Liberal use of replay could remedy ump slump

Advisory: Space limitations do not allow this commentary to address each of the blown calls and almost comic myopia that have possibly altered the course of this year's playoffs.

The soothing blather of baseball announcers and other house men assures us each season that big-league umpires get 99 percent of the calls right.

Sure they do. Because 99 percent of the calls at the bases and in the field could be accurately detected by a 12-year old sitting in the upper deck.

But within the 1 percent that include bang-bang plays not obvious to the untrained eye - the close ones seasoned men in blue are paid to get right - umpire accuracy dips alarmingly.

This is a bad month to be arguing that umpires do a great job. The TV camera doesn't lie. Too many blatantly wrong calls at crucial times have created an embarrassment for the profession.

No one has butchered a call as badly as umpire Phil Cuzzi did in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the Twins-Yankees series when he ruled Joe Mauer's drive down the left-field line was foul even though it landed a foot inside fair territory.

The call cost Minnesota a double and possibly the game.

It could easily have been reversed if baseball permitted a more liberal use of instant replay. It's time it did. Not next year, but immediately.

Why risk another incident like the one that took place in the Twins-Tigers one-game playoff, when home plate umpire Randy Marsh cost the Tigers a run with the bases loaded in the 12th by failing to see a pitch graze the uniform of Brandon Inge.

Viewers knew what had happened, but to be fair, people watching at home had the benefit of instant replay. Why not allow umpires the same advantage?

Sunday night in Denver, the Phillies pushed across the winning run after Chase Utley reached first on an infield hit that should've been ruled foul. The ball hit off Utley's right leg in the batter's box. Home plate umpire Jerry Meals admitted he missed it after watching a replay following the game.

Dubious umpiring is creating a large distraction at a time when baseball wants to celebrate its excellence.

Replay can't and shouldn't be used to clean up every ticklish decision or to review plays on the bases, but by not extending the use of technology to include more than boundary calls on home runs, baseball is exposing itself to further ridicule.

Within the past few days, the NBA expanded its use of instant replay. It had to in order to keep up with the times. We've all been conditioned by pro and college football to reject guesswork in favor of video evidence.

Leave it to Bud Selig, then, to attempt to defuse postseason controversies with a touch of unintentional humor.

Explaining why he opposes expanding replay, the commissioner said Monday, apparently with a straight face, "baseball is not the kind of game that can have interminable delays."

Really? Aren't interminable delays already built into baseball?

No team sport dawdles quite like baseball. If the replay process were handled efficiently, an umpire's decision could be double-checked in less time than it takes for a reliever to come in from the bullpen.

The only interminable delay Selig should be concerned with is the one preventing baseball from joining the 21st century.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com