Posted on 01/17/2014 9:44:37 AM PST by 1rudeboy
In a trying month for baseball, this was a good day.
For much of the week, it seemed as if Alex Rodriguez was intent on shattering two decades of relative peace in our national pastime. But here was one achievement even Rodriguez couldn’t smear: Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association, and the World Umpires Association decided — collectively — to expand instant replay, and they did it the right way.
It took years of thoughtful evolution on the issue — from commissioner Bud Selig and others — and then months of intense work from the triumvirate of John Schuerholz, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa, and MLB executives Peter Woodfork and Chris Marinak.
The best part? As MLB officials spoke during a Thursday news conference, they did so with complete candor about the system’s strengths and limitations.
It is not perfect, they cautioned. It could (and probably will) change after the first year. The game will be fairer, because umpires have more resources to get calls right, and more transparent, because fans inside stadiums will see the same replays as the umpires when calls are challenged.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.foxsports.com ...
I HATE the “neighborhood” play. Hate.
So now it will apparently be up to the whims of the umpire to determine whether a runner coming home is “targeting the catcher” or not. Yay. Not.
One good thing about the rule change is that supposedly prohibits catchers from blocking the plate without the ball. Of course, it already was supposed to be against the rules, but it hasn’t been enforced in decades.
Gay. Very gay.
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