The American League team won the 2008 All-Star Game in the bottom of the 11th inning.
At least that’s how I saw it.
If you were watching the Fox broadcast, you should have seen it too.
However a pair of missed tags that were called outs raise the obvious need for replay in baseball.
First off was the call on Texas’ Ian Kinsler as he attempted to steal second base. They saw it coming, pitched out, and Dodger catcher Russell Martin made a great throw.
Astros’ shortstop Miguel Tejada deserves an Emmy for his part in the play, as does the Fox camera operator who caught him in the act.
He clearly missed Kinsler’s leg, but the second-base umpire was behind Tejada, and thus couldn’t see the miss—and called the runner out.
Watch how movie fights are performed, and you have the recipe for this slight-of-hand. With the umpire’s view it appears that a tag was made, but the camera reveals that there may have been two inches between the glove and Kinsler’s leg.
In a Hollywood production Kinsler would have jerked back with the blow. But this is New York, and someone should have called Gary Sinise and the CSI crew to investigate.
So instead of a runner on second and nobody out, the bases were clear with one down.
Later that same inning the A.L. had runners on first and second, and Texas’ Michael Young singled to center. Fielding off the hop, Pittsburgh’s Nate McLouth made a tremendous heave to get the ball home—on time and on target.
Dioneer Navarro was the winning run and heading in. Martin did a fair job of blocking the plate, caught the ball, and swung left…
Do they call strikes on missed tags—because this was one.
The umpire was behind Martin to the right of the plate. The replay clearly shows Navarro’s leg slides across home, and a tag is never made.
Again, it was a case where slight of hand and the angle of the viewer conspire to fool the mind—the camera doesn’t lie.
I’m no fan of baseball, but this being the All-Star game I thought I’d tune in to see how the Rangers’ players were doing. I honestly don’t have a dog in this hunt, and stand by the statement that, “Baseball would be better if it were hockey.”
Curiosity got the best of me and I watched the extra innings.
What I saw was a case study of the need for replay in the game of baseball. Because if umpires can’t get it right in the All-Star Game, when will they?
Somebody please 'splain that to me.
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2 months ago
Good stuff! I think that Tejada deserves this MVP award if the NL wins.
2 months ago
I absolutely agree that the AL team won in the 11th! And the ump wasted four innings of baseball to make them win again. If I was in charge, he would have been dismissed from the major leagues right on the spot, because if he can't call an All-Star Game-ending run right, why trust him anywhere else?!?
Okay, maybe that's just my frustration talking, but seriously, if football and tennis(!) can have replay, then why not baseball? Wouldn't it be cool to see Terry Francona carry a red flag around in his sock?
2 months ago
What's most frustrating is the lack of any media coverage on this. There's very little on the net (other than your blog).
Well why am I surprised: They didn't cover it well when it happened, and in fact the announcers (McCarver guiltiest of all) continued to speak praises of Martin's defense. Let's see...a missed tag and a decent throw on a PITCH OUT (who doesn't throw well on pitch outs?), and some defense indifferences whereby Martin let runners move up doesn't constitute great defense by any stretch. I can't imagine what game McCarver was watching. It is like a gigantic cover up has occurred.
I believe the umps did the best they could, but the announcers failure to recognize the egregiousness of those two calls is disappointing. I don't watch a game to hear pablum. I watch it to hear a fair analysis that might even challenge the calls on the field. Are the announcers being told to back off the umps?
2 months ago
Well, you're right. When you're right, you're right.
The only thing that saved it was that it was one of the great All-Star games of alltime and were able to watch it.
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