Time for replay

I had had plenty of the Jim Joyce situation. i really had. And then my dad came over last night and decided he needed to bring it up. He really dislikes Joyce and called him a "bum with that terrible thing on his face." In trying to get to the root of his dislike, I honestly don't think it's that he blew the call, but rather that he mixed up Joyce with Tigers manager Jim Leyland . Apparently he saw a quote somewhere that bleeped out words and is saying that it was Joyce who said it. Now, I don't know but swearing is not something that I feel Joyce would have done after the game. Anyways, I get the feeling that my dad isn't the only one who feels that way towards Joyce. I may be one of the only Americans who doesn't want to hunt Joyce down. That being said, I think the Tigers handled the situation perfectly today when Leyland sent Galarraga out to hand in the scorecard to Joyce who was behind the plate. Very classy.

Anyways, that tangent aside, I think it's time we discuss instant replay. All across radio waves sports fans are calling for instant replay. the logic is simple: the NFL, NBA and NHL have replay, so why not baseball? I think it's a fair question, but want to take a second to review what type of instant replay those sports have.

• The NBA has instant replay for two situations: to judge whether a bucket is worth two or three points and to judge whether a shot is off prior to the game or shot clock expiring. Replay on 3's is up to the officials while replays on clock violations is mandatory for plays at the end of each quarter.
• The NHL has instant replay to determine whether a puck goes over the goal line.
• The NFL has instant replay that covers the largest spectrum of the three sports. Reviewable plays are fumbles, incomplete passes, yard marks and touchdowns (along with a few other that I can't think of right now). Coaches are allowed to challenge rulings on the field by throwing a flag after the play occurred.

The common theme is that replay in these three sports concerns scoring: making the correct call on goals; awarding the proper amount of points; and making sure two feet are in bounds or that the football broke the goaline. Replay is limited and in most cases and does not affect minor calls like offsides, holding or traveling.

If baseball was to be consistent with the other sports, instant replay could be offered on home runs (already is) and plays at the plate. To me, that is all that is appropriate. The thing is, baseball is played by humans and refereed by humans. It is prone to error on both sides - not just by the umpires. Children all around the world grow up playing baseball in their backyard or in the streets. They depend on themselves to make the proper calls because there is no such thing as instant replay in the real world. Humans are prone to error, but taking the human element out of the game does not fix it - it makes it become more robotical.

I can handle instant replay on home runs or plays at the plate, but I am 100% against instant replay on balls and strikes. Their is supposed to be a uniform understanding of the strike zone by MLB umpires, but let's face it - each umpire calls the game differently. Some strike zones are wider while others are taller. Talk to any hitter and they will agree that as long as the umpire is consistent on that day, they have no problem with different strike zones. It is their responsibility to put the bat on the ball. The umpires responsibility is to call balls and strikes that the batter doesn't hit. Plus, having replay on balls and strikes will only make the games longer. They are brutal to watch as it is - don't make it any worse.

I'll be the first to say that baseball is sometimes too full of itself. You never see anything revolutionary in baseball because baseball thinks its still the national pasttime and that it doesn't need to change. But the fact is that baseball has fallen behind football and soon basketball in the American sports landscape. Moments like this only hurts the perception of the casual fan. How can something like this not be reviewed, they will ask. It's time baseball did something - allow base decisions to be reviewable and allow managers to have maximum 2 challenges a game. It's good for the game and good for the game's image.