The Human Element
By Law is right:
Bad umpiring has done, and will do, more harm to the industry of baseball than any performance-enhancing drugs could do.
Although it cuts against my Yankee-hating interests, I’m rooting for Tampa to make it to a Game 4. This series has been been like Super Bowl XL spread over three games — like the Seahawks, the Rays have earned their losses, but they’ve also been victim to a seemingly endless parade of calls (some outrageous, some marginal) not going in their favor. The one-two punch of Crawford being rung up on a pitch that (as Joe Sheehan points out) Eric Gregg would have considered outside and the ridiculous blown call on the Andrus “steal”…wow. The Rays’ tens of fans must be livid and heartbroken, and anyone who cares about the game can’t be much happier.