Hurley: MLB replay review is not making much sense this week

BOSTON -- We all lived through the days of Jim Joyce and Armando Galarraga, and the days of Phil Cuzzi vs. a foul line. Some of us remember Chuck Knoblauch's phantom tag on Jose Offerman, and of course, we all remember Jeffrey Maier leaning over the wall at the old Yankee Stadium to give the home team a home run in the playoffs.

We all understand that, in principle, Major League Baseball needs replay review.

This week, though? This week we're having some doubts.

Or at least, we should, because the system seems to be generating more questions than answers. 

The most egregious issue this week came about during the bottom of the eighth inning in a game involving the White Sox and Rangers. Umpires on the field ruled that Texas catcher Jonah Heim properly tagged out Elvis Andrus at the plate. But White Sox manager Pedro Grifol challenged the play, and the officials at the replay review center in New York overturned the call on the field, ruling that Heim had blocked Andrus' path to the plate.

The ruling was, really, preposterous.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said he was "dumbfounded," called it "absolutely one of the worst calls I've ever seen," and described the decision by replay officials as "embarrassing, really."

As the youth might say -- or as the youth might have said a few years ago -- spot the lie. There isn't one. Time has passed and there's still no sensible explanation for the call that was made, and MLB hasn't offered one, outside of saying that "Heim's initial positioning was illegal and subsequent actions while not in possession of ball hindered and impeded Andrus' path to home plate." That would be great if video didn't disprove it.

It also would be great if this similar play netted the same result?

But maybe not. That looks like a play a catcher should be allowed to make in order to tag out a runner at the plate.

Throw this one into the mix while we're at it ...

... and it would be hard to have a firm grasp on what the rules are for catchers at the plate.

Recentering the issue on the replay review process, though, a much less-notable incident took place near the end of Wednesday night's Twins victory over the Red Sox in Minnesota. With runners at first and second in a tie game in the bottom of the 10th inning, Twins No. 9 hitter Michael Taylor laid down a bunt on the first-base line. Triston Casas, who was playing very far in to defend against the bunt, fielded the ball but had no play at third. So the first baseman pivoted and led pitcher Kaleb Ort toward the bag with a throw to try to get Taylor.

Ort, Taylor and the baseball all arrived at first base around the same time, and the umpire on the field made his best guess as to what happened, calling Taylor out.

The Twins challenged, and replay showed Taylor getting his toe on the bag before Ort tagged him or touched the base with his foot. 

Everyone, including the Red Sox broadcast on NESN, expected the Twins to win the challenge. Yet when the call came in from New York, the ruling on the field was upheld, and Taylor was out.

The Twins ended up winning the game just three pitches later, so it really didn't matter. Yet in terms of understanding what's going on at the replay center, some explanation would be helpful in understanding why the call was upheld. At best, we can guess that the officials decided there was no conclusive view of Taylor's foot touching the first base bag, but ... 

... wasn't it?

On that, we'll just have to guess. And while hockey fans surely take issue with many decisions made in the replay center in Toronto for the NHL, at least that league tries to explain some of the more debatable decisions with a quick public press release explaining why the call was made. With baseball having perhaps the most intricate rules of all major American sports, and with some of the rules seeming to be applied differently from night to night and from city to city, it would go a long way to get some clarification on why the MLB replay review center is ruling the way it does with some of these calls.