Send replay to showers

Heaven help us. It's all going to hit the fan now.
Or perhaps, more appropriately, it's going to hit the backstop.
Every self-appointed "Do-gooder For the Betterment of the National Pastime" is going to come out of the woodwork now, all because one umpire hesitated for a split-second Wednesday night.
Doug Eddings, the home plate arbiter who created the latest firestorm of Why We Must Have Instant Replay in Baseball, failed, by his admission, to follow proper procedure in signaling that White Sox batter A.J. Pierzynski had struck out, but hadn't really struck out, with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.
Eddings' signaled strike three with a closed fist, which is universally regarded as "out," but he didn't verbally say "out" and so Pierzynski scrambled for first base, while Angels catcher Josh Paul ambled for the dugout.
By the time the smoke had cleared, the six-man crew of umpires gave what amounted to a collective shrug of the shoulders, allowing Eddings' call to stand.
Please, can't we watchsomething else?
Since the game, by our account, there have been approximately 4,572 replays of the play -- or about as many interviews with Bob Costas and George Will (two of those self-appointed protectors of the game) about it.
But none of that's what's really at issue. We've just seen the tip of the iceberg.
Every time the commissioner, Bud Selig, steps before a podium between now and Doomsday, he's going to be asked about instant replay.
Already, every manager, coach, player, general manager, broadcaster, usher and popcorn vendor with the four teams in the League Championship Series have asked for their opinion.
And the universal answer: Instant replay would be bad.
Good answer.
Replay good for football, bad for baseball
The easy reply is that every other major sport has some form of instant replay, so why not baseball.
Well, one reason is that every other major sport is different than baseball. Hockey plays an 84-game schedule, 82 in the NBA and 16 in the NFL (even less in college football) -- their seasons are approximately half of Major League Baseball's and thus, a missed call that might effect the outcome of a game carries much more weight.
Over the course of a major league season -- 162 games -- bad calls (for and against a particular team) tend to even out.
Secondly, there have been over 1,100 postseason games played in baseball's history -- World Series, League Championship Series and Division Series -- and how many controversial calls can we come up with?
Two. This one and Don Denkinger's clearly blown call in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series.
What is conveniently forgotten by many is that the 1985 World Series still went seven games (the Cardinals, the victims of Denkinger's call, tanked the finale, losing 11-0).
Angels still hadtheir chances
And, in Wednesday's game, the score was still tied and the Angels were two outs away from sending the game to extra innings.
If Paul doesn't assume the inning is over and makes a simple tag or throw to first ...
If Pierzynski doesn't take a chance and hustle to first base ...
If Kelvim Escobar, the Angels pitcher, pays even an iota of attention to pinch runner Pablo Ozuna, instead of allowing him to steal second base standing up ...
And if Escobar doesn't serve up a batting practice curveball on an 0-2 count to Joe Crede, the Eddings call (or no call) isn't even a footnote in the history of the game.
Did Eddings make the correct call? That's still up for debate.
Was he mechanically correct in the way he made the call? No.
Is that one call enough to spur instant replay in baseball? I sure hope not.
What's next? Determining home field advantage in the World Series by the outcome of an exhibition game ... ?
XRob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator. Write to him at todor@vindy.com