MLB strikes out with miserable men in blue
The outrageous Doug Eddings no-catch non-call in the White Sox-Angels ALCS, preceded a couple of days earlier by the egregious Joe West call of interference on Robinson Cano in the Yankees-Angels series, and by myriad blown calls and increasingly aggressive behavior by umpires during the regular season has brought the inevitable renewed call for the use of instant replay in baseball.
It's a lot of wasted hot air. Baseball doesn't need instant replay. What it needs is better umpires and better umpire training on positioning, procedure on calls and being non-confrontational. What we are seeing now is the fallout from former union chief Richie Phillips' ill-conceived mass resignation of the umpires in 1999 and the subsequent overhaul of the umpire rosters in which over a dozen new arbiters had to be rushed to the big leagues.
Baseball has only itself to blame for all these blown calls by umpires that are now directly affecting the postseason. That Eddings failed to make a clear call - either "batter's out" or "no catch" on the two-out ninth-inning swinging third strike on the White Sox's A.J. Pierzynski that led to Chicago winning Game 2 of the ALCS Wednesday night illuminated the problem. Mike Port, MLB's new VP of Umpiring, told the Associated Press that Eddings did nothing wrong and that umpires are not required to audibly call "no-catch."
Why not? If umpires were instructed to audibly call batters out or declare a no-catch in these situations, the chaos that resulted in Chicago the other night would have been avoided. Instead, nobody knew what was going on, least of all Josh Paul, the Angels' backup catcher who had tossed the ball back to the mound assuming Pierzynski was out. To hear Eddings' gibberish afterward, explaining the difference between his strike three and batter's out "mechanic," it was as if he was saying Paul had to be a mind-reader to know if the ball was still "live."
If ever there was a need for the umpiring crew to huddle and make sure they got the call right - as per the new guidelines set down by previous MLB umpires VP Sandy Alderson - this was it. Instead, crew chief Jerry Crawford and the others merely supported Eddings' indecision and the game was turned into a travesty. It was Crawford's job to rescue Eddings by calling a huddle and ruling Pierzynski out.
But according to rules expert Rich Marazzi, who is on retainer as a consultant with a dozen major league clubs, West's interference call on Cano running to first after striking out with two out and two on in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the ALDS, was abolutely wrong. Nevertheless, it conceivably turned the tide of that game and the series.
"Cano should not have been called out at first," Marazzi said in reference to West's call after Angel catcher Benjie Molina's throw eluded first baseman Darin Erstad. "That rule is intended to cover running out of the line and interfering with the throw. Cano didn't do that. Erstad's target was on the foul side of the line and Molina had a clear throwing lane to get the ball to him. Also, West was not in position to see the angles involved and make that determination."
Should we be surprised? Before the Phillips-induced umpires purge, West was consistently one of the lowest rated umpires in the National League, frequently finding himself called on the carpet of league presidents Bill White and Leonard Coleman for his over-aggressive behavior. He was one of the 22 umpires let go as a result of the mass resignations but inexplicably was brought back and then, incredibly, made a crew chief. Even more incredibly, I'm told West has gotten a World Series assignment.
And was it just a coincidence that on another play that is never called, West ruled Cano had taken his foot off the bag at second just as he took Alex Rodriguez's soft throw in the seventh inning of Game 3?
For a while, it looked as if the quality of umpiring was holding its own under Alderson's firm hand, despite the fact the vast majority of them had been force-fed to the majors. (It is important to remember that during Phillips' regime, umpires were almost never fired and few retired. Thus, with the dearth of openings at the top, there was little incentive for quality umpires to languish at meager pay in the minors and many of them gave up their dream.)
But when Alderson left on April 19 to take the team president's position with the San Diego Padres, it was as if the inmates took over the asylum and quick hooks, aggressive behavior and blown calls again became the order of the day. Here are just some of the more egregious ones that, presumably, went without admonishment from above:
n June 26: After blowing his "out" call on Gary Sheffield at first base, C.B. Bucknor compounded his error by immediately tossing Sheffield for slamming his helmet to the ground in frustration and disbelief. If anything, Bucknor should have settled for Sheffield being fined and walked away.
July 18: In what numerous veteran baseball people said was a "first" for them, home plate umpire Laz Diaz reversed first base umpire Dana DeMuth's "safe" call on Devil Rays shortstop Julio Lugo. As Rays' manager Lou Piniella argued: "Dana DeMuth is six feet away from the bag and then you've got a home plate umpire 90 feet away who sees it better than him. I've never seen a play called like that overruled. How can that be?" How indeed?
Aug. 23: With the D-Rays' Lugo on third base, Indians closer Bob Wickman stopped in the middle of his delivery, clearly balking, but despite the Devil Rays' animated protests, neither home plate umpire Mark Wegner nor third base umpire Gary Darling would make the call and Tampa Bay lost, 5-4. Interestingly, neither of them tossed Piniella for charging onto the field (in violation of the rules) to argue.
n Aug. 31: Home plate umpire Ed Montague blew two calls in one inning in this game, calling D-Rays catcher Toby Hall out sliding home in the top of the eighth and ruling ball four on a perfect, down-the-middle 3-2 pitch to the Red Sox's Johnny Damon from Tampa Bay reliever Joe Borowski in the bottom of the inning. But neither of those were Montague's primary offense. Rather, it was his decision to deliberately incite a confrontation with the Devil Rays by walking down the line to the front of their dugout after the inning was over. When D-Rays coach John McLaren resumed the argument with him, Montague further inflamed the situation by shouting back: "Who the hell are you?" Outraged by the disrespect, McLaren charged Montague and got himself tossed and later suspended.
It's no wonder Lugo lamented a couple of days later how so many calls seem to go against the lowly D-Rays. "It's hard for me to understand why a team that struggles all year gets all the calls against them. We're a bunch of young players on this team and because of that, the umpires will say 'Who the hell are you? How long have you been in the big leagues?'"
I'm thrilled, but so nervous...
