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.
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This weekend the Mets took both games from our crosstown rivals the New York Yankees, during a rain shortened series in what may be the most important series of the year thus far. I refuse to call a two game series win a sweep, so we'll just say the Mets won this weekend's series, reclaiming bragging rights for the time being.

Of course to the Mets this weekend's series was bigger than the rival Yankees and the subway series, it was a make or break series to see how the team would react to the Billy Wagner Saga. See my thoughts on that here.

Saturday the Yankees jumped on Johan Santana early with a two run homer from Derek Jeter in the first inning. The Mets struggled early against Andy Pettite before finally breaking through in the 4th inning, batting around and scoring 3 runs to take the lead. From that point, Santana was brilliant retiring 10 straight batters at one point. The score stayed 3-2 until the 7th inning when Kyle Farnsworth came in for the Yanks, and gave up home runs to Jose Reyes and David Wright, giving the Mets 3 more insurance runs making it 6-2. Santana gave up solo home runs to Giambi and Abreu, before Willie turned the ball over to Wagner in the 8th inning for a 4 out save. The Mets would tag on one more run in the top of the ninth to make it 7-4, and Wagner once again stepped up, and shut the door on the Yanks in the 9th for the 7-4 victory.

Sunday the Mets went for the Series win, and they didn't disappoint. The Mets manufactured 4 runs off of Yanks ace Chien-Ming Wang in the top of the 4th around a controversial home run hit by Carlos Delgado which was over ruled by the umps (more on that in the next post). Then Oliver Perez gave up a single to Derek Jeter and a 2-run homer to Hideki Matsui, putting the Yanks right back in the game. But Perez settled down after that, allowing just 1 more hit to Jose Molina in the 5th. Perez was dominant, going 7.2 innings, allowing 2 runs on only 3 hits and striking out 4. The Mets went to town on Wang after that, Ryan church hit a monster home run in the 6th inning, and the Mets would bat around again in the 8th inning, off of Wang and Ross Olendorf, putting together a 6 run inning capped off by a 3 run homer by Jose Reyes. Joe Smith and Scott Schoeneweis sealed the deal, Mets win 11-2.

These were two big wins by the Mets in this series, they definitely showed up and did what they needed to do. The Mets came out and reclaimed some bragging rights for Mets fans, now they just have to go out and continue this good play in Atlanta and Colorado to try and turn this season around.
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By Reuben Mitrani

The worst thing happening for the game of baseball is the big market to small market divide, a problem that is affecting baseball far more negatively than steroids. While steroids is a problem that by a casual observer cannot always be noticed (sometimes it is even ignored), the divide between larger market teams such as the New York Yankees; New York Mets; Boston Red Sox; and Los Angeles Dodgers, and smaller market teams such as the Baltimore Orioles; Minnesota Twins; or Oakland Athletics cannot be overlooked.

The game of baseball has become so rich and the players are looking for a larger piece of the pie. This sounds fine, but the best players are beginning to require contracts so large that no small market teams can possibly afford them. This causes teams like the Twins, Orioles, or Athletics to trade away their talent before it comes time to pay the big bucks. This is seen in this winter's four biggest trades; Miquel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Tigers for 6 prospects; Dan Haren to the D-Backs for a bundle of prospects; Johan Santana to the Mets for four prospects; and the soon be finalized Erik Bedard trade to the Mariners for prospects. The teams trading these players away cannot afford to pay them, and this creates a severe divide in opportunity for the teams with less money.

Major League Baseballl needs to do something about this problem. While I am not insinuating that they should install a salary cap, perhaps they should put a cap on maximum player contracts. The Player's Union would never agree to this though, leaving immediate options bleak for small market teams.

I am not saying that the Mets should not have paid Johan Santana, nor that the Yankees have paid Alex Rodriguez, I am simply recognizing that there is a problem in the game of baseball that is going seemingly unnoticed and some sort of attention needs to be given to it. As Mets fans, we are fortunate enough to be on the winning side of this problem, but that means that there is all the more reason to help raise awareness towards a solution. If the Mets win the National League East and the World Series this year, will Braves and Phillies fans use our far superior budget as an excuse? Maybe. Is it unfair for the Mets to take advantage of their superior resources? No. Is it fair for the Twins to have to allow their best two players to leave this season because of a lack of sufficient funds? Absolutely not.

This problem could possibly be solved by increasing the luxury tax in baseball. This and further increases in revenue sharing, would help to level the playing field in baseball. Until the owners agree on such terms, this problem in baseball will not go away and may possibly get worse with even bigger budget free agents hitting open-market next winter.

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Former Yankees and Padres relief pitcher Goose Gossage was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame today after appearing on 466 of the 543 ballots for 85.8% of the vote. A player must appear of 75% of the ballots to be elected. Gossage was the only player to garner enough votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America and will be the sole player inducted in 2008. Former Red Sox OF Jim Rice was second with 72.2% of the vote finishing 16 votes short.

Congrats to the Goose, all I can say to the hall of fame committee is "anyone but the Yankees". And to the Veteran's Committee, put Gil Hodges in Cooperstown where he belongs.
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Over the weekend, the Orioles rejected the Mets' trade offer of outfield prospect Carlos Gomez, reliever Aaron Heilman and pitching prospect Philip Humber for Erik Bedard, according to the Baltimore Sun.

The Sun reports that Bedard has attracted a lot of attention in a trade market that also includes Johan Santana. But it remains unknown whether the Orioles will trade him and, according to a team source, several members of the organization remain opposed to parting with Bedard, who is two years away from free agency.

The Los Angeles Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners are among other teams that have expressed interest in the star lefty.The Yankees apparently view Bedard as a backup plan if they do not land Johan Santana, but its unlikely the Orioles would trade him within the division. One Orioles sportswriter suggested that Bedard could cost the Yankees Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Melky Cabrera.

The Orioles seem to prefer to retain their ace if a contract extension can be reached. However, with contract negotiations reportedly stalled, a trade is looking more and more likely. Orioles President Andy MacPhail told the Baltimore Sun last week that stalled contract talks won't "dramatically" affect the club's position on Bedard, and that talks could revive in the days ahead.

Bedard could be the solution to the Mets' starting pitching woes, but what would the price be? Apparently Bedard is not going to be cheap, and the Mets must be careful not to sell their whole future to land one player. Read More...

SAN FRANCISCO -- With the crack of the bat a brief stillness settled over the right-center field bleachers at AT&T Park as Barry Bonds' record-breaking homer rocketed toward the crowd.

Then the scrum was on.

Police escort the fan who caught Barry Bonds' ball out of the stadium.

As the specially marked baseball landed a few rows up, dozens of fans wrestled for it and the promise of riches it carried. Suddenly, the metal bleachers vibrated with energy. Grunts, cheers and the cries of frightened children broke the silence as parents sought to shield their youngsters from the chaos.

In the middle of it all was 22-year-old New Yorker Matt Murphy, who emerged from beneath the pile holding the ball Bonds hit for career home run No. 756. His face was bloodied and his clothes stretched and torn from his battle in the bleachers.

A team of San Francisco police officers moved in, extracted Murphy from the crowd, and quickly led him through a tunnel and into a secure room.

As he high-fived other fans, Murphy, wearing a New York Mets Jose Reyes jersey and cap, slid the ball into the back pocket of his plaid Bermuda shorts.

Reporters screamed out questions, but all he managed to say was, "I'm Matt Murphy from Queens, N.Y."

"I just hope he didn't get hurt," Bonds said after the game, which the Giants lost 8-6 to the Washington Nationals. He said he had no interest in getting the ball back for himself.

"I don't want the ball," Bonds said. "I've never believed a home run ball belonged to the player. If he caught it, it's his."

Murphy and a friend were en route to Australia and in San Francisco for a one-day layover, a Giants spokesman said. They purchased tickets just before the game.

He and the friend, dressed in New York Yankees regalia, were razzed by nearby Giants fans. "Hey, this isn't New York!," one shouted. Murphy and his friend just laughed it off before settling into their seats.

Murphy declined to make himself available to the media.

Baseball memorabilia experts have pegged the ball's value at $400,000 to $500,000. That's well below the $3 million fetched by the ball Mark McGwire hit to break Roger Maris' single-season home run record in 1998, but still a hefty sum. Read More...

The Mariners, Yankees, Mets, and Indians have called the Rays about Dan Wheeler and Al Reyes, but they require an "aggressive offer" as both can be kept for the 2008 season. Read More...

Espn.com's Jason Stark is reporting that the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox are all in on Eric Gagne. The Mets and Yankees have an advantage as Gagne can not veto a trade to either of them.Yahoo's Tim Brown confirms Boston's interest.

The Mets are being asked too much for both Chad Cordero and Octavio Dotel, causing them to take another look at Eric Gagne. Read More...