In the bottom of the fourth the Giants took a 1-0 lead against the Braves in game one of the NLDS. That run was scored by Buster Posey who had singled and then stole second on a play where he looked to be out. That call, which turns out to be a blown call, was the difference in game one. Here is the evidence (hat tip: @jd_austin)
Complete B.S. And the MLB umpiring crew gets another key play very wrong which completely changes the fortunes of each team.
0 recs | 66 comments
Another reason why there should be replay...
They should have it like College football. All calls at bags, foul/fair, and homerun should be reviewed. They should have an umpire that has an ear piece that informs them of the correct call… It would make it faster and definitely correct.
BravesFanScout - October 7, 2010
I just knew
Posey was gonna score after he was called safe on that play.
jayjaxon - October 7, 2010
This has happened in nearly every playoff game this year
Umpire makes a terrible call that swings the tide of the game.
alxn - October 7, 2010
these umpires take the worst angles
why doesnt the damn idiot stand behind the bag so he can see when the tag is applied. Posey’s terrible slide was the indicator that he was clearly out, but that pinhead umpire was so quick to signal safe that he never even analyzed the play.
letsgoblue86 - October 7, 2010
But
It’s so much more important to see the runner’s ass!
Sam Jethroe - October 8, 2010
This
is the problem. An Ump makes a call based on how he thinks the play will end, so that it can look like he’s on top of things and more sure of the call.
He sees the blown call immediately, but can’t change his mind out of fear of looking like an idiot.
I was an ump for years, and hate to admit it, but I did the same thing sometimes. It’s hard to justify changing your mind after you have made a call.
jim2 - October 8, 2010
Sigh...
Pavy848 - October 7, 2010
Thanks for nothing, Bud Selig.
TonyAlmeyda - October 8, 2010
And we got screwed.
BullManUGA - October 8, 2010
Again, the ump is the MVP
taney71 - October 8, 2010
Why should we miss out on the fun?
Wendelstedt ate it today and allowed Berkman to get a 4th strike, which he used to hit a run scoring double and Meals blew a swing call in the Rays game that led to a three run homer.
“Bud” and his precious Human Element reign supreme, again.
Sam Jethroe - October 8, 2010
Don't umpires get it
right something like 95% of the time?
C’mon guys. Remember Johnny Damon getting called out on a ball that was nowhere near a strike?
It’s part of the game. Yes, it sucks when our team, at least it appears, always gets screwed. Everybody remembers the bad calls. Just remember, Armando Galarraga had a perfect game taken from him and the ump owned up to it and it was beautiful.
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
Damon getting called out was different, this is the PLAYOFFS. Don’t tell me you aren’t mad about this call.
MBL1 - October 8, 2010 via mobile
Of course
but it wasn’t like that MADE the run score. A strikeout, grounder to 1st, or foul out would have erased it.
Thing is, you have to move on.
It’d be completely different if it were a play at the plate type thing.
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
It would have ended the inning. The run scoring hit could never have taken place (nevermind that even if it had, the runner wouldn’t have been there anyway and it STILL would have been a scoreless game).
J-Freak - October 8, 2010
Maybe the next batter
would have hit a HR. We don’t know.
No point in harboring over it. We can’t win if we don’t score RUNZ.
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
It was Pablo Sandoval – he would have K’d, grounded out, or eaten the pitcher.
justincredubil02 - October 8, 2010
Or
Gone over to tell that drunk guy to stop touching the strippers.
Sam Jethroe - October 8, 2010
You have no idea what would've happened
and neither do I. But I’m not going to willfully ignore the fact that it could have been worse.
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
Maybe Lowe doesn't IBB Panda
and he blasts one 432ft into the Cove. shrug
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
No.
http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2010/08/outside-the-lines-mlb-umpires-missed-20-of-calls-june-29-july-11/
Sam Jethroe - October 8, 2010
A little more depth
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=5464015
Sam Jethroe - October 8, 2010
thanks for that
looks like 80% would favor would the umps rule.
Too lazy to actually look deeper into the survey but the human error adds intrigue to the game. I hate it appears to happen to us more often than anybody else but that’s the way things go.
Lets go and take care of business tomorrow and not even worry about it.
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
The human error doesn’t add intrigue – it adds error.
Why would be in favor of something flawed?
justincredubil02 - October 8, 2010
Technology isn't always great
Leave the game alone.
It’s already a slow moving game. Adding time to check replays and everything else will slow it down.
Nobody is going to go around claiming baseball umps are perfect. Sometimes the calls go your way, sometimes they don’t. EVERY team has calls blown for them and given to them.
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
the human element?
it also adds intrigue in football when a fumble is ruled not a fumble, but they dont seem to have a problem with getting the call RIGHT. last time i checked, the goal is to be RIGHT not to add intrigue. when people use that argument, its because they have no logical reason why they prefer a WRONG call
jman07 - October 8, 2010
Actually
My logical reasoning is more sound than anyone who wants to change the game.
Burden is on the person advocating change to convince those who want to keep the status quo. I’m not convinced that replay will make the game of baseball better.
And what happens when a play is inconclusive? People are going to bitch about those calls too. Who should get the benefit of the call? Home team? Away team?
Please.
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
the only constant, is change
its not changing the game, its doing everything in our power to make sure that the right call is made. i am, in no way, advocating replay on balls and strikes, that part is fine. however, i also think that the game could be made better by “the eye in the sky” method, where there is another official watching the game and when a clear mistake is made, he can correct it. even something like was used for the little league world series.
for people that talk about how itll slow the game down and all that stuff, think about how much time is wasted when a coach/player comes out, stomps around, and gets into a shouting match before getting tossed. a quick and simple video check will save that time.
as for inconclusive plays, just like the nfl, one look, you cant tell, play stands as called. viola, the game is not significantly changed but we are doing what technology allows us to improve the game.
the game, along with time, is constantly changing. should we go back to the gloves that were used 40 years ago? horse and buggy was a great means of transportation 100 years ago, does that mean we should ignore modern technology that is available to us?
jman07 - October 8, 2010
Adds intrigue to the game?
Good lord, that is really grasping for straws. I’m fine with keeping the strike zone up to the ump behind the plate, as there is a lot of gray area with that sort of stuff. However, out and safe plays at the base are black and white. The human element doesn’t add intrigue to the game, it adds mistakes to the game. The argument that the mistakes all come out in the wash or that the mistakes are part of the game is absurd. The umpire is put in the position to make the correct call as an objective party. Theoretically, the umpire should have no influence on the outcome of the game. Last night, that wasn’t the case.
hailtogeorgia - October 8, 2010
We can have both.
I can understand the plate umpire dictating the ball/strike calls as being the one part of the game people might want left in tact. But, that part of the officiating involves a pretty static situation of a pitcher, the ball, the batter and where the location is. More often than not, the “zone of decision making” is pretty constant.
But the fielding umpires have to deal with bodies in motion and a baseball in play. The physical location of the ump at any given play will either give him a clear field of view or perhaps not. THIS is where I think having an official in the booth with a monitor to review plays in the field is something I would love to see. The rule could be pretty automatic and sent down to the field umps for consideration and a quick ruling without much of a delay at all.
Hell, the batter adjusting his cup and all the gyrations they go through before stepping in the box take as much time as that would.
NCChopper - October 8, 2010
Posey would have been the 2nd out, not the 3rd. You can’t say that Sandoval wouldn’t have hit a HR. Maybe Lowe pitches him more aggressive with the bases empty. Or maybe instead of Ross getting a hit, he K’s and no run scores. The problem is, WE DON’T and CAN’T know.
Everyone’s premise here is logically flawed – you can’t prove what would have happened had he been safe. To say the game was decided on that one play is also incorrect. Had he been called out, which was the correct call, the entire game may have come out with us losing 5-1 or maybe we win 8-6. The thing is, we didn’t take care of business.
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
one thing I did pick up on
Is that study was for only a few weeks.
Maybe just maybe that was a bad week?
http://mlb.mlb.com/content/printer_friendly/mlb/y2007/m08/d27/c2173765.jsp
“Instant replay, slow-motion cameras and digital tracking of video tapes combine to make umpires among the most scrutinized workers in the United States, yet their accuracy rate is 99 percent for baseline calls and 97 percent for balls and strikes. "
Don’t know how accurate that is because it doesn’t reference a source but yeah.
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
MLB.com?
Really?
You say “Intrigue”, I say “Robbery.”
Sam Jethroe - October 8, 2010
Or..
Maybe just maybe that was a good week?
We don’t know, but it’s pointless to say “maybe it was good week, maybe it was bad week”. We just don’t know, take it for what it is. A random sample taken from a large group of games, and looks like they missed more than enough to warrant Instant Replay IMO. 80%?!?!
jlaw - October 8, 2010
While I understand the frustration...
I agree with you. It’s hard to blame the loss on that error for (a) Omar should have made the play to end the inning and (b) our offense did not show that it was capable of hitting anything last night. If anything, we’d still be playing right now. Yes, the Giants were not much better, but at least they had more runners on base.
But like you said, there’s nothing the Braves could have done to reverse the call. Hopefully, they can move past the bad call. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get a make-up call later in the series.
Jman781 - October 8, 2010
BTW
Strike zone of ump was ridiculous in the 9th. Heyward’s strike 2 wasn’t even close to a strike.
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
This umpire crew has a man crush on Lincecum.
BravoChop! - October 8, 2010
Fuck that goddamn umpire
We only had two hits, so we can’t completely blame the blown call for the loss, but fuck him none the less…
Bob Mackie - October 8, 2010
Yes, actually we can. Without the blown-call-run, this game would have gone to extras. Lincecum would not have thrown to tenth, and who’s to say we wouldn’t have scratched one out against their bullpen? We’ve had a knack for that all year.
J-Freak - October 8, 2010
MAKE EVERYTHING INSTANT REPLAY
And hire as many people necessary to keep the ballgame’s pace!
homerun - October 8, 2010
Play of the Game... Can we photoshop a "NY" on our hats so we can play with expanded instant replay for game 2?
Mr.Hoss - October 8, 2010
+100000000000000000000000000
Nathan Lowery - October 8, 2010
At that point there would be no need
because we would be getting all the calls anyways
alxn - October 8, 2010
Omar Should have had that grounder
off the bat of Ross. That’s a play he’s got to make. If he does, the missed call doesn’t matter.
The Braves did not play well enough to win, and were fortunate it was only 1-0. They couldn’t lay off Lincecum’s changeup in the dirt with 2 strikes (easier said than done, I know). He did it several times, and the Braves bit each time. I’d guess at least 6 or 7 of his K’s, maybe more, were on pitches well out of the zone.
They also could not catch the ball. Conrad kicked another one and Ankiel did not do a great job on the drive to center, and then dropped the ball, allowing the runner to get to 3rd. The Braves’ stellar pitching tonight was the only thing that kept it competitive.
The strike zone was the same for both sides. The ump was giving a strike a couple inches off the inside corner to righties the whole night. Lowe got a couple of those pitches too.
Bottom line: the Braves did not play well enough to win, so there’s no point in griping about the bad call on the steal. Hopefully they will rebound tomorrow and come back to the Ted tied 1-1.
Scooter281 - October 8, 2010
The Braves didn't deserve to win
And neither did the Giants
alxn - October 8, 2010
While the Braves didn’t play well enough to win, neither did the Giants.
But, both teams pitched well enough to win.
justincredubil02 - October 8, 2010
Odd
But undeniably true.
Sam Jethroe - October 8, 2010
The Giants did in fact deserve to win
They outplayed the Braves. That game probably should have been a 4-0 win for the Giants. They played flawless defense. They out-pitched the Braves (barely, but they did). They out-hit the Braves. They won all three facets of the game.
I’m hoping for a different result tonight. My whole point is that the missed call on Posey’s steal did not cost the Braves the game.
Scooter281 - October 8, 2010
wait, what?
did you even watch the game last night? the Giants scattered 5 hits to the Braves 2… I’d say pretty dominating pitching on both sides. I really just don’t get how you can say that should have been a 4-0 game? The Giants really had what, one real scoring opportunity outside of the one run scored (the lead off double/error to put a man at 3rd with no outs)? and great pitching got the Braves out of that.
the point is the missed call on Posey’s steal did cost the Braves a chance at winning the game in extras…
knarf - October 8, 2010
You forgot...
The Giants run-down out at home in the third inning, and they had first and second after the RBI in the fourth inning.
They had runners in scoring position 4 times in three innings., including the aforementioned Posey double and error.
-C
cthabeerman - October 8, 2010
ok...
I’ll give you the third inning as a second scoring opportunity.
but the fourth inning… if the call is right, you have none on after a strike em out, throw em out, and that was followed by an Uribe strikeout… inning over, none on.
San Fran had 4 guys in scoring position all night (3 if you don’t include the missed call), to the Braves 2… neither team deserved a win offensively, both did pitching-wise… it shoulda been a 0-0 extra innings game. at that point, who knows what would have happened. but to say “the Braves did not play well enough to win, so there’s no point in griping about the bad call on the steal,” is unfair to how well they played (yes the defense and hitting was ugly, but the pitching was spectacular), how evenly matched this game was, and how a missed call determined the outcome of the game.
knarf - October 8, 2010
I agree with...
your “how well they played, and how evenly matched this game was” part. It’s the how a missed call determined the outcome part that’s just faulty logic.
Taking away their run doesn’t put runs on our side of the scoreboard, and we have no clue how the game might have played out if the out was called. We can’t just assume everything would have been the same, because it’s possible that nothing would have gone the same.
What we do know is that the Braves had 15 outs after that play and did absolutely nothing with them. We do know that fundamental baseball would have gotten us out of that inning unscathed even with the blown call.
So to say that one play cost us the game is short-sighted, imo. There’s a ton of things, small tho they may be, that cost us that game.
-C
cthabeerman - October 8, 2010
you are absolutely right
that had that play been called correctly, any number of other things could have happened and the final outcome (San Fran winning) very well could have remained the same.
However, I stand by my statement that this call directly determined the outcome of the game. A missed call led to the run being scored… the one run that ended up being the difference in the game. I am not saying that the outcome would have been reversed (Atl winning… to do so they would certainly have had to score runs) with the correct call, but merely that the outcome as it was (a 1-0 game) resulted from that call. I see no fault in my logic.
And of course there were other things that played into the outcome (nasty pitching, poor hitting, swinging at balls in the dirt, etc)… but to be fair, I also never said the play cost the Braves the game, but rather “cost the Braves a chance at winning the game in extras” (though I’ll concede there is of course a possibility that it may not have made it to extras… but there was poor hitting and lights out pitching on both sides all night, it is doubtful that that would have changed wildly because one run was not on the board)
knarf - October 8, 2010
It's time to make umpire errors an official stat and put them in the box score
John Drake number 6 - October 8, 2010
Actually, it's time to make umpires ex-umpires and put them in The Box.
Sam Jethroe - October 8, 2010
What we've got here is a failure to communicate.
pchaucer - October 10, 2010
When you get only 2 hits and zero runs and fumble the ball all over the field, you can’t really complain about one blown call.
redwards95 - October 8, 2010
BINGO.
This didn’t cost us the game.
It saved us some sleep.
If he had been called out…
the game would still be going
- in the 56th inning -with the Braves still SCORELESS.
We are the frikkin BALSA WOOD BRAVES this past month.
HalleyGator - October 8, 2010
yes, yes you can.
Of course we can look at the “what ifs”, and yeah our defense let us down, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that it’s 2010 and MLB still refuses to use the technology that we have which could eliminate game changing mistakes. However, today is a new day and tonight is a new game, so I will push this out of my mind and try to be positive!
jbeachbum24 - October 8, 2010
"I guess it's a good thing we don't have instant replay right now," Posey said.
knarf - October 8, 2010
What pisses me off
is that for some reason the Braves didn’t even argue the call. You’d think Conrad would know that he tagged him out in time. But he didn’t bother arguing the call.
And after the game, Bobby STILL said he was NOT in favor of replay. “Oh we’d be throwing 10 red flags a night.” NO YOU WOULDN’T BOBBY. That’s why you can have LIMITS like the NFL which has a SMART commissioner. Quit being so old school Bobby. I won’t even talk about the ridiculous decision to walk Sandoval.
DreamWithinADream - October 8, 2010
Not like they would have changed it regardless.
BenDuronio - October 8, 2010
True
But still let the ump know he is wrong. It just seemed like they didn’t care.
DreamWithinADream - October 8, 2010
Bobby said that the reason he didn't argue the call
was because he really couldn’t see it from his vantage point and because HIS FIELDER DIDN’T REACT.
I hope Conrad got the jitters out last night, but it seems like the pressure may be too much for him. His play, especially in the field, has dipped a lot as the pressure has increased. Hopefully he can block that out, because the Braves need him. They don’t have anyone else to put out there.
Scooter281 - October 8, 2010
2 words
Diory Hernandez
Sir Veza - October 8, 2010
A friend mentioned that to me today...
Have Diory start the game and play the first 6 innings. If the Braves are comfortably ahead, then leave him in there. If not, bring in Conrad at the next PH opportunity. Conrad has been great for late-inning drama, but I would rather have Diory’s glove to start the game.
Jman781 - October 8, 2010
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