Wakiya's triple helps Yomiuri close in on Japan Series title

I saw an awkward moment in the game last night, that I thought should have been challenged by Seibu. During the Giants come back in the top of the 7th, Alex Ramirez starts it off with a ball back up the middle, that ricochets off of second base, and into shallow right center field. He safely slides into second on a bang bang play, but the replay shows that he took his foot off of the bag for a split second immediately after the tag, and Hiroh (I think it was him) applied another tag to Ramirez while his foot was off the bag.

Now, I can't see how a player would be granted time immediately following such a close play, and I didn't really see Alex call for time until after he'd been tagged the second time. I'm not sure the Seibu manager saw this, but it would've been wise to go out and argue the call, so as to try and kill any momentum the Giants might have gotten from the hustle. If Alex had been called out on the play when his foot came off the bag, we might have had a different outcome.

Unfortunately, Ramirez' foot was back on the sack in time. The tag was slightly after and the umpire ruled him safe on the second tag.

Today's (Nov 7, 2008) Nikkan Sports has a close up photo of Ramirez's foot off the bag and Kataoka's glove clearly on his heal. With such technical measures, it would be clear that Ramirez was out.

However, we rely upon umpires (humans) to made the calls. From the second base umpire's viewpoint, Ramirez might still have had a toe on the bag. It was that close. When it happened, I thought that Rami-chan might have overrun the base, but it happened so fast that I thought that my eyes were seeing what they wanted to see rather than what really was. (I wouldn't make a good umpire - I'd be constantly second guessing what I thought I saw.) Neither I nor anybody else in the chat room at the time said anything about it, so it doesn't surprise me that Nabe-Q didn't either.

The umpiring at first base during Game 3 was awful. Those calls were clear as day to pretty much everybody but the umpire. This one was a little more difficult. As much as I'd like the umpiring to be perfect, I'm willing to let this one go as an honest mistake - and not incompetence.

The only way I can think of to prevent mistakes like this would be to go to a replay umpire. They do it in Sumo and the NFL. This year they did it for calling fair or foul home runs that go over the foul pole. (I think it was used one time.)

Now, there are a lot of people who still like the uncertainty of the human judge. I'm neutral, neither in favor nor against the replay umpire. But I think that even the best of umpires may have missed this one. Anyone not willing to accept this call should consider where they stand in the replay umpire debate.

And those of you who are all for a replay umpire, consider how far it may go. Will double plays where the second baseman leaps a split second before catching the ball start to get challenged? Pretty much everyone accepts it (for safety?) right now - but that will be one of the first close plays to receive greater scrutiny.

Here's a link to that picture you mentioned westbaystars-san.

As I was basing my comment on the TV replay right after the incident, it's clear that even replays might not be the ultimate solution. The replay seemed to show that Ramirez was safe, but with the photograph it was clear he wasn't. Umpires can be terrible and I have mentioned this in my blog several times, but sometimes the mistakes are honest.

I like the idea of replays for certain things, but not for everything and I would not have been happy with a replay for that particular play as it would have stopped the action.

The photo though doesn't show Kataoka tagging Ramirez. The glove is past Ramirez's heel and not touching anything.

Thanks for the link. That's the photo on the left in Nikkan Sports. Here is the photo in question along with that one that ran in the paper:



I think the photo on the right is pretty clear.

But as Christopher said, it's highly unlikely to have had such an image taken in the game that clear that wouldn't have held up the game. He also brings up another demerit to the entire replay umpire issue - managers using it just to disrupt the rhythm of the opposition. On the other hand, it'll stop managers from wasting time arguing. (I do kind of like the auto ejection after arguing for more than 5 minutes.)

The photo on the right is deceptive I'm afraid. It seems to suggest that Kataoka is tagging Ramirez's heel, but doesn't show this at all. If you look at Ramirez's sole this is clearly visible and you can see the angle of the shoe. Now look at the angle of Kataoka's arm, this is different - there is a clear gap between the glove and the shoe. The glove is behind the shoe not touching it. This interpretation does fit with the replay of the action and shows how we must be careful even with photographs. The umpire was right on the spot here and I think he was 100% right. Ramirez was safe though not by much.

Wow, great picture. And that did really turn the game around. But was too fast to notice with the naked eye and good thing there wasn't a long argument. I remember an argument in game 1 of the Dragons vs. Lions 2004 Series that went on for almost an hour as the respective managers just sat on the benches like brats refusing to budge!

Today's Daily Yomiuri has Ramirez's account of the incident which I think clears everything up. A good call by the umpire would be my personal thought.

Well the article quotes Ramirez as admitting that Kataoka tagged him while his foot was off the bag. But Ramirez also says that Katakoa nudged him off, and that's why the umpire called safe.

So it seems the photo was correct after all. It does show Ramirez being tagged while off the bag.

Whether the article clears anything up depends on whether we're prepared to take Ramirez's word for it (after all we all know how truthful ball players are about calls). It could be that the umpire messed up and didn't see the tag or the shove, and ultimately made a good call for the wrong reason!