So by now, you've probably all seen the home run hit by Carlos Delgado which was called a foul ball by the umpires in Sunday Night's Mets-Yankee's game. If you haven't, you can see it here.

This type of play is the kinda thing that makes me think about the rules and unwritten rules of baseball, so I thought I'd go over a few things about this call that were running through my head when I was watching this.

Now third base umpire Mike Reilly made the correct call calling the ball fair, and a home run. He was then over ruled by home plate umpire Bob Davidson, who was at least 90-100 feet further away from the play than Reilly, and the ball was incorrectly called foul.

First, how does this even happen? The other umpires are only supposed to "help out" if the umpire who is supposed to make the call doesn't see it, isn't sure, or needs a rule clarification. Davidson shouldn't even have any say on this play unless he is 100% positive that it was foul, which as Joe Morgan pointed out, could not possibly be, because the replay showed the ball clearly hit the foul fair pole.

Second, on a play like this, Willie obviously has to come out and argue, which he did. But, when we're talking about a 3 run homer getting overturned, it is the JOB... nay the RESPONSIBILITY of the manager, regardless of whether the call was right or wrong, to argue and get thrown out of the game. If this was Lou Pinnella or Bobby Cox or Joe Torre, there is NO WAY they aren't getting thrown out of the game over this blown call by the umps. It's almost like an un-written rule of baseball that's part of "the book". In a situation like this, you expect your manager to go get thrown out of the game. Apparently Jerry Manuel knows of this rule, because he made sure someone from the Mets was gonna get tossed over this call, so he went and got himself tossed, and took one for the team. This is a perfect example of Willie not doing the manager's job, this is part of the reason why some Mets fans want Willie to get fired. I almost feel more confident entrusting this team to Jerry Manuel, should Willie get fired, because he did the right thing here and got thrown out.

Third, it's this type of play that once again emphasizes why we need the instant replay in Major League Baseball. And I'm not talking about instant replay for any play, I mean we need to have instant replay for questionable home run calls, that only the umpires can challenge, and nothing else. Here's the justification... In a regular season game, there are only 4 umpires on the field, and they are all on the infield at least 200+ feet from the outfield fence. In addition, with these new stadiums putting fans "closer to the action" we've had more fan interference calls on questionable home runs than ever before. This is all the more reason to make sure you get the call right. There is no way an umpire 200 feet away can tell if a fan reaches over the wall by 3 inches, or if the ball hits the bottom of the foul pole or the first seat in foul territory. There are only two ways in which MLB can make sure they get the call right with more accuracy than they currently do. First, they can have 6 umpires for every game like in the playoffs, and put an umpire down each foul line, then a proper decision can be made about questionable home run calls. Since there is simply not enough umpires to do this, and because it doesn't solve home run problems to center field, this isn't a feasible solution. Leaving the other option which is to do what the NFL, NHL, and NBA all use... instant replay for questionable home run calls.

Fourth, since there is currently no use of instant replay in MLB, why didn't the umps make sure they got the call right by taking a lesson from the famous 1969 Cleon Jones "shoe polish incident"? Would it have been the end of the world if the umps looked at the ball for a black mark from the foul pole, or looked at the foul pole for a white mark from the baseball? ESPN showed over and over the mark on the ball, and the spot on the pole where it hit, so even without the use of the instant replay, they could have gotten the call right. Willie should have suggested this, because then there would have been a legitimate chance to change the call back in the Mets favor.

Fifth, I'm not sure if this is the case everywhere, but there was an obvious alignment issue of the foul pole and foul line at Yankee Stadium. I understand the wall is angled so the pole want right behind the line, but, I did notice, that the outer edge of the foul pole at Yankee Stadium was actually inside the foul line that runs up the outfield wall. Now if a foul ball hits the line, its fair, therefore, shouldn't the outer edge of the foul pole line up with the outer edge of the foul line? It appeared to me that this was not the case, at least at Yankee Stadium.

So even though the Delgado home run didn't count, I think we may learn a lot about the rules of the game of baseball from a play that just goes down as a long foul ball for a strike in the record books.