#Umpshows Can Win Emmy's Too!

Sports is about the human element in having rules and guidelines that are written in the chalk lines that define fair from foul, in-bounds from out-of-bounds, and the definitive human elements that lie inside and outside the lines.  Apparently in Houston, another day of umpires, the officials who hold the rule book, who carry out the actions of legality between the lines and outside the lines, adjudicators of baseball justice, make the wrong call.  The story goes as follows.

Bo Porter calls for a pitching change.  Taps his left hand.  Wesley Wright goes from the bullpen and to the mound.  Takes his warm up pitches.  Bo Porter now has a long discussion with the umpire.  Another pitching change.  Hector Ambriz enters the game.  Then Mike Scioscia realizes what the heck just happened.

I remember this clearly because I remember something like this happening in college.  Don't recall the particulars, but I know we [Polytechnic Fighting Blue Jays] make a change, and then we make another pitching change without the first pitcher pitching to one batter.  We got away with it because I don't think the other team really paid attention.

But Scioscia should be mad.  He makes a corresponding move.  I'm not going to say whether or not as a manager that he needs to make a corresponding move, but he protests the game as the Houston Astros clearly violate Rule 3.05c:

(c) If an improper substitution is made for the pitcher, the umpire shall direct the proper pitcher to return to the game until the provisions of this rule are fulfilled. If the improper pitcher is permitted to pitch, any play that results is legal. The improper pitcher becomes the proper pitcher as soon as he makes his first pitch to the batter, or as soon as any runner is put out.
Rule 3.05(c) Comment: If a manager attempts to remove a pitcher in violation of Rule 3.05(c) the umpire shall notify the manager of the offending club that it cannot be done. If, by chance, the umpire-in-chief has, through oversight, announced the incoming improper pitcher, he should still correct the situation before the improper pitcher pitches. Once the improper pitcher delivers a pitch he becomes the proper pitcher.

Scioscia is legitimate in his inquiry.  For instance when Juan Segura broke baseball a month ago, I think everyone was okay and astonished on what Segura did because it was Segura who made the human element mistake.  But when umpires make the human element mistakes; such as Marty Foster's poor strike zone consistency, the audience sees that this is clear and a blatant inconsistency in baseball.  Angel Hernandez made a wrong call Wednesday night when he neglects to grant a home run; which has a dramatic effect on the game of baseball.

Because social media makes baseball so transparent and when clear things go wrong, the audience is quick to blame.  Technology aids in the accuracy of what really should have been called and the right and wrong is evident.  It seems like many athletes and officials; especially in baseball, due to it's conservative nature and stance when it comes to preservation of the game prefers the human element.  However, because the human element is not what the fans want, but what is desired is accuracy the call for replay and Robot Umpires are cried from the textual masses.  And the textual masses leave one thing clear.  We want it right, and we want it now.

I remember that as people who strike for perfection, I hope that people understand that there is a human element in the game.  I joked on Twitter that this is due to the Internet-celebrity death of Kevin Goldstein; who is now a Scouting Coordinator for the Houston Astros, and like what many people say, we wish him luck and I think he is doing an excellent job of infusing that organization with talent.  I also joked around well, what if we went all Robo-Umpires.  What happens when Robo-Umpire is hacked, gets a virus or worm and compromises the game?  We are looking at a real ump show, and can make the game inherently awkward and less fluid.  There are always human elements in baseball: scouting, playing, and making judgments on calls based on the rules of the game and the actions of those who play and manage it.  Umpires have to make those decisions and have to live with the accountability of making decisions that may be in violation of the rules, but even preserving the spirit of the rule.  If Porter truly got the pitching change wrong, and meant to bring in Ambriz and not Wright, I could see that umpiring crew understand that this is the human element of the game.  Scioscia needs every game that he can get, so if there is a tactical error, he is going to take advantage of it.

I finished writing my inferences, and the game is over.  Protest gets rescinded.  The Angels won anyway.  Baseball lives another day.