Selig Says “No” to More Instant Replay; I say “Eh, whatever…”
Well, of course he said *no*. Selig doesn’t change anything unless it makes money. If instant replay put a little more scratch in the owner’s wallets he’d be sending that through like Flannery wind-millin’ the winning run home in the 9th…….
And really, I don’t care one way or the other. If pressed to answer, I suppose I’d vote for replay on balls hit down the line as well as plays at a base. But baseball is a game based on linear perfection. It’s not like football which is all over the place at 5000 miles per hour. In baseball, there’s an umpire at every base, he’s right there to see the ball coming to a bag with an incoming runner—it’s not really a subjective call like in football or the NBA. You either make the call or you kick it.
And, there are clearly defined lines for the HP umpire and the 1st and 3rd base umpire to stare down when a ball is hit down the line. Again, not that hard to umpire that call, at least when compared to the NBA or NFL……
I would tacitly support it coming to baseball. But it would definitely change the pace of the game and for all you *pro-replay guys* you might want to consider that. There is no sport played on earth that is more dependent on pace than baseball. And for a long, long time it’s been a pretty nice pace for those of us who understand and appreciate the game……..
If instant replay WAS to ever come to MLB this is the format that I would support: Each team gets one challenge a game. If they use it and win it they get to use it again, otherwise it’s burnt. And there would be no challenges from the beginning of the 9th inning onward—any replay from that point would be at the discretion of a 5th umpire in the booth. Any challenge or *5th umpire ruling* would have to culminate within 90 seconds…….
One moderate gain from going to replay is that it might lessen the number of meaningless and long drawn out manager/umpire arguments. If there’s a close play at the plate, instead of a manager running on to the field, kicking dirt around and yelling at the ump close enough to smell his breath, he would simply toss a red flag on to the field and we’d go right to replay. No drama, no pomp and circumstance, just have the 5th ump make a decision in less than 90 seconds and it’s over. It would have a very clean and sterile feeling to it.
But there’s something awfully *base-bally* about a player or manager arguing with an umpire about a call. When it happens, we sit up in our chair with sharpened focus and start to wonder what’s going to happen next. We start to feel the same adrenaline that’s playing out on the field. Does ANYONE expect the call to be changed? Heck no. Now it’s all theater. How big is this gonna get? And as the energy of the argument rises we all quickly wonder how spectacular the impending toss will be….
And as I sit her thinking about some of the best “YER OUTTA HERE’S!!!!!!” of all time I really can’t imagine ever finding myself getting too jazzed up about Bud Selig ever deciding to bring instant replay to baseball……
It’s pretty ok the way it is……..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
To me, any extension of instant replay is worthless without it somehow involving real close plays at firstbase. I’d like to see a 5th umpire in a booth, over-turning wrong calls at firstbase, as one of the replay items. The challenge flag idea is fine. If the call is over-turned, just give the team one more challenge to use, and that’s it.
Of course there should be replay down the lines, for caught-ball disputes, and certainly for first base. As for the time issue, I’d rather it be used for replay and get it right than waste 3-4 minutes of seeing Bochy trot out to the ump and make a bad argument, then not even get thrown out. What’s more of a time waster — a manager fruitlessly jawing with an ump for 3 minutes about a call that won’t change, or sending up the call to the booth for a 90 second review, and they get the call corrected or confirmed?…
Weatherproof games: Giants at Marlins and Angels at Mariners.
Fans should expect temperatures in the mid-to-upper 80s and sunny skies in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis. As for New York, lingering thundershowers might cause some delays in the opener between the Padres and the Mets.
I’m all for tradition, so Selig should be summarily shot at dawn for the DH and inter league play. He gets no reprieve for saying “no” to instant replay. In other news . . .
Melky Cabrera is 7-for-12 (.583) in his career against Anibal Sanchez. Consequently, I am looking for a huge game from him. Couple that with Ryan Vogelsong being 3-1 with a 0.95 ERA in his past four starts – Giants will be having a Marlin fish fry this afternoon.
I’m with you on the DH… That’s not how baseball was meant to be… I like inter league play as long as it’s kept to a minimum.
Marlins are now No 1 dirtbags (LA moved to #2)…. There needs to be some payback for a bunch of shit they’ve given the Giants.
Looking for Sanchez to get some neck cramps with big flys.
Melky is carrying himself like a superstar. Stuff the ballot box…
I’m in the No and Hell No camp of instant replay. I’m also not buying Selig’s speed of the game mumbo jumbo. Replay + longer games = more commercials. Replay coming soon.
Anyone else hear about Mark Ellis needing surgery on his left leg in order to avoid amputation? He will miss at least six weeks of action, but is expected to recover. He was injured during the seventh inning of Friday night’s 6-5 Dodgers victory when he took a short toss from shortstop Dee Gordon on a fielder’s choice grounder by Shane Robinson and was upended by Tyler Greene on a hard but clean straight-on takeout slide. Weird.
Why not just amputate to avoid surgery?
The Ronnie Lott option . . .
ellis play looked harmless enough, and he didn’t appear badly hurt….scary what almost happened to the guy.
Replay would also have to involve HRs/foul line and whether a ball is caught or trapped in the OF. To me it’s all about getting it right; sure it will take some time to look at replays but most baseball stuff isn’t near as complicated as football plays are. Selig, as usual, is FOS.
I was thinking about belt again, and I really am of the opinion that Bill James and his projections of 25 HRs are what has colored everyone’s thinking in the wrong direction. I completely disagree with the idea that a 1b/3b needs to be a 20 HR guy. If belt can get on base, hit .280 and field his position well I don’t care how many HRs he hits, or doesn’t. And of course, the options there aren’t good.
As constructed, the Giants are not going to hit many HRs anyway. Melk and Pagan equal maybe 25 btw them, and Nate and blanco not many at all. Sando will likely hit more than the entire rest of the IF combined. Hector and Posey might get to 30. Giants will hit better onthe road, sure, but summer in ATT isn’t going to bring a flood of bombs from the Giants.
But that doesn’t have anything to do with whether they win the division or not—that’s on pitching and defense, and ability to get on base.
Soon as they develop a robot umpire in Japan where a machine doesn’t judge like a human balls and strikes then the game will change. Still players and managers will get pissed and the robots will take a beating.
And the DH is coming…coming…coming…
no, it’s not. it’s not even breathing hard.
Coming…..coming….coming…
If they have any replay it should only be in the playoffs W/S, there the games make the most sense for it.The close call the Ump gets buzzed at whatever base or line and they have 90 seconds to make the final decision while the Managers or stewing in their dugouts.
And we can only wonder what would have already happened on instant replay if a Yankee pitcher had lost a perfect game on the blown call by Joyce instead of a Tiger pitcher.
As long as TV and the stadiums use replay, it should also be utilized to correct blown calls or confirm correct ones. There is no cogent argument for using the technology so the rabble can abuse the umpires and not use it for the benefit of getting the calls right. Obviuosly balls and strilkes would be excluded but all fair/foul calls and safe/out calls should be part of expanded replay. In short- if it can’t be used to get calls right we should not be able to view them either.
you put a guy, fifth ump, in the booth (who i think is already there). close play, they, either the manager or ump, point at the booth, just like when they appeal to another ump for help like on a check swing. green light comes on, safe. red light, out. done. tip your waiters on the way out.
As usual, what’s being said about “no to replay” now, is meaningless long term, because we will have it.Selig is just the kind of weasel who doesn’t want meaningful change on any level to occur on “his watch”. As with football, the technology will force a commisioner with common sense and guts, to use it..
This week, Peter Gammons called Scott Rolen a future Hall of Famer. Sometimes you get these glimpses into how different the media members can be from the fans. The vast majority of fans, I’m sure, would not consider Rolen a Hall of Famer.
Well, he has played his entire career on the east coast and Peter Gammons is an idiot. He also has a personal foundation; The Enis Furley Foundation to help children and their families who struggle with illness, hardship, or other special needs and the associated Camp Emma Lou which I think is some sort of summer camp. Both are named after his dogs. Must be some inspiring pooches those two.
scott Rolen is a good player but no HOF’er, guy just broke 2,000 hits and little over 300 homers. If he goes in then put Will Clark in the Hall.
When Marvin Bernard is in, we can talk Rolen..
I just find it odd that Gammons would say that Rolen *will* be a Hall of Famer, instead of *should* be a Hall of Famer. And it’s even odd that Gammons thinks the guy’s a Hall of Famer. Gammons has got to know it’s a huge longshot.
Well, Gammons once said Bobby Crosby would be AL MVP. He out Ort-Rodded even me..
Or Hal Lanier ..Mike Benjamin ….Skip “The Albino James”
1. Gregor Blanco (L) RF
2. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
3. Melky Cabrera (S) LF
4. Buster Posey (R) C
5. Angel Pagan (S) CF
6. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
7. Joaquin Arias (R) 3B
8. Emmanuel Burriss (S) 2B
9. Ryan Vogelsong (R) P
What a mighty lineup! Whew!
You can mock them, and I’ll choose to pull for them to do well tonight.
Were you happier with this one from 2008, Nip?
Dave Roberts LF
Eugenio Velez RF
Fred Lewis CF
Ray Durham 2B
Jose Castillo 3B
Rich Aurilia 1B
Steve Holm C
Brian Bocock SS
Shit, that feels like a generation ago, not 4 short years . . .
Go back and look at each of their stats Loo . . . In fact, most of your line up is inaccurate, e.g., Rowand is missing, Visquel was the SS and Velez played 2nd (Randy Winn played right field and arguably had one of his best seasons in his career). Fred Lewis also hit well, as did Aurilia and Rowand batted .271. Bocock was a bit player back then. So was Holm.
Chuck, the human mind will provide all sorts of defenses for traumatic events. By the by, will you check your trade proposals this month (grin), I have a ridicul . . . uhh, a great trade proposal for you.
Ridicul is right, Blade . . .
Durham at 2B would be an upgrade.Everyone else is laughable.
heh heh. heh heh. He wrote Bocock
I miss the *bocock*/*big titty* days—
I see Chad Curtis is in the news today, oh boy.
Chad Curtis, the sculptor whose work explores ideas of simulation and displacement, creating a highly-synthetic experience? Or, the one that likes little girls?
Thanks heaven for little girls . . .
Or,
Sitting on the park bench, eyeing little girls with bad intent . . .
I never tire of those 6 chords…the louder the better.
Sure, just send him right to jail. No way a couple of teenage skanks would ever fabricate something like that…
I cherry-picked it for effect, Blade……
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL200804060.shtml
Tonight’s LU!
Blanco RF
Crawford SS
Cabrera LF
Posey C
Pagan CF
Belt 1B
Arias 3B
Burriss 2B
Vogelsong RHP
Marlins:
Reyes SS
Infante 2B
Ramirez 3B
Dobbs LF
Stanton RF
Morrison 1B
Hayes C
Coghlan CF
Sanchez RHP
I realize others have posted the LU but I’ve never done it and wanted to see how it made me feel to do so….
Allrighty, swim team for an hour where I will follow the game on my phone and will catch up with you guys mid game or so.
No transistor radio, big shot?
Marlins Stadium from the outside looks like my toilet bowl with the lid down…
We could be screwed if that’s Roy Hobbs not Dobbs in the cleanup spot for the Marlins.
Belt’s now 0 fer his last 14 with 9 Ks.
1-0 Fish. Thanks for coming and drive home safely.
Belt, along with Crawford, Burriss, Pill, Blanco and all those other guys I listed off in a thread a couple of weeks ago better get their shit together or they’ll be in Fresno. And it won’t be in exchange for the flavor of the week in Fresno. Sabean will start hitting the waiver wire. Adam Lind is a possibility despite the dough still owed him. There are others…
I don’t know if you’re thinking about Lind for first base, they’d plug Huff in before that.
I agree they likely would. I just used Lind as an example of ww guys. If these young players don’t get there shit together and thinking there’s no urgency with nothing in Fresno behind them they better think again. Sabes loves vets cast to the ww and he’s had great success with that move. He’s waiting for June before it really starts to shake out but it is coming if these underperformers don’t start producing
Considering that the deficit has been mostly been due to defense and Lincecum, I don’t see any wholesale changes looming. Belt is probably the most vulnerable because of Huff but Mudbug is the new Nate… but you’re probably right as to any vets like Blanco and Burriss, they’re free really and they’d just replace them with new freebies.
now that the LA Kings have a shot at the Cup, I hope espn reminds Melrose on a regular basis the last time they were there, and he had a guy named Gretzky but couldn’t beat the Montreal Canadiens (and Patrick Roy?).
Uhh . . . WTF was that Buster???????????
Do any of you guys know where the “run support per game for pitchers” stat is found? I follow A. Sanchez closely as he’s on all 5 of my teams and it “feels” like he never gets shit for support. Voggy too. They both have to be in the top 10
Sanchez has 2.8, Vogelsong 3.25. Go to their game logs at Baseball Reference.
I thought I remember seeing a post on merc blog that g brown is hitting much better lately and getting on base…if he was brought up you would think he’d get PT.
Vogs is nibbling again, I hate that. He was ahead of Hanley, now he’s gotta face the big bad one.
He’s up to .250 with .332 OBP, 12-16 steals. Progress.
Wow.
That worked out well
Maybe that flair will prime Belt’s hitting pump. Good to get Sanchez out of the game for once.
Whoever trashes Belt over that RBI is being assigned by God to count all bloop hits in the Major Leagues from 1947 thrugh 5/24/12 and deduct the bloops and any ensuing runs from the hitter’s totals..
Did I trash the guy, didn’t seem like it to me.
twin wasn’t speaking to anyone specific. Just anticipating. Sort of Flap Damage Control
The “culprit” knows who he is, but this was meant in good humor..
Solid inning. Way to go Giants.
Ok Ted, I guess I read it wrong. My apologies to Twin, I know your rooting for Belt like the rest of us. I really want Belt to break through this year, just one of those kids I really want to make it big.
Considering how much time he’s spending there tonight, I’m thinking Blanco might as well just play third.
yeah good to see….hope he’s back in the groove.
Melk does a Giants fan good.
Got Melk?
I predicted this . . . See my 5:55am post. SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED. 🙂
Hell with that Blade. You got the weather right at 5:54, now that’s huge
Vogelsong is one intense guy. I think Hensley and Affeldt get short sheeted for giving up Ryan’s runs..
Can you imagine ATT being that empty at 10pm? Even down 8-3 in the 8th? The attendance right now looked exactly the same in the old ballpark. And in Montreal.
The Expos fan sat next to me at Pac Bell one time. Great guy.
I read an article in Time magazine recently that was very critical of the ball park construction costs being almost totally borne by the city of Miami and Dade county. Consequently, residents are not too happy about Loria getting a sweetheart deal. Couple that with his front office and his manager in crisis mode, listening to Cuban-American fans threaten boycotts of the glittering new $645 million stadium. Last, but not least, this park is located in the worst part of the city. Not exactly gentrified like the Phone park or Coors Field in LODO (which use to be the worst part of Denver, but they refurbished that concurrent with the construction of Coors).
Get those runs back.
Well, I think I have a pretty good feeling we may not blow this one. 🙂
going from 12-3 when I posted, and now 12-7 …. I may, once again, have spoken to soon. 😦
This is so fucking weird. Flav, you are probably the only one here who is familiar with Alejandro De Aza of the White Sox (he might even be on one of your FL teams). Anywho, he “hit” a home run earlier this evening . . . I know because I saw it noted on my ESPN FL Launch FantasyCast scoreboard and a minute later, the HR was taken away and the Sox were again behind Minn. Fast forward 2-3 innings later, he hits another HR. I guess this one counts. I can’t wait to read the post game article about this . . . He must have been so pissed off being robbed the first time, that he hit another one. LOL.
I don’t know those darn “hold” rules.Is it possible that Bochy sent Lopez in in a “NO HOLD” situation ?
Yeah, the Brewer game I went to, the Giants were down big early, tied, and fell right back behind in the 6th. By the bottom of the 8th the stands were still about 3/4 (13/16th?) full still, and the Milwaukee fan ( a 22 y/o) behind me was calling our fans out for leaving. I said, shit. Go see a Dodger game. Win, lose, or draw, 2/3 of the fans leave by the bottom of the 6th. Go anywhere short of Wrigley, and you won’t see a crowd this big this late.
Ah 14 …..nice!
People were talking about Aqualung earlier? Get your guitars everyone!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qtLqVOoQZY
I don’t think I ever saw a pitcher make a play on a foul pop like Lopez did.
Vogelsong must be a real bundle of laughs to hang out with.
Was it really necessary to use all those pitchers on a night they score all those runs?
When you guys write “lol” and “grin” and “sigh” are you really doing it?
Actually Loo, this is all a figment of your imagination. Think Matrix. The Flap is a software program. HAHAHA. Flav, Bozo, Twin, Pawlie, Chuck, Pawlie, etc., including their “lol, grins, and sighs” are all lines of written source code for the Flap program. Good night.
Agent Smith 🙂
Yes, there are 2 Pawlies . . . Bet ya didn’t know that, huh?
Agent Smith
Welcome to the theatre of the real.
Nope.(Sneer)
Goodnight. (Smirk)
In the shuffling madness . . . . . . locomotive breath . . .
sorry, still flashing back to Ian Anderson . . .
Zuum, have to say, I saw Jethro Tull about 6-7 times, and they ALWAYS put on an outstanding show.
My God, Giants scored 14 runs! And it looks like Miami still needs a quarterback.
nipper and DMD get their predictions handed to them. LOL
comeupance? *grin*
that *structure* out in CF isn’t distinctly Miami. It’s distinctly ugly. At least no one was on base……..