Hello everybody, me again. As you all know from my previous blog, it is currently the MLB playoffs. It is a time of never ending drama and great theatrics and better performances. However, there has been quite the annoying trend of outcomes being marred by subpar umpiring.

Not saying this is a new trend because this has been going on since umpires have been employed. “The call” in the 1985 world series, Chuck Knoblauch‘s phantom tag in 1999. In the 98 fall classic’s game one, Mark Langston pitched a 2-2 fastball right down the pipe to Tino Martinez. Strike three, Padres get out of the bases loaded jam in a tied game, all’s well. One problem, that was ball 3. The next pitch was launched into the upper deck for a grand slam.  Yankees win, Padres lose, as was the outcome of the series.

In 2008 during the subway series, Carlos Delgado and Alex Rodriguez were both denied home runs that were obviously home runs. One hitting the foul pole and the other hitting a stair case above the wall and bouncing back into play. Last year’s postseason saw Joe Mauer’s crucial 10th inning double in game 2 of the ALDS vs. the Yankees get called foul by Line ump Phil Cuzzi. Mauer still singled in the at bat but what a difference one base would have made. After all, the Twins did load the bases with Mauer on 3rd base at the time. Mauer would have scored and the Twins could have won the game had history played out exactly how it did. If only if only.

This past season, there was a string of 47 missed calls in a week, including one that cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game in May. Thanks Jim Joyce. That was just the regular season. The fact of the matter is that this trend has continued into the post season. This year is no exception to history.

Lets go over the list.

1) Game 1 NLDS, Braves at Giants. Now even though Tim Lincecum threw a gem, (no runs 14 K’s), Buster Posey‘s first career stolen base which led to the first and only run of the game in a 1-0 Giant win was not without questioning. The replay showed he was clearly out at second base. Suppose he had been called out. No run scores and the inning could have gone differently.

2) ALDS game 2 Rangers at Rays. It is 2-0 Rangers with two men on and a chance for Michael Young to do some serious damage. The count is 2-2 and Chad Qualls throws a breaking ball off the plate that Michael Young checks his swing at. The replay showed that he clearly went around. The pitch however, is called a ball because the first base umpire Jim Wolf didn’t go. Young deposited the next pitch over the centerfield fence. 5-0 rangers, in a game that would put them up 2-0 in the series.

3) ALDS game 2 Yankees at Twins. Okay now as much as I don’t want to, I have to include my team. Lance Berkman has already homered off Carl Pavano. It is a 2-2 ball game in the 7th inning. Pavano’s 1-2 offering is a beautiful sinking fastball that goes right down the middle. You can pretty much infer the rest, Ump calls it a ball, and the next pitch is hit into the gap. Berkman is a hero in New York, a home run and an RBI double to insure the Yankees a game 2 victory.

So I believe I have left you with the examples, the cause, and the effects of as many different miscues as I can. Last year’s World Series was the first time video replay was used to determine a call. Why is such innovation being left out in the October cold? We as a league are currently and frustratingly still in the stone age of this asset. Why not put it to good use? The NFL has got it right.