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Old Thu Apr 17, 2014, 10:17am
Manny A Manny A is offline
Stirrer of the Pot
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Lowcountry, SC
Posts: 2,380
Quote:
Originally Posted by grunewar View Post
Happened about TEN times in the Nats vs Braves series last weekend and it was anything but hilarious. IMO it was embarassing.

It's early. I hope they get it fixed.....as has been stated, it's not going away.
What are they supposed to fix? Not allow the manager to come out and ask the umpires what they're doing after the game until he gets a thumbs up/thumbs down from the dugout?

I suppose the manager could stay in the dugout until he is advised to go challenge, and then request Time. In the meantime, someone on that team is going to stall (batter or runner requests time to tie a shoe, catcher requests time to talk to the pitcher, etc.) to give the bench coach an opportunity to check with someone watching replays. The end result is still the same.

Another possibility is to give the manager an allotted amount of time, say ten seconds after the play is over, to make the decision to challenge. But who would keep track of that? An on-field umpire? A play clock on the scoreboard? That would be a pain.

It is what it is (and I hate that saying). Putting limitations on it would defeat the purpose of having the system in the first place. Baseball is not a timed game, so forcing some sort of time limit when replays can be challenged is unrealistic. And, frankly, the purpose of the system is to get calls right, not to lower the amount of time it takes to play the game.
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"Let's face it. Umpiring is not an easy or happy way to make a living. In the abuse they suffer, and the pay they get for it, you see an imbalance that can only be explained by their need to stay close to a game they can't resist." -- Bob Uecker
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