ANAHEIM, Calif. — Incompetence has led to more experience.
After a battery of embarrassing calls, Major League Baseball will use only veteran umpires for the World Series, it announced Thursday. In all but one of the previous 25 Fall Classics, there was at least one World Series newbie. Not this year. Not after multiple gaffes this postseason, lowlighted by Tim McClelland’s missed tag at third base in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.
That’s the first call baseball has gotten right with the umps. A discussion over expanding the use of instant replay should be next, though it’s unlikely. Commissioner Bud Selig is staunchly against the idea.
Mike Port, baseball’s boss of umpires, made recommendations on who should work the World Series. It is performance-based, he said. But he’s limited by the collective bargaining agreement. He can’t have umpires work consecutive rounds or back-to-back World Series.
Port was asked Wednesday about the litany of foul-ups. He admitted the umps have been off and was encouraged by their accountability. McClelland fell on his sword after his pathetic effort in Game 4. As did Jerry Meals, who missed the foul ball off Chase Utley’s leg in Colorado’s Game 3 loss to Philadelphia in the division series.
Port played devil’s advocate when I brought up the Utley play, which the Rockies felt greatly influenced the outcome of the critical game. Several Rockies players said they saw the ball strike Utley’s knee — manager Jim Tracy did not witness it — and even more felt the second baseman was out at first base when Todd Helton was ruled to have pulled his foot.
“I think if we are honest with ourselves, how many of us saw the Utley play live and thought it hit him? It was on the fourth replay before one of the announcers said something,” Port said. “Players have never had an aversion to making their thoughts known on the umpires. But saying they saw this is like saying they were on the grassy knoll. And answer me this: If the umpire said the ball hit Utley, are we to assume that everything after that would have remained constant? What if he had hit a two-run home run?”
The Rockies believe Utley would have been retired, allowing them to walk Ryan Howard, who produced the game’s biggest at-bat.
Footnotes.
Look for the Rockies to announce the extensions for general manager Dan O’Dowd and manager Jim Tracy before Wednesday, the beginning of the World Series. Teams are discouraged from doing business during the Series. . . . It’s a new world we live in: Agent Larry Reynolds’ sports management group broke news Thursday with a Twitter tweet that Diamondbacks prospect/client Jarrod Parker will undergo elbow surgery. . . . The pending divorce between Frank and Jamie McCourt is getting ugly. The Dodgers’ owner fired his wife, the team’s CEO. Both believe they are rightful owners of the club.
