Rewind...and check it!

So, here's the thing I have with instant replay:

Where do you draw the line?

Seriously, I'm asking. Because right now you can only review homerun calls for whether the ball stayed fair and for those stadiums that have (what I'll call) homerun lines in their outfield in fair territory. Cool, awesome. Clearly defined situations in which the replays can be used. But if the use is extended, then what? Once per game per team to ask for a reviewed called; only once per type of play?

Not long after the whole debacle happened in Detroit, I got into a discussion about replay with the members of the press box for the Hamilton Thunderbirds games. One member of the discussion was all for instant replay, others not so much. We talked about what the constraints could be, what it would mean for single game, what the introduction to extended use could mean to the game in general, etc. Personally, still stuck on "Where do you draw the line?" over here.

I understand that blown calls suck. Really, no one wants their team to be on the receiving end of a blown call. And, depending on the size of the blown call, sometimes even the team its favours might not feel all that great about taking it. But, I'm a strong believer that most things like a blown call at first, a swinging strike that wasn't a swing, and a tag that wasn't a tag even out over the course of 162 games. Sure everyone once and a while there's a call that won't be evened out, but thems the breaks. In that case, I still believe that over the course of a team's history things like that with balance out. Big proponent of balance over here as well.

Obvisouly this isn't going to resolved by me blogging about it and it's certainly not going to be an issue easily solved even before the All-Star break. Though most may or may not put faith in the Commissioner's office, I believe that regardless of what they decide they will look into this from every angle they can before making the ultimate decision. The nice thing about all this? They could try it, find out it doesn't work and get rid of it to go back to just homerun calls. Major League Baseball (now) doesn't seem like an organization completely unwilling to try something after due diligence in their research and scraping it if it completely doesn't work.

Yay Jesse Litsch for working his way back, boo for the sweep in Colorado. That higher altitude has never been kind to the Jays. Here's hoping they can pull a win or two (or three!) together while in San Diego. Shaun Marcum's up tonight and it's the ace's job to stop the bleeding, right? He hasn't done too bad in that job so far this season, so please Shaun...

Up next for thoughts...roster moves with player returns (although Jesse has already come back) and the fairness of the schedule.

Time to conserve energy for the 10pm start tonight...maybe a nap is in order.
Happy viewing Jays fans!
JaysGirl5

P.S. Yours truly did the colour commentary for the Thunderbirds this past Sunday. Other than needing to slow down my speech (I speak quite quickly naturally), I think it went quite well. Hopefully...so I get to do it again!

Round Up

So in a effort to catch up with some of the things I've missed on my impromptu hiatus, here goes:

- I wish the happiest of happy retirements to Ken Griffey Jr. No one can deny the amazing career that Junior had or the place that he will hold in the history books about this era in baseball.

- Rock On Vernon for reaching #2 on the all-time HR list for the Jays. Only about 120ish to go before you pass King Carlos for the all-time lead. It's been talked about a lot around the Jays, including in previous posts of mine, but Vernon is having some kind of season at the plate and it finally feels like he's getting back to normal. Phew...

- Biggest of ROCK ONs to Roy Halladay. No picher in baseball deserve to have a perfect game more than you.

- I agree with the lineup change to move Overbay farther down the order...but more importantly giving Vernon more protection now that Bautista is hitting behind him. Good things all around for the most part. Isn't it nice to have relatively the same lineup each day for once? Gone are the days of a new lineup everyday...and I can't say that I'm completely sad to see them go.

- As for the giveaway games this past week...the game on Tue can be expected. Sometimes...a game you should win will slip away from you. The key to being successful despite that fact is making those instances few and far between. Two games in a row given away in the ninth isn't the greatest way to show that you're actually be able to contend. However, I must say that from what I saw Tallet did look good in his return from the DL.

- Speaking on contending, YAY for winning the 14 inning game today. Sure they had some chances before Hilly drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 14th, but they won. So they've shored up the series win for the first matchup with the Yanks this season and I think today's game is going to be a really good confidence builder.

- Lastly the sweep of the Orioles last weekend was a good thing to see. The Jays need to beat the team that they can beat. They've had issue with this in season past recently, but it's a key component to stacking up wins for when you face the tougher teams (like Tampa, NY, Boston, etc.).

That's it for now I think. There are a couple things I've been pondering and want to expand on futher, but I'll get to them at a more reasonable time of day in the next couple of days. In light of the situation in Detroit this past week, I want to take a look at instant replay. I'm also going topontificate about Snider's and Litsch's respective eventual returns, the Jays' attendance to date and fairness in relation to schedules, standings and the post-season.

Until then, enjoy tomorrow's (well, today's now) game against the Yankees. I hope Brandon Morrow can pull it out for the Blue birds and give them a decent shot at the sweep.

Night Jays Fans,
JaysGirls5