The Bobby Valentine Joke is getting old – a Bleacher Report article

I called for Bobby Valentine to be fired in April.
I wasn’t wrong.

I’m not saying the Red Sox would have won the pennant if they did that, but correct mistakes earlier rather than later is what I say.

The Red Sox have an off day today. As I wrote in Bleacher Report. after the 1-8 road trip and his WEEI rant, there is no better time to fire him than now.

He has done worse than lose the respect of the team. He has become a punchline. And there’s no recovery from that.

You can read the whole article HERE.

 

Stephen Strasburg Bullpen Strategy for Washington Nationals – A Bleacher Report Article

OK, the Washington Nationals could go into the playoffs as the best team in baseball and make the decision to not use their best pitcher, Stephen Strasburg.

Kind of crazy, right?

In my latest article for Bleacher Report, I try to figure out a way to still use Strasburg and stick to an innings limit under 180 from now to the end of the World Series.

It is thinking outside of the box. If the Nats win it all, they can thank me later.

You can read the whole article HERE.

 

Are you against instant replay? Well you are wrong.

I had a crappy day at work the other day and I made a mistake..

And someone corrected my mistake.

But nobody can correct umpire Tim Welke’s mistake today.

He called Jerry Hairston out at first on a grounder during today’s Dodgers/Rockies game.
First baseman Todd Helton was closer to second base than he was to first. He couldn’t have had his foot on the bag unless he was Mr. Fantastic, stretching out his leg.

It was a botched call.

Again, mistakes happen.

Welke isn’t perfect.

But why can’t this awful call be corrected?

Watch the clip.

About 2 seconds after the call was made, the announcers pointed out that Helton wasn’t near the bag.
Mattingly was out on the field about 5 or 6 seconds after the call was made.

Mattingly and Welke argue for a while.

Whatever Welke is saying in his defense is 100% correct.

No fault of Welke, he hasn’t seen the evidence of his mistake.

And WHILE THEY ARE ARGUING…

The TV cameras show this image.

Pretty subtle, isn’t it?

Now maybe Welke wasn’t in the right position to make the call.

Hey, as I said, we all make mistakes.

This image was beamed to TVs (and hand held tablet devices) less than 40 seconds after the call was blown.

Why can’t someone on the umpiring crew be in the TV booth? (Hey! An extra job and another member of the union!)

And he could call down and have someone with a tablet show Welke the mistake.

He would say “My bad!” and the game would have gone on. Nobody would have a beef and Hairston would be on first BECAUSE HE DESERVES TO BE!

What’s the argument against that?

It would slow the game down?

Mattingly continued to argue while the replay was happening.

So throw that argument in the dumpster. It is meaningless.

It would be good for the game?

How? How is blowing calls good? Especially in a game like this that ended on a walk off homer and that a call here or there could have affected the outcome of the game.

And think of Welke.

He made a mistake. Nobody’s fault. But instead of taking less than one minute to correct it (and it would be forgotten instantly) this bad call will be shown on TV and is already the topic of a Yahoo Sports article.

How is THAT good for baseball?

He made a mistake and no matter how much evidence you have to correct it, we can’t because… um… WHY? Someone tell me!

I seriously think Instant Replay opponents are the baseball equivalent of people who insist there were dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark. No amount of evidence or logical discussions could ever sway them.

Either way… Instant Replay Opponents… you are incorrect.

But I’ve said this before.