Well, the umps blew two calls in the same inning. The announcers are all over Tim McClellaland (sp?) for missing the call on Swisher’s foot at third.

Did they completely forget about the play just a batter earlier where Swisher was clearly picked off of 2nd? Judging by the crowd’s reaction, they clearly have access to instant replays (a courtesy not displayed at Miller Park for close calls, and rightly so if you see it from the umpire union’s point of view). This would mean that McClelland could also see it and know that the call was blown.

So my question is, was he attempting to ‘correct’ the game by calling Swisher out? Is a make-up call there the right move? Why continue to play the game if you’re going to intentionally make incorrect calls? If the umpire knew of the bad call because of replay, why don’t they just use replay?

Personally, I think it’s less than a decade away. With this pitch-tracking technology live on screen emerging, it’s only giving this movement to limit umpires steam. It’s only a matter of time!