Buster Olney has a bad idea for instant replay reviews in the World Series: use them all the time:
Commissioner Bud Selig would be applauded for making an aggressive push to correct the kind of mistakes we have seen time and time and time again this postseason, and while there would be a lot of hand-wringing over the mechanics of expanded replay, about how to make it happen, it should be very simple: Just get it right. On calls of fair or foul, on calls of safe or out, on all calls not involving balls or strikes, just get it right.
Right - because the game has been speeding up so much lately that adding gosh knows how much time (an extra half hour? hour? who knows?) to the game couldn't possibly hurt. Here's a better way to go:
- Have the umps let the teams know that gratuitous timeouts at the plate will no longer be allowed. If the batter wants to adjust his gloves after every pitch, he can risk having strikes thrown while he's out of the box
- Same thing for pitchers. As much as I hate "shot clocks" in basketball, I think we need a "pitch clock". Force pitchers to make up their minds and throw the ball, or the batter gets a free ball called
Once we've taken control of the game back with that, maybe we can start discussing play reviews. As it stands now, the games take way, way, way too long. That needs to be fixed, ASAP. In the meantime, trying to get better umps in place would help, too.
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