Blame The Ump. And Keep It That Way.

I was over at Tito Jackson's house watching the Twins-Yankees playoff game when the umpire pictured above, Phil Cuzzi, blew this call. Joe Mauer hit a ball that not only glanced off the Yankees left fielder in fair territory, it bounced in fair territory and left an indentation before bouncing into the stands. Cuzzi, amazingly, called the ball foul. Now look, even I have to admit that the way the Twins were driving in runners that night (they weren't), they probably would have found a way NOT to drive in Mauer even if he was correctly awarded a double. Even though this call nearly killed me, I am over it.

The incompetence in umpiring that I have witnessed in subsequent Major League Baseball baseball games, however, has bordered on criminal. Two mind-blowingly horrible calls occurred in the same inning of the Yankees-Angels game the other night, and both involved the Yankees smug right-fielder Nick Swisher.

The first blown called occurred with Swisher on second. The pitcher tried to pick him off and, as can be seen from the image above, had him out by a foot. The call by umpire Dale Scott? SAFE! Check out how close Scott is on this call - he's three feet away! Now, Swisher eventually made it to third, and tried to tag up and score on a fly to center fielder Torii Hunter. After Hunter caught the ball, Swisher scored easily but was then ruled out by the third base umpire Tim McClelland for "leaving third base too early." Replays not only showed that Swisher DID NOT leave early (before Hunter caught the ball), they showed that McClelland was clearly watching Hunter only. He did not have his eyes on Swisher at all. Basically, a bogus make-up call. There have been other instances that I won't go into here, but there is a good Deadspin piece on the issue if you care to read it.

All of this incompetence has led to calls for instant replay in Major League Baseball. Today, MLB only uses replay to determine if home runs were fair or foul or truly cleared the fence. As I sure you know, football and hockey use instant replay to certain degrees today. With all of this umpire incompetence in baseball today, wouldn't it make sense to implement instant replay to solve these problems?

No. And here are a few reasons why:

1. Can you imagine how long baseball games would be today if there was a delay every time one of these clowns made a bad call, and they had to contact some guy up in the booth to watch the replay? Six hours long. It would be unbearable.

2. Baseball, more than any other sport, contains the "human element" of calling balls and strikes and runners "safe or out." The outcome of the game is determined by human thought, not video proof. There is something "robotic" of turning to the replay booth every time a call is disputed. I enjoy baseball largely because of this "human element" which I find charming. Sometimes charmingly good, sometimes charmingly bad. These calls, however, give fans something to discuss, debate and bitch about. This is the essence of baseball and sports in general. There are going to be some bad calls that go your team's way and some that don't. Live with it, and find a way to overcome.

3. Sometimes, even the replay booth doesn't get it right. See: NFL.

I do feel that baseball umpires should be held accountable for their performance, just like players, managers and general managers. When their performance is this bad, there must be repercussions, not just the post-game admittance that "Geez, I blew that call. Again." No umpire is going to be perfect, but the bad calls are becoming a trend. If the long-term umpires cannot handle the speed of the game, find someone who can - just like they do with players.

Instant replay in baseball would not solve the umpire issue, and would detract from the game.

Jeff