What's more exciting than a game winning balk?

Oh just about ANYTHING including a poetry reading.

I guess the Giants need all the offensive help they can get... and if they can score the only run of the game because the Twins pitcher twitched, then more power to them.

Maybe the Giants can get a run tomorrow after the pitcher threw the ball!

4 1/3 no hit innings from the bullpen?

Not too shabby.
Those orange shirts? Still not a fan.

But as long as the Giants keep winning, then I know my dad is happy.

Another memo to people who are against Interleague Play

Of the many criticisms of Interleague Play, one that keeps coming up is how unfair some of the match ups are.

How can a schedule be fair if some teams play good teams and some play lousy teams?
When you looked at the schedule at the beginning of the year, I bet you thought "Red Sox vs. Pirates? What a joke!"

And I confess, after I saw the Red Sox beat up the Yankees, Blue Jays, Rays and Brewers... I looked at the Padres and Pirates series as more big W's.

Instead, the Sox have lost 3 of their first 4 games against San Diego and Pittsburgh.
The answer to that criticism is PLAY THE GAMES. Sometimes the lowly teams will get up for the game.

Sometimes the big bully will look past the lowly team.

Either way, a packed house in Pittsburgh saw their team beat the Red Sox and creep a little closer to respectability.

Don't believe me?
46% of the way through the season and the Pirates have a winning record and are 2 games out of the loss column for first place.

Either way, time to update the tally.

DODGED BULLET GAMES - 21

April 8 - 9-6 win against the Yankees. (The Sox end their 6 game losing streak with a slugfest. John Lackey stinks but Phil Hughes stinks even more.)
April 10 - 4-0 win against the Yankees. (Beckett and Sabathia duel in a game that was 1-0 until the late innings.)
April 20 - 5-3 win in Oakland. (Red Sox survive a lead off homer and two bases loaded situations and facing the tying run at the plate to win their first road game.)
April 21 - 4-2 win in Anaheim. (The Red Sox stranded 15 men on base and Josh Beckett's went 8 strong with no decision. But the Sox rallied in the 11th to win.)
April 22 - 4-3 win in Anaheim. (Peter Bourjos makes a 2 run errors and the Red Sox survive a bizarre passed ball by Jarrod Saltalamacchia that let a run scored from second.)
May 1 - 3-2 win against the Mariners. (Ichiro loses a ball in the sun that turns into a 9th inning triple for Lowrie. Crawford singles him home for the win.)
May 8 - 9-5 win against the Twins. (Dice-K lets up 3 runs in the first but settles down as the Red Sox clobber Carl Pavano.)

May 9 - 2-1 win against the Twins. (A bullpen breakdown cost Beckett the decision but Cark Crawford ended the game with an 11th inning walk off hit.)
May 13 - 5-4 win in the Bronx. (Youkilis homers off of Joba and Bard and Papelbon make it more interesting than it needed to be.)
May 15 - 7-5 win in the Bronx. (Sox fall behind 4-1 but come back as Youk, Papi and Salty all homer.)
May 16 - 8-7 win against the Orioles. (Down 6-0 after 6 innings, the Sox rally and win it with a 2 run walk off double by Adrian Gonzalez)
May 18 - 1-0 win against Detroit. (With 2 outs in the 8th, Salty doubles home Crawford from first for the only run. Papelbon gets himself in and out of 9th inning trouble.)
May 19 - 4-3 win against Detroit. (Bard blows Beckett's lead but Carl Crawford wins it with a walk off hit.)
May 24 - 4-2 win in Cleveland. (Varitek throws two runners out and homers as the Red Sox win their first game against the Indians.)
May 29 - 4-3 win in Detroit. (The Red Sox blow an early 3-0 lead but David Ortiz wins the game with a pinch 9th inning homer.)
June 3 - 8-6 win against Oakland. (Buchholz lets up 4 runs in the first but the Sox come back thanks to Carl Crawford's 2 run single.)
June 4 - 9-8 win against Oakland. (Red Sox blow a 4 run 9th inning lead and trail in the 11th before Ellsbury ties it and Drew wins it in 14.)
June 7 - 6-4 win in the Bronx. (Papelbon strikes out A-Rod to end the game with a runner on base.)
June 9 - 8-3 win in the Bronx. (Down 2-0 to Sabathia in the 7th, the Sox score 7 runs as Papi exacts revenge after getting plunked. A 3+ hour rain delay pushed the game past 1:30 AM)

June 15 - 3-0 win in Tampa Bay. (Youkilis homers in the 7th for the only runs in Beckett's 1 hit masterpiece.)
June 16 - 4-2 win in Tampa Bay. (Papelbon wiggles out of a 2 on, nobody out jam in the 9th thanks to Youk's diving catch.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 20

April 1 - 9-5 loss in Texas. (The Sox tie Opening Day in the 8th with an Ortiz homer only to have Bard implode and the Sox let up 4 in the bottom of the 8th.)

April 5 - 3-1 loss in Cleveland. (The Sox drop their 4th straight as the bats are dead in Cleveland.)
April 7 - 1-0 loss in Cleveland. (Sox blow a great Lester performance on a squeeze bunt and Darnell McDonald overrunning the bag to end the game.)
April 12 - 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay. (A solid Lester performance is wasted as Kyle Farnsworth of all people shuts down the Sox.)
April 15 - 7-6 loss to Toronto. (Bobby Jenks implodes with a 4 run seventh inning as the Red Sox waste Pedroia and Youkilis homers and a clutch RBI double by Scuatro.
April 19 - 5-0 loss in Oakland. (Pedroia gets picked off, the Sox bats go dead and waste a solid Lackey start.)
April 26 - 4-1 loss in Baltimore. (Buchholz pitches tentatively and the Sox let Kevin Gregg of all people to close out the 9th.)
April 27 - 5-4 loss in Baltimore. (The Sox tie the game with a 3 run 8th only to have Bard lose it in the bottom of the 8th.)
April 29 - 5-4 loss to Mariners. (Bobby Jenks blows a 7th inning lead, wasting 2 Mike Cameron homers.)
April 30 - 2-0 loss to Mariners. (The Sox strand 11 runners and let Milton Bradley double home the go ahead run.)
May 4 - 5-3 loss to Angels. (7 hours with rain delays and stranded runners. Marco Scutaro was thrown out at the plate in the 12th)
May 10 - 7-6 loss in Toronto. (8th and 9th inning heroics, including a homer by Adrian Gonzalez, are undone by a walk off sacrifice fly by David Cooper.)
May 21 - 9-3 loss to Cubs. (Up 3-1 in the 8th inning, the bullpen and defense implode. The Cubs score 8 runs while both teams wear their 1918 uniforms.)
May 23- 3-2 loss in Cleveland. (The Sox blow a 2-1 8th inning lead when the Indians rally with 2 outs. Crawford ends the game on a double play.)
May 29 - 3-0 loss in Detroit. (Verlander keeps the Sox off base and prevents the sweep.)
June 1 - 7-4 loss to White Sox. (Konerko drives in three, spoiling a game tying Ortiz homer.)

June 14 - 4-0 loss in Tampa Bay. (Wakefield's solid outing is spoiled. Longoria scores on a passed ball.)
June 18 - 4-2 loss to Milwaukee. (The Brewers hit three homers early off of Lester and hang on.)
June 21 - 5-4 loss to San Diego. (Ortiz hits a double play in the 9th to stifle a potential winning rally.)

June 24 - 3-1 loss to Pittsburgh. (The Red Sox strand 7 runners in scoring position.)

All the way down to +1.

What do you expect? The Sox are playing an elite team like the Pirates. I'm telling you, it's not fair for Boston!

Yes we know! You got a weather balloon with your CitiBank points!

OK, I admit this is a very specific complaint... but I need to get it off my chest.
I love MLB.com and I watch a lot of the highlights of the day on there. And often times I will turn to the GameDay page and watch a bunch of clips in a row.

And they have ads inbetween the clips. And I'm OK with that. They need to pay the bills.

But here's the problem. At least the last few weeks, they've been showing an ad for CitiBank Rewards points where a guy uses his rewards points to get a weather balloon.

So the ad has a little guitar riff and and announcer says "What can you do with CitiPoints?"
The main character starts to blow up a weather balloon with his racially balanced group of friends on top of a hill.

One asks "You got a weather balloon with points?" As if he didn't know that. As if they just randomly drove up a hill with a gigantic airtank and equipment and he never asked "Where are we going."

The main character says "Yes I did" and they let the balloon go. Now we don't get to see the cool footage from the weather balloon. There's a little note that says "See more at CitiBank.com."

As if anyone is watching a commercial and thinks "Holy crap! Where can I see MORE commercials!"

"OK Sully," you say. "It's a lame commercial. But why are you getting worked up over it?"

Because they show the same commercial over and over again. And JUST that commercial. I'm trying to watch baseball highlights while my wife is watching Top Chef and some insane show with Ice T and his bonkers wife. And in between each great 20 second highlight I hear "You got a weather balloon with points!"

A great home run. "You got a weather balloon with points!"

The post game celebration. "You go a weather balloon with points!"

A tribute to a great retired ballplayer. "You got a weather balloon with points!"

Not to get all baseball on you, CitiBank... but mix up your pitches! If I hear "You got a weather balloon with points!" one more time I will... um... I guess do nothing.

My bank isn't CitiBank. And I am going to continue to watch baseball highlights.

So I guess I have to come to grips with the fact that this guy got a weather balloon with points.

(Please tell me I am not the only person who is driven to insanity by the guy who got a weather balloon with points. E mail me at info@sullybaseball.com)

Whitey Bulger maybe was a little too loyal to the Red Sox

Well Whitey Bulger (aka the real life guy that Jack Nicholson kind of played in The Departed) was on the run but still a Red Sox fan.

It turns out he was in plain sight in Santa Monica for years.
Do you know who was also in plain sight in Santa Monica for some of the same time?

ME!

Evidently he still was wearing a Red Sox cap when they found him.
A white Red Sox cap (you know... for Whitey.)

I've never been on the run from the FBI, but if I were, I wouldn't wear a Sox cap.
I'd wear a Yankee cap just to throw the feds off.

But hey, Whitey was a loyal fan.
I wonder if we ever went to Sonny McLean's in Santa Monica together.

Hey great win, Jim! Jim?.... JIM?!

I admit that I haven't been kind to Jim Riggleman on the pages of Sully Baseball.

I questioned the reasoning of dumping Manny Acta for Riggleman and his less that sterling resume.

And I thought he was doing baseball a disservice when he benched some of his starters in critical stretch run games.

Well now he has the Nats playing on a roll and they have crawled back up to .500.

And what does he do?
He quits.

Now there are already articles being written in his favor and who knows? Maybe the Nationals organization IS a mess.

But I'm sorry. Why should the Nationals offer Riggleman more years? Even with the team above .500 now, he's been a big league skipper over 12 different seasons. In the 11 ones before this one has a grand total of 2 above .500. He seems like a solid baseball lifer, but does 1 game over .500 before July constitute a lot of leverage?

And with this dramatic series against the Mariners (another team he managed since 2008), you'd think that the Nationals would be trying to ride some momentum.

Instead they have to answer questions about a manager who quit on the team. (Sorry, that's what he did.)

He said to the media "I'm not Casey Stengel."

No kidding.

And if the Nationals put up a good record for the rest of the season, it will make the Nationals decision to not retain Riggleman look even smarter.

Don't worry... he'll be an interim manager someday. Hey, he's 22 years younger than the Marlins new manager!

You still worried about Tim Lincecum?

The Giants needed a win to take the series from Minnesota and they handed the ball to Tim Lincecum, who has looked decidedly human in his last 4 starts.

Like 0-2 with a 7.59 ERA in those 4 games.
Panic!
What should the Giants do?

Lest we forget that he had a crappy run LAST year as well.
Remember how he pitched in the post season?
4-1, 2.43 ERA, 43 strikeouts in 37 innings.
7 1/3 innings per start and winning the World Series clinching Game 5 in Texas.

So how did Linecum do today?
7 shutout innings, 3 hits 12 strikeouts and 2 walks.
Not bad.

Relax Giants fans.
He's fine.

I'm betting the Pirates will continue their winning

With 45% of the season in the can, the Pirates have climbed all the way back to the .500 mark. It's been more than a decade since the Pirates have been break even this late in the season. And with the Red Sox heading into PNC, I have no doubt that this upstart team from the Steel City will keep on winning.

Cue up "We Are Family!" It's the Pirates year!

(Now my many Pirate fan readers know what happens whenever I praise the Bucs. They lose. And while I would LOVE to see the Pirates have a great year, guess what? I don't want it at the expense of the Red Sox. I want the Pirates to be 3 games under .500. What can I say? I'm cut throat. And if anyone can handle a cut throat, it's a Pirate.)

Thank you Chris Heisey

Hey Red Sox fans, do you know who Chris Heisey is?
He's an outfielder for the Reds. He was on the playoff roster last year for Cincinnati.

Well today he hit three homers against the Yankees and made sure the Reds weren't swept.

So the Red Sox are STILL in first place. If the Yankees won, the Sox would have fallen to second place.

Instead they are still on top heading to Pittsburgh.
And oh yeah...

The Magic Number is 89!!!

Frankie Rodriguez blew a save!

He evidently gets a lot of saves.
According to his Baseball Reference page, he has 19 saves for a Mets team that only has 35 wins.
But every time I see him play, he blows the lead.

I must have bad luck watching him.
(Or good luck when you consider all of his post season losses against the Red Sox.)

Eight is Indeed Enough

No need to play that last inning. The Red Sox bats were dead. So the Red Sox lost a series to the Padres. Man was that stupid.

The Sox can beat up the Yankees, Rays and Brewers but can't beat the Padres?

Ugh... let's hope they have a few wins against the Pirates. But today, 8 is enough.

Baseball purists must have HATED last night in Pittsburgh

Seriously, it must have been an awful sight to see the travesty of Interleague Play going on in Pittsburgh.

You know how every year someone writes the obligatory "Interleague Play Has Run Its Course" article? Those writers must have been banging their keyboards with disgust at the events at PNC Park.

You see the Orioles came to town... an American League team. And like the Pirates, the Orioles are currently under .500 (just like both teams have been every year for more than a decade.)

But the teams were honoring the 1971 World Series. And both teams were dressed in the uniforms of that series.

The Pirates were decked out in their yellow hats and pull over uniforms.

The belt was part of the pants and basically they were pajamas... pajamas worn by champions.









The Orioles broke out the smiling bird cap. And when Mark Reynolds made a nice stop at third base, it brought back some memories of Brooks Robinson.





And there was a reunion of the players involved in the series, including a big hand for Bill Mazeroski and Manny Sanguillen.

And with it being the 40th anniversary of the Series, the city of Pittsburgh could celebrate that title with some added nostalgia with the Orioles in town.

Or as purists of the game would call it "A travesty!"

The 1971 Pirates were a significant team as Bruce Markusen wrote in his wonderful The Team That Changed Baseball. They were the first team to field a starting lineup that didn't have a single white player and broke the barrier for bringing in minority players at all levels. It was one thing to sign a super star black player or Latin player. But that Pirate team fielded a roster that included role players and relievers of color, something that was not common before.

You wouldn't want to celebrate a team like that.

Or if you do, make sure you do it when the Rockies are in town, or the Padres or the Nationals.

Just not the ORIOLES! Because even though the Orioles are directly linked to the 1971 Pirates, they are an American League team... and having an American League team and a National League play each other is just bad for the sport.

I feel for those purists. They must have seen that celebration and said "Baseball is ruined."

Biggest double take of the night

I saw the Mariners were cruising to a win in Washington and I was writing in my head a new post. It would be about the Mariners potentially not going away.

I had it all mapped out.

I gave my kids a bath, and I glanced at the score. It was 5-1 Mariners in the bottom of the 9th.

I dried my kids off and I saw the Nationals won 6-5 in the 9th. Wilson Ramos hit a 3 run 2 out bottom of the 9th walk off homer.

And now the Nationals are only 4 games in the loss column out of a playoff spot.

Maybe I should have prepared a NATIONALS post.

Let's try to not have many games like this, OK?

The Red Sox kept putting the tying run on and bringing the go ahead run to the plate.
They kept getting me excited.
They kept teasing us.

And they just couldn't score off of the Padres bullpen. You know, the one they scored at will on yesterday.

It's important to win series, but now they have to win tomorrow in order to pull it off.

And by the way, the game has been over for 10 minutes, but I think 3 more Padres walked since then.

Time to update the tally.

DODGED BULLET GAMES - 21

April 8 - 9-6 win against the Yankees. (The Sox end their 6 game losing streak with a slugfest. John Lackey stinks but Phil Hughes stinks even more.)
April 10 - 4-0 win against the Yankees. (Beckett and Sabathia duel in a game that was 1-0 until the late innings.)
April 20 - 5-3 win in Oakland. (Red Sox survive a lead off homer and two bases loaded situations and facing the tying run at the plate to win their first road game.)
April 21 - 4-2 win in Anaheim. (The Red Sox stranded 15 men on base and Josh Beckett's went 8 strong with no decision. But the Sox rallied in the 11th to win.)
April 22 - 4-3 win in Anaheim. (Peter Bourjos makes a 2 run errors and the Red Sox survive a bizarre passed ball by Jarrod Saltalamacchia that let a run scored from second.)
May 1 - 3-2 win against the Mariners. (Ichiro loses a ball in the sun that turns into a 9th inning triple for Lowrie. Crawford singles him home for the win.)
May 8 - 9-5 win against the Twins. (Dice-K lets up 3 runs in the first but settles down as the Red Sox clobber Carl Pavano.)

May 9 - 2-1 win against the Twins. (A bullpen breakdown cost Beckett the decision but Cark Crawford ended the game with an 11th inning walk off hit.)
May 13 - 5-4 win in the Bronx. (Youkilis homers off of Joba and Bard and Papelbon make it more interesting than it needed to be.)
May 15 - 7-5 win in the Bronx. (Sox fall behind 4-1 but come back as Youk, Papi and Salty all homer.)
May 16 - 8-7 win against the Orioles. (Down 6-0 after 6 innings, the Sox rally and win it with a 2 run walk off double by Adrian Gonzalez)
May 18 - 1-0 win against Detroit. (With 2 outs in the 8th, Salty doubles home Crawford from first for the only run. Papelbon gets himself in and out of 9th inning trouble.)
May 19 - 4-3 win against Detroit. (Bard blows Beckett's lead but Carl Crawford wins it with a walk off hit.)
May 24 - 4-2 win in Cleveland. (Varitek throws two runners out and homers as the Red Sox win their first game against the Indians.)
May 29 - 4-3 win in Detroit. (The Red Sox blow an early 3-0 lead but David Ortiz wins the game with a pinch 9th inning homer.)
June 3 - 8-6 win against Oakland. (Buchholz lets up 4 runs in the first but the Sox come back thanks to Carl Crawford's 2 run single.)
June 4 - 9-8 win against Oakland. (Red Sox blow a 4 run 9th inning lead and trail in the 11th before Ellsbury ties it and Drew wins it in 14.)
June 7 - 6-4 win in the Bronx. (Papelbon strikes out A-Rod to end the game with a runner on base.)
June 9 - 8-3 win in the Bronx. (Down 2-0 to Sabathia in the 7th, the Sox score 7 runs as Papi exacts revenge after getting plunked. A 3+ hour rain delay pushed the game past 1:30 AM)

June 15 - 3-0 win in Tampa Bay. (Youkilis homers in the 7th for the only runs in Beckett's 1 hit masterpiece.)
June 16 - 4-2 win in Tampa Bay. (Papelbon wiggles out of a 2 on, nobody out jam in the 9th thanks to Youk's diving catch.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 19

April 1 - 9-5 loss in Texas. (The Sox tie Opening Day in the 8th with an Ortiz homer only to have Bard implode and the Sox let up 4 in the bottom of the 8th.)

April 5 - 3-1 loss in Cleveland. (The Sox drop their 4th straight as the bats are dead in Cleveland.)
April 7 - 1-0 loss in Cleveland. (Sox blow a great Lester performance on a squeeze bunt and Darnell McDonald overrunning the bag to end the game.)
April 12 - 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay. (A solid Lester performance is wasted as Kyle Farnsworth of all people shuts down the Sox.)
April 15 - 7-6 loss to Toronto. (Bobby Jenks implodes with a 4 run seventh inning as the Red Sox waste Pedroia and Youkilis homers and a clutch RBI double by Scuatro.
April 19 - 5-0 loss in Oakland. (Pedroia gets picked off, the Sox bats go dead and waste a solid Lackey start.)
April 26 - 4-1 loss in Baltimore. (Buchholz pitches tentatively and the Sox let Kevin Gregg of all people to close out the 9th.)
April 27 - 5-4 loss in Baltimore. (The Sox tie the game with a 3 run 8th only to have Bard lose it in the bottom of the 8th.)
April 29 - 5-4 loss to Mariners. (Bobby Jenks blows a 7th inning lead, wasting 2 Mike Cameron homers.)
April 30 - 2-0 loss to Mariners. (The Sox strand 11 runners and let Milton Bradley double home the go ahead run.)
May 4 - 5-3 loss to Angels. (7 hours with rain delays and stranded runners. Marco Scutaro was thrown out at the plate in the 12th)
May 10 - 7-6 loss in Toronto. (8th and 9th inning heroics, including a homer by Adrian Gonzalez, are undone by a walk off sacrifice fly by David Cooper.)
May 21 - 9-3 loss to Cubs. (Up 3-1 in the 8th inning, the bullpen and defense implode. The Cubs score 8 runs while both teams wear their 1918 uniforms.)
May 23- 3-2 loss in Cleveland. (The Sox blow a 2-1 8th inning lead when the Indians rally with 2 outs. Crawford ends the game on a double play.)
May 29 - 3-0 loss in Detroit. (Verlander keeps the Sox off base and prevents the sweep.)
June 1 - 7-4 loss to White Sox. (Konerko drives in three, spoiling a game tying Ortiz homer.)

June 14 - 4-0 loss in Tampa Bay. (Wakefield's solid outing is spoiled. Longoria scores on a passed ball.)
June 18 - 4-2 loss to Milwaukee. (The Brewers hit three homers early off of Lester and hang on.)
June 21 - 5-4 loss to San Diego. (Ortiz hits a double play in the 9th to stifle a potential winning rally.)

Down to +2.

Win tomorrow and the series is in the W column.

Hey look at that! The Marlins actually won a game!

For only the second time this month, the Marlins won a game. It was 2 managers ago that they last won.

And THIS time Jack McKeon decided to let Hanley Ramirez play and he responded with 2 hits.

Hey, every single time Jack McKeon has taken over the Marlins in mid season, they went on to win the World Series.

You can look it up.

Yoda has good advice for Alfredo Aceves

6 walks in 5 innings for Alfredo Aceves?

I think Yoda said it best when he told Luke "Control! Control! You must learn control!"

But I'll let the master say it.

The franchise moves that almost happened - My latest for The Hardball Times

Can you imagine the Senators moving not to Minnesota but to Los Angeles?
What about the Milwaukee White Sox?
Or the Tampa Bay Giants?
Or the North Carolina Twins?
Or the A's playing in just about any American city save for Walla Walla Washington?

Well they almost happened, and I wrote about them in my latest for The Hardball Times.

These are the franchise moves that ALMOST happened. And some were real close to being finalized. The Padres move from San Diego to Washington looked like such a done deal in the mid 1970s that Topps actually printed cards with the Padres players but the team name was "Washington National League."

You want to read more of these strange "What if?" scenarios?

Check out the article HERE.

Not much is different in Marlins land

Meet the new boss.
Same as the old boss.

Actually he IS the old boss.
The REALLY old boss.

Chris Jaffe wrote a great piece on how old Jack McKeon is for The Hardball Times.
Well his first decision didn't bode well for the return of Trader Jack.

He benched Hanley Ramirez.
Yeah yeah yeah. He was showing his star that nobody was safe.

Yeah yeah yeah. Old School blah blah blah.

The team lost again.
They lost their 11th straight game.
They lost 2-1.

Hanley Ramirez could have been helpful.

The Fish had better win a game pretty soon. They are 9 games in the loss column out of a Wild Card spot.

Or else Trader Jack might be trading away some of his players.

A nice ass whippin' is always nice

Seriously Red Sox fans... were you ever nervous?
Even when the Padres tied the game, did you ever think for a second that the Red Sox were losing this one?

Even with Andrew Miller pitching and the Sox blowing a 3-0 lead... seriously. Who thought "Oh man... the Sox are in trouble"?

And a nice little 10 run inning later, the game was a laugher.

I could use more games like this.
And oh yeah...

The Magic Number is 90!!!!

More instant replay insanity

Less than 2 minutes ago, Cord Phelps of the Indians hit an RBI single to make the Rockies/Indians game a 1 run affair in the 8th.

He stretched it to a double but was called out to end the inning, killing the rally.

Before Indians manager Manny Acta was done running from the dugout to the umpire to argue the play, a replay was shown that the call was blown.

So an argument ensued, slowing down the game. But you can't use the Instant Replay to correct the call... because if you did that, then the game would move faster and calls would be right.

Insanity.

The game is starting up again.
I wrote a whole blog post in the space of the argument.