Umps Surprise Themselves, Get Call Right

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Umps Surprise Themselves, Get Call Right

By: mbohn

In Game Three of the 2009 World Series between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies we witnessed the first ever use of instant replay in a WS game. In the fourth inning, Alex Rodriguez sent a ball deep to right field. At first, it did not look like it would have the distance to land in the stands, but the ball carried to the wall. Upon first glance it looked like the ball drilled the top of the wall and fell back into play. Upon further review it is clear that the ball bounced off of a television camera that was hanging a little bit over the field. Due to pre-established ground rules, that is a home run.

Wait, what pre-established ground rules? Umpire crew chief Gerry Davis told Phillies Manager Charlie Manual that when the crew took their tour of the field, they saw the camera and decided then that if any ball were to hit it, it would be a round tripper. Fair enough, and that makes the correct call on this one a home run.
The problem that Phillie Fan is going to have with this is that the ball did not look like it would have cleared the top of the fence if the camera were not there. The problem with Phillie Fans’ impending argument about being screwed is that this happened on their home turf. While we are not sure who determines the location of the cameras and their clearance to the field, we are sure that if Chase Utley had hit this ball they would not have an issue with it.
That sound you just heard was all of the Phillies Fans that were screaming about disrespect and how their Phils would either sweep on win in five throwing their remotes into their TVs. I predicted Phils in six, but that prediction is looking shaky right now. As I said Friday, this series will turn when either Ryan Howard or Alex Rodriguez does something other than generate electricity via the human windmill. Unfortunately for the Phillies, it was not their guy who showed up first. Rodriguez reached base four times, the homer, a walk and he was drilled by two pitches. He also had a throwing error, for what it is worth, but did not strike out a single time.
Howard, on the other hand, continues to look lost in the batters box while striking out three more times and not reaching base a single time. Good thing for him the Phillies have a new super star in the mix in Jayson Werth. The bad news is that it will take much more than Werth to win three more games this series.

Sun, Nov 1, 2009 at 2:20 AM
Categories: MLB, MLB Rumors

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