Yet again, the umpires across Major League Baseball have added fuel to the instant replay fire across the country during these 2009 playoffs. The crews who worked all four League Division Series and the two League Championship Series have missed call after call at first, second, third and at home when it comes to balls and strikes. Just because the umpires have struggled mightily this fall does not mean that instant replay should be expanded to include more of the game than it already does.

Adding instant replay to the game of baseball, America’s Past-time, was difficult to perform in the first place. Historians of the game and baseball lifers argued against instant replay because of the harm it would bring to the purity of the game. Others argued that it would lengthen an already long game (averaging 3 hours per game). Those who were in favor of instant replay said that it should only be used for determining whether or not a batted ball is a homerun, a double, fan interference or a foul ball and nothing else. The final argument won out and instant replay has since been used in the sport at the discretion of the umpires.

With all of the wrong calls being made in the 2009 playoffs, members of the media and fans of the game have begun the discussion of possibly expanding the use of instant replay, maybe just for the playoffs, or for the entire season (from Spring Training until the final out of the Fall Classic). If you ask this fan of the game, I say no expansion of instant replay. There are other ways to make sure that the umpires make the correct calls. We will outline those methods in this post.

Increase Umpire Training

One way to improve umpiring across the game is to increase umpire training and require umpires to attend certain seminars and other meetings throughout the off-season about umpiring. In these meetings and seminars former umpires and umpires from training schools can teach the current umpires how to properly call the game. Many umpires will not go for this but it should be added to the umpires contracts once the collective bargaining agreement is decided on in the coming years.

Increase Rookie Pay

Another way to improve the calls made by umpires across the sport is to increase the pay of rookie and junior umpires. These umpires do not make much money for the season ($9,500) which forces them to hold off-season jobs to make ends meet. An umpire working at Triple-A for a 10 year period might earn $20,000 for their time and that’s it. These umpires need to be paid higher if the league wants them to take their job more seriously. In all honesty, who is going to give it their best if they are being paid peanuts? Not many people.

Hold Umpires Accountable

Just the other night (Tuesday), we saw crew chief Tim McClelland of the Yankees-Angels series, hold a post game press conference regarding some of the calls he made while umpiring third base during Game Four of the ALCS in which the Yankees won 10-1 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. McClelland called Nick Swisher out at third on an appeal by the Angels saying he left the base too early on a tag play from center field when replays showed that Swisher in fact did not leave early. Another play, where two Yankees were at third base (Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano) but neither on the bag, were both tagged out but McClelland only called one runner out when both should have been out. A third play, at second base, had a daylight pickoff play against Swisher. Swisher was ruled safe at second when replays showed that he was tagged out prior to returning to the base.

This press conference is a rarity for umpires these days but when they are held they are only held by the crew chief. So, if it is not the crew chief who makes a mistake during the game we do not get to hear from the umpire who made the bad call. Instead, we only hear from the crew chief, after he talked to the umpire in question. We, as paying fans, should get to hear from the umpire who made the incorrect call instead of someone speaking on his behalf. We get to hear from the players, coaches, managers and front office personnel who make the team decisions and perform the plays on the field so why can’t we hear from the umpires who run the game? It is only fair that the umpires should be held accountable.

Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins is mobbed at third base after hitting a two-run walk-off double against the Dodgers in Game Four of the NLCS on Monday night.

The Braves performed the same feat in 1991-1992 when they lost in the World Series to the Minnesota Twins in seven games in 1991 and lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in six games in 1992. Prior to the Braves, the Los Angeles Dodgers performed this rare feat in 1977-1978 when they lost back to back World Series to the New York Yankees in six games both times. The last National League team to win two straight World Series titles was the 1975-1976 Cincinnati Reds. The Reds defeated the Red Sox in seven games in 1975 and the Yankees in a four game sweep in 1976.

Unless you live under a rock, you know how the Phillies have put themselves in the position they are in right now. With one out in the bottom of the ninth and the bases empty, Pedro Feliz was scheduled to hit for the Phillies Monday night. Feliz, who is hitting .148 in the postseason (.077 in the NLCS), was lifted for pinch hitter Matt Stairs. Stairs has 19 regular season pinch hit homeruns in his career and hit the biggest homerun in Phillies playoff history in game four of the NLCS in 2008 against Jonathan Broxton. Broxton has said often during the 2009 season that he would like to face Stairs again. This time the Phillies were trailing 4-3 in Philly, not tied at 5 in LA. Stairs dug in against Broxton, who did not throw one strike even remotely close to the strike zone. Obviously, the image of the Stairs homerun was still fresh in the mind of Broxton.

The Phillies mob Carlos Ruiz at homeplate after he scores the winning run Monday night in a 5-4 win over the Dodgers.

After Stairs took first, Manuel sent out Eric Bruntlett to pinch run for the power hitter as Carlos Ruiz stepped to the plate. On the first pitch of the at-bat Broxton threw a 96 MPH fastball inside to Ruiz, who took it off his elbow, putting the tying run at second and the winning run at first. The next batter to the plate, Jimmy Rollins, worked a 1-1 count against the overpowering right handed pitcher when lightning struck again in Philadelphia. Rollins laced a two out double into the right centerfield gap scoring Bruntlett as the tying run and Ruiz as the winning run. As Ruiz crossed the plate, the city of Philadelphia celebrated as the clock closed in on midnight.

The Phillies won the game 5-4 and took a 3-1 series lead with Game five slated to be played at 8pm on Wednesday night in Philadelphia. The reigning League and World Champions will send 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP Cole Hamels to the bump against former Phillie Vicente Padilla. Padilla threw 7.1 innings of one run ball in game two in LA for the Dodgers but did not factor in the decision as the Dodgers took the game 2-1. There is still a slight chance that the Dodgers might make a risky decision and throw Clayton Kershaw in game five, who was roughed up by the Phillies in game one, but they need to win this game. You never know what type of pitching decisions will be made with Joe Torre at the helm. As one of my close friends (a lifelong Yankee fan) said in reference to Torre on Sunday night: “It’s not hard to manage when you are up by 7 every night but when you are in a tie ballgame or trailing he is an idiot.”

Rollins Walk Off Double

Jim Vassallo is the creator of JAV Baseball. He also owns his own Internet Content company, JAV Freelancing. Vassallo coached baseball for three years at the high school level in New Jersey and has since joined the prominent D-III program at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. He can be reached at jim@javbaseball.com for questions and comments.