http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11174842/toronto-blue-jays-get-own-runner-called-challenge The Jays apparently had one of their own runners called out on a replay challenge, so they could score a run. They had the bases loaded and the batter hit a ball to first. The first baseman tagged the batter but the umpire ruled he missed him. The fielder then threw home to get a force out at the plate. The Bluejays argued that the runner at first was tagged and the play at the plate should have been safe because the catcher didn't tag the runner, he just stepped on the plate. After about 5 minutes they declared the runner at 1st out and awarded the jays a run.
What the hell? The A's could have tagged the runner out at home if they had known they needed to. It seems like the play has to sort of be "dead" at the point of the overturned call - you can't penalize a team for doing what they were supposed to be based on the ump's calls.
That is the right call, correct? If they count the tag then that would mean they had to tag the player at home to get him out. Obviously they did not do that. So because the Jays argued the play at first, they allowed the run at home to score. If I am not missing anything, I don't see anything wrong with what the umps did.
What is wrong with it, is that the catcher knows the ump called the man safe at first, and based on that knowledge, knows he can get a force at home. In that case, there is no reason for him to apply the tag. If you retroactively make the man at first out, then you cannot assume the catcher would not have made a tag at home.
Let's say a ball that hits the top of the wall and bounces back onto the field is initially called a HR. There was a man on 1st and 2nd and they jog home. The outfielder collects the ball and throws it in to the catcher. While the 3 runners are jogging home, the catcher tags them all just for fun. Then the HR call is overturned and it's ruled a double. Do all the runners get called out because they were tagged based on the new call? No - they are sent back to the appropriate base based on what would have happened had it been called a double from the start. That's the opposite of what happened here - the A's were penalized for playing based on the call on the field. They had plenty of time to tag the runner had they needed to. You don't want players ignoring calls and randomly doing a bunch of unnecessary stuff just in case a call is overturned.
There has always been this sort of potential issue with baseball replay, simply because if there are base-runners, you don't have set rules on where to put them if a call is overturned either way (hit ruled an out, out ruled a hit)... and there are a lot of plays where the outcome changes based on what the call on the field is. In this case, they should have probably have done something similar to what they do in tennis (where the scenario of outcomes changing based on what the call is also exists), and as soon as the call on the field is "wrong" (and the outcome/plays change drastically based on what the call on the field is), they should just declare it a "dead ball", and replay the entire out (like they sometimes replay the entire point in tennis). Thus, no team is really being penalized, no team is gaining an advantage... the A's could end up getting out of the inning with 0 runs scored, or it could backfire and they end up giving up a helluva lot more than the 1 run on that out.
