Not the 1st time (umpire) Davidson screwed up

Umpire Bob Davidson who was calling the balls and strikes during the TBY @ BOS game yesterday has been roundly criticized by ESPN commentators Rick Sutcliffe and Dave O'Brien during the game, as well as bloggers and their readers everywhere. This is not the first time Davidson has called a bad game or a bad play.

Davidson

Last year during a game between the Mets and the Yankees in which the Mets pummeled the Yanks 11-2, (aamof, it was a game that I was watching, and enjoying, now that I think of it), home plate ump Davidson overruled the call by the third base umpire on a home run by Carlos Delgado. This botched call was more fuel for the instant replay debate, which was instituted last year for home runs only.

The Foul Pole and Randolph arguing with Davidson

The call belonged to the third base ump, but Davidson blew it, and admitted it in a post game interview in which he littered with several expletives that were deleted. Sign of a small mind? limited vocabulary? short on intelligence? poor vision?

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Instant Replay Used for the 1st Time

A-Rod just hit a long fly ball in top of the 9th that was very difficult to determine if it was fair or foul. The ESPN replays could not decisively declare fair or foul. It was reviewed by the umpires and ruled a HR giving the Yanks an 8-3 lead. The chief umpire took 2 minutes and 15 seconds to review the play and rule it a HR, the 1st time the technology has been used under the new rules.

John Kruk on ESPN's 'Baseball Tonight' opined that it was perfectly fitting that it was a ball hit by of all players, A-Rod to be the first player to be involved in the 1st implementation of the controversial new rule.

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Bud Says Replay Coming Sept 1st

Instant replay will be used in all ballparks starting Sept. 1 as long as there are no technical difficulties. Replays will only be used for boundary issues for home runs. My question is why now? Why not wait until the start of next season? I am against replay in baseball but if you are going to do it, do it right. Let the problems be worked out during spring training not during the last month of the season when teams are in the middle of a pennant race. More Bud being Bud.

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Instant Replay By August?

Instant replay for home run calls may be headed to a stadium near you this season. MLB and the Players Association want to get a deal on this before the playoff start. A new system could be in place to make sure it will work for the post-season. As I have said before I am totally against this but it looks like it is coming.

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