So I put on Sportscenter to see what the great Baseball Gods of ESPN would be saying about the Matt Holliday play at the plate. Orel and Tim Kurkjian were breaking it down and both admitted that it looked like he never touched the plate. He didn't. He was out and the game should have kept on going. Then the conversation went to "should there be instant replay in MLB?" I'd entertain the idea, but even if you disagree and want technology out of the game...good ole Kurjian, the man who keeps track of every oddity in Baseball tells us that it would be far worse for Baseball to get the call wrong because...wait...wait...it might take ten minutes in the booth to figure it out...and...the poor Colorado fans would have had to wait...and...and...Here's a novel thought, Kurky. What about the San Diego fans?
Please...Shoot me in the face. I can live with him for very brief guest appearances on Baseball Tonight, but it's gotten out of hand. I'm Kurkjianed out. He's killing the debate. Keep his idiot segments out of my face. He practically bursts into tears finding meaningless stats and going over them like anyone cares. We don't! He has a whole book dedicated to the weirdness of the game. Go buy it.
ESPN needs to have a few beat writers in the mix. These apologists that inhabit BT (ex-players) hardly ever criticize players. They need people to balance it out that aren't afraid to ruffle a few feathers. As they continued talking about the end of the wild card extra inning game, Kurky had to say in his quivering voice that "Trevor Hoffman is a Hall of Famer!" "I'll vote for him right now!" "Where's my ballot?" "But, he has blown a few big spots in his career." (I'm paraphrasing slightly)Oh, really? He only has a 9.39 ERA in October. Get your ballot, and get off my teevee!
PS: Holliday just called Hoffman the "greatest closer of all time."
Update [2007-10-2 12:20:31 by John Amato]: And could TBS have a few more cameras set up so we can get a few more angles on a play? Spend a few dollars and show us that you care. Throw a couple around the plate and along the walls. The ump