ESPN's Jayson Stark ran a chat debate today over whether or not people think that baseball should be using instant reply.  There were many different points of view ranging from using it solely for home run vs. non-home run, fair vs. foul, and catch vs. non-catch, to using it for anything and everything that an umpire would make a call over.

One particular quote from the debate caught my attention (for obvious reasons):

Steve (Bensalem,PA): Ask the Padres fans about safe/out calls. Matt Holliday still hasn't touched home!

 Jayson Stark: See, I think that's one safe-or-out call where I would use replay -- a call in the ninth inning or later that allows a critical run to score. Anybody disagree?

OK, so in a case like that particular play, I want someone to tell me what they would have to do in a situation like that if they did have instant replay.  Here are the keys to my arguement:

1.  After Matt slid, the umpire called Matt safe.  At that point, there is no need for Matt to go back and re-touch home plate.  By the umpire calling him safe, the ump is indicating he saw Matt touch home.

2. The catcher did not hold on to the ball, and after the "safe" call, the catcher never bothered to get the ball and tag Matt.

So if there were instant replay in baseball, and they determined that Matt indeed never did touch home plate, what would be the ruling here?  You can't call him out, because he was never tagged out.  Send him back to 3rd base?  I don't think that would be fair because there are then two outs in the inning, so his chance to score would be greatly reduced without the possibility of a sacrifice fly.

My argument here is that I just don't see how baseball lends itself well to using instant replay as some other sports do.  For home run vs. non-home run type calls, I don't have any problem with it, but I just don't see how it could be completely used given situations like this one from last year.  Even if they did have instant replay, and even if Matt didn't touch the plate, there is no way they could have reversed that call given that there was never a tag, and the umpire had already called him safe.

I'm curious to know what the general opinions are of the folks here on Purple Row regarding instant replay in baseball.  And for those of you that are all for instant replay in ALL aspects of the game, how would you propose the above situation should have been resolved if it was determined that Matt never did touch the plate?

Go Rox!

We haven't even played the first of three games at Coors yet and I'm already tired of seeing articles about how it's not fair for the NL to force these "poor" AL teams to sit their DH when they travel to an NL city.  It's their own damn fault for adopting this ridiculous rule to begin with.

I've really tried to sway myself to at least accept the DH as baseball player, but I just can't. Calling a DH a baseball player is like calling a place kicker a football player. Both are called on to try and do one thing, then just sit on their ass until it's their turn to try to do that one thing again. Even when a DH has a good game, how much of a 3 to 4 hour game is he even a part of? 15 minutes?  Yeah, that's a real 'team' contributor.

Hmmm...actually, nevermind...I like that idea. I wish I could only "work" 30 minutes of my 8 hour shift and still get a full paycheck too. I have been swayed. The DH's are the smart ones and all the real athletes are idiots for trying to actually PLAY THE GAME OF BASEBALL. Long live the DH!

Found this article on Yahoo. The article eludes to making Stewart the Rox version of Chase Utley. Let's not get too carried away, but possibly not a bad idea if he can play the position, and we can't "afford" (he said while laughing the Monforts' direction) to keep Matsui. If we could keep Matusi, I have to admit I would be a bit torn. I still desperately want for Stewart to end up being the player we all hoped he would be, and I still believe he can/will be that good of a hitter. And if he became that player as a second baseman, I think it would make him even more of an asset to the team.

Does anyone know if MLB.tv is tied to just one computer?  It works fine on my laptop that I originally used when signing up for the product, but I can't get anything except the audio to work on other systems.  The other systems are even more updated (browser, OS, etc.) than my old laptop where it works fine, so I know that's not the issue.  I was at a friends house and tried to bring it up on his system, but all we could get to work is the audio...it wouldn't load video at all.  I then tried on another system that he has, and the same thing happened.  Anyone have any ideas why this is?  Can I only watch it from my one laptop?  This is my first year using it and I just assumed that as long as I used my login, I could bring it up on any system anytime.  Thanks for any help!

Sometimes it's just hard to be a Rockies fan.

Just when the Rockies were just finally starting to be recognized as an actual MLB team by ESPN, they have come back to Earth with a thud.  Sports writers, besides the ones in Colorado, were actually talking about the Rockies...you know, that team that every other city forgot because they haven't mattered in 12 years.  Steve Phillips spoke about how he believed the Rocks were now contenders in the NL West (see "Fantasy vs. Reality" on ESPN's baseball page).  Some were just stating the facts about how the Rocks were the hottest team in baseball thus far in June.  But as it turns out, the ones that were spot on were those that called the Rockies' recent success a fluke.  Just when the Rockies were getting some accolades around the major leagues, they go out over the last four games and show the whole world why they were just that...a fluke.

This most recent loss is quite simply unacceptable.  You CANNOT lose that game after the offense rallies for such an amazing comeback...can't happen.  Unless, that is, that you are the Colorado Rockies.  The unfortunate truth is that every single die-hard Rockies fan that witnessed the blown save in Toronto was thinking to themselves, "Oh lord, here we go again" following the bloop single to lead off the bottom of the 9th right after Tulo just gave us the lead.  I know this because I too was one of those people. When that ball landed in front of Sullivan, I turned to my wife and said just that.

It is simply all too easy for this team to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I tried so hard to agree with those that believed the Rockies were on track to contending in this division.  But the shiny new four game losing streak has once again removed those purple goggles.  The "fluke" writers were right.  Cook and Hirsh look completely lost right now, and Josh Fogg is still Josh Fogg.  I just can't see how this team has any chance to contend at all with the current starting rotation.  And ever since Jorge Julio opened his mouth about the bullpen being unbreakable they haven't been able to hold a lead.  All the offense in the world won't do any good when the pitching is not effective.

All this being said, I hope I'm completely wrong.  I hope this is rock bottom.  I hope everyone in the clubhouse can rally around Matsui and Fuentes and lift them up for tomorrow's game.  I hope these are all just the lingering negative thoughts from a game that stings so bad that it's just not currently possible to see any bright spots.  I will be watching again tomorrow...hoping they can start a new streak in the other direction.  Funny how just four days ago it didn't seem like "hope" was needed.

Sometimes it's just hard to be a Rockies fan.

I konw this is an off-Rockies topic, but I just couldn't resist commenting on this.  I saw this post on ESPN today...

Feb 1 - Roger Clemens remains undecided about playing in 2007, but the future Hall of Famer has made it clear that he has no interest in pitching for a team unless it will be heading for the postseason, the New York Daily News reports.

"You put your body through a lot of punishment and then you come up one game short like [Houston] did last year; for me, it was waste of time," Clemens told the newspaper. "If you don't have an opportunity to go to the playoffs and have a chance to win, it's a waste of time for me."

Hey Roger, if you had pitched in some of the games in April or May last year maybe your team would have won some of those games and you wouldn't have missed the playoffs by one game.  Either pitch for the entire season to help your team, or just retire.  But either way, don't run your mouth about being disappointed by "the team" when you didn't even have the courtesy to get yourself ready to pitch by opening day.

I've chosen this topic as my first diary entry because it is a topic that eats at me every time I think about it.  I know Stewart still has something to prove in the minor leagues, but I also think that after a full season of AAA he will once again be the Rox top prospect.  The numbers that he could put up in the launchpad that is CO Springs could be incredible.

That being said, if Stewart stays healthy this year I'm left to wonder what it's going to take for him to break camp with the big club in 2008.  The only two positions he can play are currently occupied by the Rox two best hitters.  Is there any chance the Rockies trade Holliday sometime in 2007? Who knows what Stewart's defense would be like in LF, but it sure couldn't be any worse than Holliday's.  I just don't want to see Stewart beating balls around CO Springs for the next three seasons while waiting for Rox brass to realize that there is no chance Holliday doesn't go free agent...atleast not while Boras represents him.

If Stewart has another great Spring, and then starts tearing up AAA, could he force his way to Denver in 2007?  If so, who goes or where does he play?

I'm curious to know what anyone's opinion on this is, so please answer the poll question and feel free to comment.  The poll question is based on the assumption that Helton will be here for the duration since I can't see anyway that he gets traded given his current contract and his desire to stay in CO.

[editor's note, by Russ in NY] Bumping this to the main category.