So much to discuss from yesterday's wild one at The Bank. Good thing the Phillies are off today, leaving us time to digest everything. We'll start, though, with a few injury updates, both of which are covered in the notebook in the 50-center.Shane Victorino: Turns out, an MRI exam showed his right calf strain is in a different location -- and is less severe -- than last season when he missed three weeks in August and was in and out of the lineup in September. Best-case scenario, he starts running by the end of the week, goes on a minor-league rehab assignment when the Phillies are in Denver and Milwaukee and comes off the DL on April 27 in Pittsburgh. But athletic trainer Scott Sheridan made it perfectly clear that they won't rush Victorino. Lesson learned after last season, I suppose.
Jimmy Rollins: He took a "significant step," according to Sheridan, by running in a pool yesterday. He'll work out at The Bank today, and if everything goes well, he may be back in the lineup tomorrow night against the Astros. Rollins hasn't started the past five games. That's only happened one other time in his major-league career (July 18-22, 2003).
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Take your pick of reasons the Phillies lost yesterday.1. They went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position
2. They left 15 runners on base.
3. Third-base umpire Adrian Johnson completely botched a sixth-inning call when he ruled that Mark DeRosa's foul ball was a home run. Charlie Manuel argued and got ejected. The replay clearly showed the ball went foul. "Really? You mean the umpires were wrong?" Cubs manager Lou Piniella said.
But, to me, the biggest culprit was the defense. Chase Utley committed a 10th-inning error on a would-be double play that allowed Ronnie Cedeno to score the go-ahead run. Meanwhile, Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee saved the game in the ninth inning by stabbing a bouncer by Carlos Ruiz that would've driven home the winning run if it had reached the outfield. Cubs reliever Kerry Wood also made a nice play on a bunt in the ninth inning, and Cedeno handled So Taguchi's sharp grounder to snuff out a two-on, two-out rally in the 10th.
Utley leads NL second basemen with four errors. Only the Pirates (18) have committed more errors than the Phillies (15). I asked this question in a post last week, but it bears repeating. Are you worried about the Phillies' defense?
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Barring rainouts or changes to rotations, Cole Hamels will face Johan Santana Friday night when the Mets visit The Bank. Ryan Howard's eyes lit up at the prospect of that matchup. "Two of the best change-pieces in the game right there," Howard said, referring to Hamels' and Santana's filthy change-ups.***
If Rollins plays tomorrow night, he's expected to wear No. 42 in honor of the 61st anniversary of Jackie Robinson's major-league debut. Former Phillies outfielder Michael Bourn will wear No. 42 for the Astros.
9 comments:
Still can't lose the juvenile "50 center", huh? Loogie is waiting somewhere on your desk
Scott,
What ever happened to the new "replay" rules? Wouldn't they apply to the foul homerun call? Or have they not gone into effect yet?
No replay rules in effect, nor should there be. Baseball is a game played and umpired by people. People sometimes make mistakes. They likely tend to even out over a 162 game season. Don't ruin this sport also.
I can't see why anyone would be against replays on foul/fair and out/safe calls. There is no reason why accuracy can't be improved, and it slows the game down more to have managers arguing for five minutes over every close call. The only argument I could see in favor of it is slowing the game, but I think arguing slows the game.
The "umpired by people and people make mistakes" argument is bad. Shouldn't we give people all available tools to make good decisions? Why not make them wear an eyepatch to impede their discretion further while you're at it?
i agree with matts. instant replay may have shown that "homerun" was foul and at the cost of 2-3 minutes, the Phillies may have won. At the very least, the game would have been more fair. Or maybe the Phils/Mets game when Reyes scored the winning run at a disputed call at home. Again, maybe with replay we could have won that game. Who knows.
All I know is that given the option of playing the game how it is now or playing it where it is fair for all teams at the cost of maybe 5 extra minutes, I choose instant replay anyday.
Andrew, Andy, Matt S.: Good job bringing up the new replay rules. You guys are right. In November, the GMs did vote (by a 25-5 margin) to approve the use of replay for disputed home calls. But commissioner Bud Selig still opposes the idea, and until the plan gets approved by the owners, it can't be implemented. Back in November, MLB executive VP Jimmie Lee Solomon said there is "glacier-like movement in baseball" when it comes to innovation.
So, for now, instant replay is in a holding pattern. Ultimately, I think it will get passed, and calls like yesterday will be reversed. Until then, though, umpires will keep being allowed to make mistakes.
thanks for the clarification Scott
Why not extend this to balls and strikes? Put everything on a laser and let the computers call the game. Baseball is not a game tht has to be "exact." That's the fun of it. Managers and umpires arguing are great for the game. Even though it is a multi-billion dollar business, don't take all of the fun out of it. Play ball.
"I can't see why anyone would be against replays on foul/fair and out/safe calls."
Then you haven't thought through the logistics of such a plan.
Put some thought into an out call at first base when there are already 2 outs, and a runner heading down the 3rd base line ready to score.
The review overturns the call, so now the runner is safe at first. The runner from 3rd has crossed the plate, let's say. But, the first baseman never had the chance to throw out the runner running home because he thought the inning was over.
What happens to that runner?
Or, what if that runner just ran into the dugout since the inning was supposedly over? What happens there?
You can't just send the runner back to 3rd, because if the call was right to begin with (safe at first), the runner might have scored... or the first baseman might have thrown the runner out at home... you just don't know.
There are too many "continuation" plays in baseball to make reviewable out/safe calls practical.
What happened Sunday is the ONLY type of play that I can think of that review would work for in all cases.
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