MLB’s “Three Blind Mice”

Posted on 08 August 2010 by J. Donetelli.

This week’s Bitch-Slap-of-the-Week takes little justifying on our end because these moron’s lack of performance speaks for itself. The MLB umpiring crews clearly deserve the honor. We all are familiar with the fiascoes and bad calls that shadow the league year after year but the timing of these gaffes has gotten worse.

In last year’s AL Playoffs, umpire Phil Cuzzi reminded us how even the most obvious of calls can and will go wrong, even when eyes are planted directly on the ball and foul line. That missed call by Cuzzi hurt the Minnesota Twins and gave momentum to the favored New York Yankees in the opening round of those playoffs. Well Cuzzi was in the news again recently after missing another call.

Jim Joyce blew the call of the century when he took a perfect game away from Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga on what should have been the final play of the game. The runner was out by a half step and in the blink of a blind eye a historical moment in MLB was taken away from the fans. Yeah Joyce cried in public and got a gig on stage at the ESPY Awards out of it but that doesn’t change the fact he botched one of the most important calls in Detroit Tigers history.

Not to be outdone by Cuzzi and Joyce, with Joyce’s tears barely dried up, umpire Bob Davidson decided to join the two to create MLB’s version of “Three Blind Mice”. Davidson guarding his third base line in lackadaisical style missed another obvious call in an important division game between the Phillies and Marlins, calling a ball foul that anyone else you ask will say was in play. This blunder took a walk-off win away from the Marlins and to add insult to injury, the moron made the call well before the ball cleared the bag.

The Marlins went on to lose that game to the Phillies. No big deal or is it?

The Braves are in a tight battle for that division title and if they and Bobby Cox end up out of the playoffs due to one game, then how important is this call? Imagine the uproar if Bobby Cox could have had one last shot at a playoff run but it’s cut short because of a call in August by one of the Three Blind Mice.

Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez summed up Davidson’s gaffe:

“That was the worst call I’ve ever seen in my 30 years of professional baseball. That was bad. That ball was a fair ball by six inches.”

Davidson responded, “I was right on top of it, and it was wide of the bag. . . I understand that’s the winning run, but in my opinion it was foul.”

We’ve heard your opinion, now here is ours, the MLB umpiring crews deserve the Bitch-Slap-of-the-Week.

NOTE: These men are entitled to making mistakes but when they are as blatant as these errors, it cannot be helped but to draw the attention to them. The underlying issue here is, how long will it take for MLB Commish Selig to join the NFL, NBA and NHL in utilizing replay technology to get it right.

Used with permission of the author.

Jay Donetelli is a Tampa-based freelance sportswriter and contributor to Sports Climax. With an opinion sharper than an Ovechkin skate blade with the sting of an Ali jab, Donetelli has a loyal cult of readers who have found a way to love him.