Let's see that again

Occasionally, actually, more than occasionally, you see a meeting of the umpires to sort out a call.

Was it a long foul ball or did the baseball hook around the foul pole?
Would the ball have cleared the fence had the fan not reached over and the touched the ball?

What to do?

Go to the replay.

They do in football, hockey and basketball, but baseball, as always, is lagging in the proactive department.

That might change as soon as 2009 after the general managers voted 25-5 earlier this week to recommend instant replay as a means of settling disputes on whether home runs are fair or foul, fan interference and whether the ball hit the top of the outfield wall and bounced back or bounced back because it hit something on the other side of the wall.

It’s about time. Baseball has always maintained the umpire is always right, but replays have proven they are wrong from time to time.

Replay won’t be used to clarify out or safe calls or with balls and strikes, so the game still belongs to the men in blue, but it will assist on those occasions when none of the four had a clear view of the baseball.

It’s about time baseball gets on board with the video age.

Now if they can just find a way to end those World Series games before midnight …