The bad news with instant replay is that it will never be perfect, regardless of how well the set up might be.
We were reminded of the latter yet again on Saturday during the Yankees' 7-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
With the Yankees batting in the home half of the eighth inning, rookie Dean Anna laced a ball into the right-field corner and raced into second base with a sliding double. Despite Anna clearly reaching the bag safely, Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts decided to place a tag on Anna anyway and held it on him until he got to his feet.
In the process of standing up, Anna's foot clearly came off the base, but second base umpire Ron Kulpa ruled him safe. This brought out Boston manager John Farrell for a challenge, but despite the apparent overwhelming evidence suggesting otherwise, the safe call was "confirmed" on the review.
This is exactly the type of play Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon was preparing his team for in spring training. Never assume anything. Finish every play and put the pressure on the other team and the umpires to make smart decisions. Only in this case, the umpires and the system failed to get it right.
That begs the next question: How did everyone but the replay officials see what happened?
