It’s easy for Joe Girardi to say because the ruling favored his team. But after the call on a close play at home plate — and the controversial video review that upheld it — Sunday night, April 11, in Atlanta, the Phillies manager doesn’t think there’s much wrong with Major League Baseball’s replay system.
“I think it’s doing its job for the most part,” Girardi said April 12 before the Phillies and Mets were rained out in New York, setting up a doubleheader April 13. “I really do.”
The Braves begged to differ after claiming they got jobbed in the ninth inning of the Phillies’ rousing 7-6 victory. Alec Bohm slid home with the eventual winning run, but after being called safe by umpire Lance Barrett, replays from several angles showed he may not have touched the plate before being tagged by Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud.
A lengthy review resulted in the call’s standing because, according to MLB, the replay official “could not definitively determine that the runner failed to touch home plate prior to the fielder applying the tag.”
The Braves disputed that interpretation and questioned the purpose of the replay system if such calls aren’t overturned.,
It wasn’t only Braves players, either. Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner tweeted that the ruling was “absolutely brutal,” adding, “[W]hat’s the point of replay?”
But Girardi said he has come to expect and accept that replay officials must be “100 percent sure” to overturn an umpire’s call. He noted a play on opening day when the Phillies’ Bryce Harper was called out at third base. The Phillies challenged, and the replay appeared to show Harper slide in before the tag. But the call was upheld, though not confirmed, upon a review that proved inconclusive in the eyes of the replay officials.
“Now some people might think [April 11] was a much bigger call,” Girardi said. “Yeah, but the Bryce Harper call could’ve affected us, too. It’s kind of what happens. Sometimes you’re on the right end of those and sometimes you’re on the wrong end. It was one of those calls, I believe, that no matter what call was made, it was going to stand.”
Bohm may have summed it up best. Asked Sunday night if he thought he touched the plate, he said, “I was called safe. That’s all that matters.”
This article was written by Scott Lauber from The Philadelphia Inquirer and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
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