WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT THERE!!

By Tyler Savage

On Saturday something happened in baseball that was one of the evilest things that threatens the integrity of our great sport. No…it was not when Barry Bonds hit his latest homerun to continue his pursuit of raping the homerun record (note: this is an evil that I have come to accept in life, it is kind of like smoking and gambling). The evil occurred in the game played between the Orioles and the Indians at Jacob’s Field.

The travesty occurred in the 6^th inning of the game, but it actually started in the 3^rd inning. Here is the scoop, the Orioles have a man on third and on first, the guy at the plate hits a good shot to right field that is caught. The Oriole on third base then tags up and scores by crossing home plate. However, the man on first base makes a huge folly, he leaves for second base without tagging up and is thrown out at first. The key point is that the Oriole’s player on third crossed home plate before his teammate was picked off of first—by rule, the run should have counted.

The fun really begins after this play takes place, because the umpires get the call wrong, and do not reward the birds with the point that they should have earned. This should not be a shock to any of us who follow baseball. Umpires get calls wrong all the time (not to this extent of course, but it does happen).

The evil that I have foreshadowed about occurred in the 6^th inning of the same game between the O’s and the Indians. The Orioles manager bitches and points to the replays, and the umpires actually go back in time, and reward the Orioles with the point that they should have gotten in the 3^rd inning. Last time I checked, this is not the NFL, and there is not instant replay in baseball. In fact, this may be the first time in the history of the game that an umpire has changed a call after an argument with a manager.

Umpires and managers fighting to resolve absolutely nothing is one of the many things that makes baseball great and unique. Earl Weaver did not get thrown out of countless number of games to get a call reversed. He did it for the sport, his despise for umpires, and to just argue like a child as an adult. If more calls get reversed like Saturday nights, the tradition of the game is at stake.