soon .
Tophatal …………………..
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Action was finally taken last evening on the crew that worked the Angels game. THAT’S what we’ve got to see more of…accountability. Period!
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Accountability from the MLB hierarchy M ? Are you kidding ? Baseball had to be dragged kicking and screaming into this millennium and decade , to even go with having a steroid policy . Why is the game so against the use of modern technology ?
How `bout them Knicks ? Did `melo really have temerity to suggest in his post-game interview , that the Pacers didn`t do enough . to win the game ? Perhaps he failed to look at at the scoreboard , at the end of 48 minutes ?
Topatal ……….
REPLY:
MLB is not afraid of using modern technology. The umpires in the faux home run game all went in to see the replay and STILL called it a double!
And in the second game on Thursday in the article, no technology was required. They just allowed an illegal pitching change.
As for the Knicks, why is it Al that I only hear from you following a Knick loss? Why didn’t you chime in after Game 2 when the Knicks went on a 30-2 run and blew the Pacers out of the building? Or even after they won the first round vs the Celtics?
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This rash of bad calls just further makes people have a distrust of authority even more. Sometimes I wonder if the WWE has it right. At least they don’t try to act like their product is real. You know it is staged and the refs are part of the act. MLB, NFL, NBA try to act as if they are above everything when sadly they are not.
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They do a good job for the most part but Angel Fernandez has had his problems making the right calls several times now. They (umpires, officials) just need to be held accountable for their decisions. Every grave mistake should come with consequences.
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and an apology. It would go a long way.
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Absolutely! Although if none has happened at this stage, it’s safe to say it isn’t going to…
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When umpires are the story, it’s usually not going to end well.
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Umpires or refs. That’s when you know that the game, or parts of it, have been taken away from the players.
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