Wednesday night I turned to the Jays vs Baltimore game and witnessed another brilliant defensive blunder (not quite as bad as the one pictured to the right though). I then began explaining to my wife how Wells' batting average is now going to decrease because of the error instead of staying where it was with a sac fly RBI but to my surprise the "official" scorekeeper had ruled the play a hit. That can't be, the ever so great TV commentator (Jamie Campbell) must have read or heard something wrong so I listened intently for a few more minutes waiting for the correction that never came.
Let me lay out the scenario for those that may not have seen this play. Wells hit the ball fairly well into centre or right centre causing the fielder to "chase it down". So the outfielder jogged towards the wall calmly, stretched his arm out to make a basket catch and missed the ball. How was that not an error? The outfielder had enough time to "settle" under the ball and make the catch instead of trying an ill-advised basket catch. Jamie Campbell even seemed to be slightly surprised that the play was ruled a hit and gave some reasoning he thought might have factored into the scorekeeper's decision. They all seemed to be a stretch.
This type of scenario seems to be happening way too frequently this baseball season. Doesn't anyone understand the game anymore? Or maybe it is I who doesn't understand. To the dictionary! An error in baseball is "A defensive fielding or throwing misplay by a player when a play normally should have resulted in an out or prevented an advance by a base runner." Now let's relate that to the play. Hmmm, preventing a base runner to advance....Wells should have been out not standing at second.
I think it's time to start hiring scorekeepers that actually know the game somewhat. If someone makes a boneheaded play they should be punished for it. Instead of that happening, the pitcher is the one being punished. Shame on the league for allowing such a travesty to happen, especially since they are already on shaky ground with the whole steroid issue. I think it's time for a new commissioner. Sorry Bud, it's time for you to leave.
1 comment:
Well, it's not only happening in baseball (as you've pointed out...) it's also happening in hockey, football and goodness knows what'll happen with FIFA!
They just need to go back to basics (Whatever they are) and make sure there's consistency. Being the baseball lover that I am, I would love it if they just kept the strike zone where it's supposed to be. THey're not golfing, and they're not tomahawking it either....stupid umps.
Good blog my friend!
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