 |
| (AP Photo) |
Last night's ninth inning at Fenway was very strange. First,
Craig Kimbrel was in the game to pitch in a non-save situation—since he hadn't worked since
almost the Obama Administration. Second, Kimbrel logged four strikeouts in the single frame of work. How, you say? Well, thanks to a major screw-up by
MLB Replay officials,
Nomar 'Don't Call Me Nomar' Mazara was allowed to reach first base after clearly being hit on the foot while swinging and missing on an errant, wild strike three. That's an
out according to the rules. Now, the plot thickens.
John Farrell rightly challenged the call and asked for replay review.
The umpires on the field accepted Farrell's challenge. However, down in
Baghdad-By-The-Hudson, the
Replay Official and
Replay Supervisor "misinterpreted the call on the field and incorrectly deemed the play to be non-reviewable." Say what? In
fact—as admitted by MLB—that call on the field
is reviewable. So, Mazara stayed at first and Kimbrel struck out the side to get his four strikeout inning. Still, this type of major screw-up by MLB requires more than the lame admission we got.
