Expansion of Instant Replay in MLB?

Less than 24 hours after the historic blown call by Jim Joyce, the Tigers and Indians were set to play the final game in their series with Joyce behind the plate. The fans, Armando Galarraga, and Jim Joyce showed a lot of class. Galarraga brought out the lineup card to Joyce and they shook hands. Joyce clearly was distraught over the terrible call he made and showed a lot by admitting his mistake. I cannot get over how much class Galarraga has shown throughout this whole ordeal and I really respect him now. I think everyone is going to remember him as the pitcher who threw a 28-out perfect game.

I agree with Bud Seilig's decision to not overturn the call. It would've altered baseball. I mean, it would suddenly make it seem OK to start overturning calls in crucial situations such as in the World Series, etc. That would not be OK, in my opinion. It happened, it was unfortunate, but nothing should be done to change the situation and Galarraga was obviously OK with how things played out (I mean as much as anyone could be).

The blown call has led to increased discussion for the expansion of instant replay in baseball. A huge step was made when it was allowed for umpires to go to instant replay for disputed homerun calls. So far, it has worked and does not take much time out of the game. Plus, how often do they have to go and look at replay? It doesn't seem like it happens that often. Some traditionalist baseball fans are opposed to instant replay, but I think it should be implemented into the game, but it should not overtake the integrity of the umpires and the calls they make. I think there should be a human element in the game, and umpires' mistakes are part of the game, no matter how heartbreaking they can be for a team. However, I think that the instant replay should occur only on the basepaths -- nothing with strikes/balls. I think that managers should be given 1 or 2 challenges per game and the decision to challenge should be acted on quickly. Obviously it's stupid if the managers use up their challenges on calls that don't alter the game, so I think they should be used sparingly. The manager would challenge a call, the umpires would go check it out on the TVs, and allow the call on the field to stand if they were correct, or change it if it wasn't. Simple as that. Hah. I would compare the implementation of technology in baseball to that of tennis. Tennis has a huge human element, with the chair umpire and linesmen making calls on whether or not balls are out. They obviously can make mistakes, with the balls being hit as hard as they are. I mean, players are serving at 130 mph and they have to make sure that the ball was in. In the grand slam events (except the French Open where they can see where the ball was hit because of the clay) they have allowed the players to have 3 challenges, so if they do not agree with a call, they can challenge and see if they were correct, then either win the point or replay it. So we will have to keep an eye out on what happens in the future for baseball. If we have the technology, we should use it, while not completely altering the game.

Anyway, enough of that. What's the state of the Yankees been like? Recently they were going through a tough stretch of games. They played a 2-game series against the Red Sox then another 2-game series against the Rays. They split the series against the Red Sox then got swept by the Rays. Actually, they had been on a tough stretch from May 7-May 28, facing the Red Sox, Tigers, Twins, Red Sox, Rays, Mets, & Twins. They won the first series against the Red Sox, lost the series to the Tigers, and won both series against the Twins, and lost the series to the Mets. Now they are going through an easier part of their schedule. They won 3 out of 4 against Cleveland and are just coming off of a sweep of the O's. Now they face the Jays, which will actually be pretty tough considering the Jays are still hanging around in the AL East (the AL East is the only division, except the NL West, that can boast of having 4 out of 5 teams being over .500) Even still, the Rockies are 3 games over .500. The Jays and Red Sox are each 7 games over .500, the Yankees 14 games, and the Rays 18 games. The Jays have good pitching and they can hit homeruns, that's for sure. Then the Yankees face the O's again, who just fired their manager Dave Trembley. They then face the lowly Astros.

ARod has been heating up with the weather. He's been hitting more homeruns and is up to 8 on the year. Robbie Cano has been unbelievable this season and is riding a 2010 major league best 17 game hitting streak. He has 12 homeruns on the season and is battling with Morneau for the best batting avg in the league. The Yankees' lineup is finally back to what it was at the beginning of the year, minus Nick Johnson. Curtis is back and has a hit in every single game since he's been back. Posada is back too, but has not caught yet. Nick Swisher has been hitting well since he's been back. LET'S GO YANKS!