And, due to a gamble with pinch hitters, had to play Vernon Wells at 3B for the bottom of the 9th with a 1-run lead. VW cleanly fielded his only chance.
Susan Slusser @susanslusser
I put in a request to speak with Angel Hernandez again and I am told that umpire supervisor Randy Marsh has declined the request. #Athletics
Susan Slusser @susanslusser
Asked if he might get thrown out today before game starts, Melvin laughed, said he is taking the lineup card out, but only bc it's his day.
Susan Slusser @susanslusser
Melvin says a central office watching replays and making decisions might be a good solution in the wake of the non-reversal.
Susan Slusser @susanslusser
Melvin says his understanding is that umpires have same replays available everyone else does, from both broadcast outlets and maybe more.
Susan Slusser @susanslusser
Melvin has heard from MLB today and suggests that they saw what "the majority" saw. Doesn't know what MLB might do. #Athletics
Susan Slusser @susanslusser
Josh Donaldson on non-reversals "All you can ask for is the right call to be made. That's why there's replay and why they're talking about expanding replay. With something like lag night they kind of need to take it to the next step and take it out of (umpires) hands."
mikechamp wrote:Could Melvin have filed a protest at that point? If so, that would give MLB the remedy path needed to fix that blunder.
Problem is, the umpire's union is almost as powerful as the player's union. Maybe more so, in the sense that you never hear of an umpire being sent down to the minors.
In brief: The call was wrong, but we're sticking with it. 'Cause, hey, umps aren't perfect.
Here's what Joe Torre (hey, you know him), MLB's executive vice president for baseball operations, said about the incident:
“By rule, the decision to reverse a call by use of instant replay is at the sole discretion of the crew chief. In the opinion of Angel Hernandez, who was last night’s crew chief, there was not clear and convincing evidence to overturn the decision on the field. It was a judgment call, and as such, it stands as final.
“Home and away broadcast feeds are available for all uses of instant replay, and they were available to the crew last night. Given what we saw, we recognize that an improper call was made. Perfection is an impossible standard in any endeavor, but our goal is always to get the calls right. Earlier this morning, we began the process of speaking with the crew to thoroughly review all the circumstances surrounding last night’s decision.”
