Take Out The Trash Day

I refer you to my earlier post about the concept behind "Take Out The Trash Day."

It's official, I am a full blown supporter of the use of instant replay in professional sports. I think the technology we posses today is too good to not utilize it. I don't believe that instant replay, if used correctly, will bastardize sports either. With the exception of U.S.A.'s elimination this past Saturday, I have been in World Cup heaven. That being said - the officiating has been absolutely AWFUL. While instant replay should not be brought in on fouls called by the referees, there is no reason for it to not be used on every goal scored...make that possibly scored as has been the case in this World Cup. The NHL does that, there's a lot more scoring in hockey, and yet it doesn't slow down the game. Heck, I don't know of any sporting event that has more "traditions" than the Championships Wimbledon, and they even use instant replay. Fanhouse.com has a good article on how the World Cup should use instant replay.

I have no problem at all with Stephen Strasburg pitching in this year's All-Star game, should he be selected. My motives here are 100%, unabashedly self-serving in this. I am sick of the American League winning. Even if it is only for one inning, that is most likely one less inning the AL will be able to score on us. (By "us" I am referring to the National League and all of us fans around the world who prefer REAL baseball.) I don't care that he hasn't served a lot of time in the league yet. I think in this case, it's an advantage, because most AL players haven't faced him yet. He's a weapon the NL has, and they would be well off if they used it.

Consider this my official joining of the Cincinnati Reds bandwagon. Every year, I look for a team that has been struggling but is able to use home-grown talent to try to turn their team around. In years past, I've been very impressed with the Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, and the Tampa Bay Rays. I love that the Reds are competing this year. The Reds hold a special place in my heart, because the first professional game I attended was the Cubs & Reds at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, back when Pete Rose was managing the Reds and Don Zimmer his counterpart with the Cubs.

As I mentioned the other day via twitter, I have decided that I will not read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows again before seeing both parts of the movie. When Sarah and I paid to see Half-Blood Prince in 3D IMAX, I left the theater pretty upset after the movie. WIth the increasing price of movie tickets, we've had to become more selective in what we see in the theater, and multiply that for IMAX. Yet only the first 15 minutes or so of the movie were in 3D. But to make it worse, the movie was, in my opinion, drastically different from the book...and Half-Blood Prince is my favorite book in the whole series. So in an effort to be able to enjoy the final movies as much as possible, I don't want to use the book as a reference and compare the two. I really want to enjoy it, so I hope this works.

The Perfect Game

Anyone who has had the fortune of watching a professional pitcher throw a perfect game got to witness one of the rarest occurrences in sports. According to Baseball-Reference.com, 37,279 players have pitched in a professional baseball game dating back to 1871. Of that number, only 20 have successfully pitched nine innings and faced 27 batters without allowing one of them to reach base. To put it another way, only 1 out of 1,864 pitchers will throw a perfect game, statistically speaking.

That is what makes the fact that two pitchers have accomplished the feat within the last month, and that fact that we saw a third get taken away last night absolutely astonishing, even moreso if you agree with me that the hitters are given every advantage possible over the pitchers.

I'm a big baseball fan. I'm not the biggest baseball fan by any means, I'm not even the biggest fan I know. But I'm a big fan. I consider myself a baseball "purist." I like day games. I hate the designated hitter. I don't like Interleague play and the only times the National League and American League should play each other are the All-Star Game and the World Series. The All-Star game shouldn't have any bearing whatsoever on home-field advantage in the World Series. I like the "human element" of umpires making the call on the field.

But even though I consider myself a "purist", I think Major League Baseball was victimized last night by its decision to lag behind on the use of instant replay.

I don't fault umpire Jim Joyce for blowing the call last night, and keeping Armando Galarraga from becoming the 21st pitcher to throw a perfect game. Umpires are human and they will make mistakes. Everyone involved last night knows this and acknowledged it. Galarraga, Tigers Manger Jim Leyland, and Joyce himself all handled last night's unfortunate events with utmost class and professionalism. But the whole experience could have been avoided if the tool of instant replay had been available for Joyce to utilize.

As of today, instant replay is used by MLB for home runs only - whether they are in fair or foul territory, and if the ball actually left the playing field or was interfered with.

Every ballpark in the league has the equipment in place to make instant replay a viable resource on a questionable play. Instant replay should never be involved in calling balls and strikes, and in every play, the umpire on the field should have the final say. But I think there's a good chance that if he had the option of doing so, Joyce would have welcomed the chance to make sure he got the call right on the field by checking himself with instant replay. I have to think that anyone who takes pride in their work, whatever it may be, wants to utilize every resource available to do their job the best it can be done.

Commissioner Selig, it's time to make the resource of instant replay available...REALLY available.