Baseball Needs More Instant Replay

After seeing left-field umpire Phil Cuzzi call a ball that was a half a foot fair at a critical juncture of the ALDS game between the Twins and Yankees I can see why Twins manager Ron Gardenhire asked the media "We had six umpires out there. I think, right, six? Six umpires."  The reason Gardenhire stressed six, is that during the regular season, there are four umpires instead of six. But increasing the amount of humans from four to six, isn't going to solve missed calls like this, because of the "human" element just mentioned.

I know I have chimed in on this topic before, clamoring for baseball to be more extensive as to what exactly what is subject to instant replay, but I feel strongly about this and want to see baseball address this issue. I mean these guys play 162 fricken games a year, and then some guy totally messes up a call in the 11th inning of a playoff game. If this was an NFL game, the call on the field would have been amended and justice would have been served.

I have a suggestion regarding instant replay: Give the manager one opportunity to challenge ANY, yes any call on the field. Baseball games in the 00's take an hour longer than they did in the 80's, so whats an extra couple minutes of action due to instant replay? At least we know you will never go away saying "I cant believe we lost because of that awful call".

What do you think about baseball giving each manager one chance to challenge any call and using Instant Replay as a... [More]

Philly holiday if champs land Halladay

Philadelphia would be better off trading a few of their prospects for Toronto pitcher Roy Halladay. Toronto would be better off dealing him as well. I know that many people are saying that Philadelphia shouldnt make a trade for Halladay, because they are doing well enough without him.    I believe that right now, the Dodgers are the best team in the National League, because their pitching is much better than the Phillies. L.A. boasts the 2nd best ERA in the NL at 3.67 and Phily is 13th at 4.41. If Phily pulls the trigger and gets "Doc" Halladay, they will then probably be a slight favorite over the Dodgers if they meet in the postseason.
Plus, the Blue Jays will at least get more value if they trade him this season. His contract expires in 2010, and I dont anticipate him resigning with Toronto. as it's so tough for the Blue Jays to keep pace with the Red Sox, Yanks, and now Rays in the AL East.   Favre Not Feeling Minnesota   Brett Favre's decision to stay retired and not join the Vikings caught me off guard, like I think it did most people. After all, he is an ultimate competitior, and Minnesota seemed like the perfect fit to lock horns with the Green Bay Packers twice this season. Plus he had a legitimate chance to do what John Elway did: Ride into the sunset with another Vince Lombardi trophy.   Favre ticked off alot of people by waffling  so much the past 3-4 years when it came to retirement. But I think the media is to blame ... [More]

Time to revise instant replay in baseball

After seeing home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski call out Minnesota Twins player Michael Cuddyer at the plate, to end the game with Oakland winning 14-13, my heart sank and I wanted to throw my phone at the TV.
But I couldn't, as my friend would be quite upset, as the TV is his and he paid $7000 for it. Now only if we had a replay system where a moment such as this could be challenged and overturned.   I think I have a feasible option where almost everyone who is a baseball fan would agree.   Here's my proposal: Give each team one chance to challenge any play on the basepaths, where instant replay would be implemented. I know there are the baseball aficionado's who dont want "America's pasttime" tampered with anymore.   Well its time for those purists to stop living in the past and to give this new replay system a chance.  These baseball "purists" say that games are already taking long enough thesedays compared to the 1980's and 1990's.   But the reason that the games typically go closer to 3 hours these days instead of 2 hours, is that so few few starting pitchers pitch more than 6 or 7 innings a game. If we had a replay system with each team getting one challenge, it would take up about a grand total of a minute or two, so thats just a drop in the bucket when it comes to a time issue.   All baseball fans, and sports fans for that matter, want to see a well played game with a lot of effort. But we also want to see the tru... [More]

Screw GI Joe, Teddy Ballgame was the real American hero

I would like to preface this week's perspectives by extending a THANK  YOU to all the servicemen and women for their unselfish service.

Tillman and Williams are True Heroes

Professional athletes are looked upon in high regard by most of  society for a variety of reasons. First of all they get to participate  in something we used to do all the time as kids, and thats playing  sports. They also get paid very handsomely for it, for the most part.
 
Plus they are part of a profession that is unscripted. It's no wonder  that so many people look upon athletes as heroes.

Ted Williams was born on August 30, 1918 in San Diego, California. I  don't know where to even begin with all the accomplishments that this  guy achieved. I think that when Irving Berlin composed the song  Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better), that he was referring to Ted  Williams and I am about to tell you why.

Teddy Ballgame could have taken the easy way out, and played baseball  at Navy, rather than serving in World War II. Williams instead wanted  to be a naval aviator and was a highly successful one to say the  least. He not only pulled double duty by playing baseball and serving  the military, he served in two different wars. He served in World War  II from age 24-27 and then again at age 34 in the Korean War. He wasnt  folding napkins in Korea either, and was awarded an Air Medal for his... [More]