Instant replay for balls and strikes... my latest for The Hardball Times

Get ready for the hate mail from baseball purists. Not only am I in favor of Instant Replay in my latest for The Hardball Times but I say technology should be used to call balls and strikes more accurately.I just posted it and already the comments are piling up.Enjoy the article HERE.

How mad were opponents of instant replay tonight?

They should be enraged!Lance Berkman hit a home run! The umpires called it that way on the field... and another one confirmed it.Umpires make calls and whether they are right or wrong and whether or not we have the technology to make calls correct and reward players for what they actually do and not for what they DON'T do... we should NEVER use that technology.That's the HUMAN ELEMENT, right?So I

Why should umps have different strike zones?

I'm watching the Giants/Phillies game and already one of my big pet peeves in baseball has reared its ugly head.Dan Iassogna, the home plate umpire, called ball four on Jimmy Rollins to drive in the lone run of the game so far. It looked knee high down the center of the plate.An inning late, he called a pitch lower than the one thrown to Rollins a called third strike on Fontenot to end the

Posey was out

Hey, I'm THRILLED the Giants won... but there is a sour taste in that they won 1-0... and the only run was scored by Buster Posey who was in scoring position because he stole second base...And he was out.The replay showed it.Very easily fixable. The game pauses after a stolen base. The replay ump could have said "Hey! He was out. I just saw it."Not that it was important... in a playoff game that

Michael Young swung

Yup...He struck out.The video showed it.Instead they had to strike him out AGAIN and he hit a three run homer to break a playoff game wide open and possibly sink the Rays.Now were the Rays winning this game if Young struck out?We don't know.But we DO know is they unraveled after they were denied the strike out they earned.Remind me why Qualls needed to get FOUR strikes again?Oh yeah... the HUMAN

Once again, if you are against instant replay... you are wrong

It is to the point where people who are against instant replay sound a lot like people who would insist the world is flat.They have nothing to back up their claims except tradition and an inability to accept new ideas.There isn't a logical reason to be against instant replay.Even one of the people who comment on my blog against instant replay admitted that.But we saw in the final game between the

Is it worth 52 seconds to get a call right?

In the 11th inning of yesterday's Dodgers/Rockies game, Rafael Furcal grounded into what looked like a double play but was called safe.Jim Tracy came out to argue and less than a minute after the play was made, the instant replay showed that Furcal was indeed out.It was 52 seconds.All the people screaming "it will slow down the game" need to answer to this.Less than a minute later we saw the call

But where was the HUMAN ELEMENT to Brian McCann's homer?

I am sure people who HATE instant replay in baseball were disgusted by what happened in Atlanta today.Brian McCann hit a ball that was originally not ruled a homer.It wasn't a walk off homer.And then the umpires got together... and saw something.The ball cleared the fence.It turns out Brian McCann did indeed hit a walk off homer.And guess what? The cameras caught it. And the umpires, who have a