Thoughts on Bad Calls and Bad Managing

The bottom of the 7'th inning of last night's NLDS game between the Mets and Dodgers was a comedy of errors by Mets manager Terry Collins and the Replay Umpires, whoever they are.  The inning started with the Mets leading 2-1.  Mets starter Noah Syndergaard who had been brilliant, but also pitched out of a jam or two, was nudging his pitch count above 100.  He started the inning by striking out Yasmani Grandal, but then walked Enrique Hernandez.  The TV camera panned to the Mets bullpen where Collins had two RHP's, Bartolo Colon and Addison Reed, warming up.  I figured the Mets must not have any LHP's in their bullpen, otherwise, why would you have two righties warming up?  When Chase Utley was announced as a PH, 3 of the next 4 Dodgers hitters would be left-handed.

Syndergaard had been excruciatingly slow to home plate with runners on and the one thing Collins did not want was a successful SB by Hernandez who is not exactly a speed merchant.  He could have brought in Colon at that point, who is almost certainly quicker to home plate than Syndergaard.  Syndergaard stayed in and Hernandez stole 2B.  Utley followed with a single over the outstretched glove of 2B, Daniel Murphy putting runners at first and 3'rd with 1 out.  Collins now brought in Colon to face Howie Kendrick and all hell broke loose.

Kendrick hit a bouncer up the middle that was fielded by Murphy.  He fed the ball to SS Ruben Tejada who tried to make a spectacular DP, but was upended by a Utley who came in late and high and clearly was not aiming for the bag.  There was a violent collision between the jumping, twisting Tejada's legs and Utley's head.  The Ump called Utley out, the run scored and Tejada lay face down on the ground in obvious severe pain.  Tejada was eventually carted off the field with an inflatable immobilizer on his right leg and was eventually diagnosed with a fractured fibula.  Utley was apparently no worse for the wear.  Then, the Mets appealed the out call at 2B.

The Replay clearly showed that Tejada missed the bag by maybe 1 inch at the most.  Utley, who had never touched 2B during the play and then run off the field, was called safe and allowed to go back to 2B.  The explanation from MLB was that the "vicinity" rule was not in effect because the feed from Murphy was offline.  Utley could be ruled safe despite not touching 2B because the ump had erroneously called him out on the play.  So, we ended up with a situation where 1. Utley clearly made no attempt to touch 2B while taking out the SS who was the relay man on the DP attempt.  2.  A "vicinity" rule that was not allowed despite the relay man clearly attempting to complete a DP.  3.  A runner called safe despite having never touched the base or even trying to touch the base. 4. A SS with a broken leg and Chase Utley standing at 2B with just 1 out instead of 2.

I suppose there are reasonable arguments to be made on both sides, but I am personally much more comfortable with the call the ump made on the field than what was eventually ruled by the Replay Umpires.  Replayed calls are supposed to be overturned only if there is clear evidence of a wrong call.  Yes, Tejada's foot was clearly off the bag, but Utley still could have been reasonably called out for his clear takeout intent, for the "vicinity" rule and, well, because he never touched the base!  I like Instant Replay up to a point, but I have to say I am increasingly uncomfortable with calls being overturned when to my eye, the video is inconclusive.  Instant Replay has progressed from making calls more correct to fairly drastically changing the way the game is played.  I think that is something MLB is going to have to look at this offseason.  Oh, and this play also confirms that the Dodgers are an evil, despicable organization well deserving of the fear, loathing and hatred we all give them!  I mean, any organization that can make a New York team seem like the Good Guys is a truly evil organization!

Now, back to Terry Collins.  He took Bartolo Colon out of the game and replaced him with Addison Reed, a pitcher us Giants fans came to know and love as a gas can for the Arizona D'Backs.  Reed somehow managed to get the left-handed batting Corey Seager out on a soft flyball to LF, but you just knew he would not fare so well against Adrian Gonzalez.  Sure enough, AGone doubled down the RF line to drive in the go-ahead run plus an insurance run.  Justin Turner followed with an RBI double and the game was essentially over.  Collins took Reed out of the game and brought in……..Jonathan Niese?  You mean to tell me Collins had a pretty good LHP in his bullpen all this time when 3 of the previous 4 batters were left-handed?  What in the name of Bruce Bochy is going on here?  I mean, there is a darn good reason why the Giants have insisted on keeping at least 2 LHP's in their bullpen and paid a premium price to do it all these years!  It was just horrible bullpen management by Terry Collins who somehow managed to make Don Mattingly look like a managing genius by comparison!