Question of the day: In light of the near perfect game, should baseball expand its replay rules?
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Reporters from around the Tribune family tackle the question of the day, then you get a chance to chime in and tell them why they are wrong.
Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel
On Wednesday night, two dramatic games followed their sports’ rules:
1. In the Stanley Cup Finals, two potential Philadelphia goals were reviewed by instant replay. One play was correctly called a goal, the other (in overtime) was correctly ruled not a goal.
2. In baseball, an ump blew a perfect game by Detroit’s Armando Galarraga. No review. No replay. Just one big, botched call.
Football, a more random game, has instant replay for years. Basketball uses it selectively. Baseball is so behind the times most replays aren’t even put on scoreboard screens. So fans are penalized for attending games on a daily basis. And sometimes, like Wednesday, history is taken away form a player. Blame the ump? Blame the people running the game first.
Peter Schmuck, Baltimore Sun
If ever there was a convenient argument for expanding Major League Baseball’s limited instant replay system, the egregious blown call by umpire Jim Joyce that prevented Armando Gallaraga’s perfect game is it, but you have to look beyond one gross miscarriage of umpiring justice to make a decision of such scope.
Making video replay available regardless of the situation would slow down a sport that already is losing young fans because it moves too slow. Expanding the circumstances in which replay can be used makes sense -- with a limited challenge system -- but that might not have prevented this outcome.
Joyce was adamant before seeing the replay that he got it right, so with the current border-call system to judge home runs, the crew could have denied the request for a replay. Can’t imagine that happening in this particular situation, but who would ever have imagined this situation in the first place?
Updated at 11:21 a.m.
Mike DiGiovanna, Los Angeles Times
Yes, but on a very limited basis. Give managers one ‘red-flag’ challenge a game, like NFL coaches now have, and allow them to have any play not involving balls-and-strikes calls reviewed by instant replay.
The impact from a time-of-game standpoint would be negligible, because the time that would be added to a game for managers and umpires to engage in a lengthy argument over a controversial call could be spent in the replay room.
This would also add a little intrigue to the game: Does the manager use his flag early for a critical call early in the game or save it for later? Most important, this would ensure that the right call is made.