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Red Sox rough luck with replay continues following another questionable call
By and large expanded replay is working to the satisfaction of most around Major League Baseball. However, the Boston Red Sox may be the one big exception so far after a pair of reviews during their series with the New York Yankees last weekend appeared to show one thing, but were ruled differently, both costing the Red Sox.
In one case, MLB was forced to admit that a replay error cost Boston an out when they couldn't find an angle that showed the play conclusively. Meanwhile, fans at home were treated to no less than three angles that were conclusive.
Manager John Farrell expressed his displeasure over those calls and replay in general early this week, but by Friday the Red Sox were ready to move forward.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for them to end up on the wrong end of another apparent missed called on a review during their 8-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
It actually happened on John Lackey's first pitch of the game. Nick Markakis lined one down the left field line and towards the corner at Fenway Park. The ball was ruled fair, though at first look it did appear the ball touched down foul and kicked dirt on the line. However, it was close enough that either way it was called, it was likely to be challenged by the other manager.
After further review, one distinctive camera angle shows the ball landing inches foul, but replay officials didn’t see enough evidence to change the call. It stayed a fair ball, and Farrell was once again left to wonder why replay didn't do the job its intended to do.
The non-reversal made the Red Sox 0-for-4 on challenges for the season at the time.
"We challenged it and it came back inconclusive," Farrell said. "…There's really no need to go out and look [to see if the chalk was marked by the ball] because video's available to us. We followed the steps that are available to us and unfortunately the call stands."
A diplomatic response, which isn't unexpected considering that he was levied with a fine for his more critical comments this week. But perhaps Farrell is also realizing that the system can't possibly be perfect, and that eventually these calls working against them will start working for them.
Maybe that's it. Maybe it's not. But there's no doubt he'd like to see one challenge work in his favor just to maintain his sanity.
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is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
