A thought following the Cardinals’ disappointing loss to the Dodgers tonight:
In the interest of honesty and fairness, Dee Gordon was out at second. You heard it here from the unabashed Dodgers fan: he was out. No question. The play was close, and the throw was high, but he was still out.
Now that this has been determined, I’m sure this brings up the discussion of instant replay in baseball. For years, Major League Baseball did not utilize replay, but it was added recently to cover home run calls. Since the addition of instant replay, some fans and pundits have called for more replay across the sport.
Since I’m writing for a Cardinals blog, I understand that fans are probably sitting at home frustrated about the call at second. If the umpire, who was clearly in the right place, had called it right, the Cardinals are two games up in the wild card instead of a tie. Now, the momentum has shifted to the Dodgers going in to the final game of the series, and the Dodgers seem to have new life. And that’s all because of a blown call.
So what’s the easy solution? More replay! A replay on that call clearly shows the runner is out, and the game is over. Right? Right?!
Well, as the headline says, in the case of instant replay, less is more.
Look, one of the things I love about baseball is the human element. Everybody makes mistakes, and sometimes that costs a team a game. And it’s even worse when it happens in a situation where two teams are competing for a chance at the postseason. But what’s great about sports — especially baseball — is that the game relies not just on the players on the field, but the men at the four bases who are making sure the game is called the right way.
The Tigers and Galarraga would have benefited from an expanded instant replay policy in 2010.
But here’s my overall opinion about instant replay: if your game swings on the decision made by one umpire, your team didn’t do enough to win. (Unless, of course, your name is Armando Galarraga and you were thiiiiis clooose to a no-hitter.)
Let’s look at mistakes made in this game overall:
- The Cardinals could not get a bunt down. Matt Carpenter and Pete Kozma both struggled to lay down a bunt, fouling pitches off. Kozma’s attempts were particularly disturbing, as they both were fouled backwards.
- Yadier Molina tried to turn a double into a triple. If this was Matt Holliday or David Freese or Allen Craig, I would not have questioned the decision. But Molina is not known for his speed, and he was clearly hobbling as he ran to third. So he really had no business trying to take third base. I understand the decision, as he was running on an injured center fielder who had just picked up the ball as he touched second. But a Major Leaguer, especially one of Yadi’s caliber, should know the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses. Take away the injury, and you still have one of the top outfielders in the game with a cannon of an arm. And he got burned.
- I found it interesting that Jason Motte kept throwing the fastball. A menacing fastball it is, and I know I couldn’t catch up with a heater that hits 98. I’m also not a Major Leaguer, and while the fastball is Motte’s bread-and-butter, I still would have expected that he might throw something — anything! — other than the fastball. The broadcasters had just talked about how Motte’s cutter was improved, so I would have thought that he could have thrown something else out there. Perhaps he wasn’t comfortable throwing that secondary pitch, but his consistent use of the fastball may have made a difference.
See? There are three ways the Cardinals could have won, but didn’t. And in every game from here until eternity, there will be ways that other teams could have won but didn’t. Instant replay will never change that, and that’s why baseball is just fine without it.