You can watch the play here. Adam Rosales hit a flyball to left-center with the A’s down 3-2 to the Indians, and it ricocheted off the top of the wall or something over the wall. In any event, Rosales ended up at second base with a double. However, Oakland manager Bob Melvin asked crew chief Angel Hernandez to review the play. The play certainly was not clear from the naked eye, but replays from the A’s broadcast showed clearly that the ball had hit a pole over the wall before coming back onto the field, and it appeared that the game was about to be tied. Instead, Hernandez came back from the replay booth and declared the play a double, and Melvin and the entire Athletics team were furious. Oakland lost the game 3-2.

Bad calls are part of the game of baseball. Sometimes they go for you, sometimes against you. Every game, there will be close plays at first base, and often there’s a play where the runner beat the throw by half-a-step and is called out. More egregious calls are part of the game too–phantom strike calls, tag plays where the player actually missed the tag, and fair-or-foul calls where the ball is so obviously fair that the ball left a mark in fair territory all happen and when they do, you just have to move on. But when there is replay in place to get every call right and you still blow it, that just can’t happen. Hernandez said that the replay in the umpire’s booth “wasn’t 100% conclusive.” What does that mean? How can the TV broadcast have better angles than the people actually making the call through replay? And all four umpires had a chance to look at it! How could they have all blown the call?

An umpire’s worst nightmare when he goes to the booth for instant replay is what statisticians would call a Type Two error: turning what should have been a double into a home run. The only thing worse than a game-tying home run turning into a double is a team tying or winning a game on a flyball that had no business being ruled a home run. “Better safe than sorry” is the underlying thinking for umpires as they enter the booth. But this isn’t a guessing game. On the field, there’s a margin for error. Even the best umpires miss calls because they get one chance to make it and have to decide within moments of the play. In the replay booth, fans can complain about the game getting too long, but umpires can watch the replay as many times as they want to determine how the play should be ruled. There are some plays that are too close to call, and when that happens, maybe it’s better to be safe than sorry. Fans of the losing team will be upset, but they’ll understand that there was nothing the umpires could do. But when the play is clear, there are no excuses.

The point of replay is to get the call right and you have every resource available to make that happen if it’s humanly possible. When that doesn’t happen, you’re just wasting everyone’s time. Umpires, don’t go into the replay booth tentative. Look at the play again as many times as you need, consult with each other, and make the call you believe is right no matter what impact it would have on the game and how scary it would be on the minuscule chance that you watched in ten times and somehow saw it wrong every time. Getting that type of call incorrect isn’t umpiring but just an umpire overzealously playing it safe not wanting to be embarrassed. Look where that got Angel Hernandez.

Today was a performance that Andrew Friedman and the Tampa Bay front office was expecting from Roberto Hernandez when he was signed to a one year deal.  Hernandez had his sinker working all day on his way to his first win since September of 2011 with a fairly dominant performance as he managed 7 strikeouts to 3 walks over 6 innings of one run ball on just 103 pitches.  The only run Hernandez gave up was in the top of the 4th inning off a single by Josh Reddick off the glove of a diving Ryan Roberts.  Hernandez seemed to labor through the fourth by hitting the leadoff man and walking the next to give Reddick the opportunity but managed to settle down and escape the inning.

The bats came alive early for the Rays as they drew first blood in the bottom of the first with a leadoff single by Ryan Roberts followed by a long double by Ben Zobrist that was crushed over the head of center fielder Chris Young putting men at first and third.  Evan Longoria then came up looking to do damage by taking advantage of a badly misplayed popup to short right hustling to second base on the play and giving the Rays a 1-0 lead.  The next batter, Sean Rodriguez, was hit by a cutter in, scoring the second run.  Tampa Bay tacked on another run on a sac fly by Kelly Johnson to put Tampa up 3-0.

The struggling Jake McGee replaced Hernandez and continued his struggles as he walked the first 2 batters of the 7th inning on 8 straight fastballs off the plate.  After a quick visit from pitching coach Jim Hickey, McGee settled down and managed to escape the inning unscathed, with a little help from defensive replacement Sam Fuld on a spectacular grab on a fast, sinking liner to left field.

Tampa Bay tacked on 2 more runs in the bottom of the seventh that started with a one out single to left by Desmond Jennings followed by a double, again over the head of center fielder Chris Young, by Ryan Roberts.  Roberts then advanced to 3rd on a heads-up base running play off a deep fly ball to center field off the bat of Ben Zobrist.  That heads-up play led to another run as Roberts took home on a wild pitch by sidearm pitcher Pat Neshek, putting the Rays up 6-1 after seven.  Tampa Bay then tacked on another 2 runs in the 8th on an RBI double by James Loney and an RBI single by Yunel Escobar.

Brandon Gomes came in for the Rays to pitch the 8th & 9th innings and shut down Oakland by striking out 2 and not allowing a baserunner.

It was nice for the light-hitting Rays’ bats to finally come alive with 11 hits today to take the 3 game series from Oakland.  Tampa Bay is now 6-3 at home this year and can look to build off this sweep.  Yunel Escobar came out of his slump by going 3-4 with 2 RBI and hitting his 1st home run of the season, a solo shot in the 4th off Tommy Millone, perhaps with the advice of Joe Maddon to switch to a longer, heavier bat earlier this week.  Let’s hope that advice pays off in the long run.

Up next for the Rays is a 3 game home stand with the division rival New York Yankees beginning tomorrow at 7pm.  Matt Moore (3-0, 1.00 ERA) takes the hill for Tampa Bay against New York’s ace CC Sabathia (2-1, 2.57 ERA)

Alex Cobb got off to a rough start, giving up a leadoff double to Coco Crisp, who moved to third on a long fly ball that Ben Zobrist tracked down. Following a walk, Jed Lowrie drove in the first run of the game with a base hit up the middle. Brandon Moss followed with a long single to drive in another run, but got caught heading back to first after he didn’t notice that Lowrie had stopped at second. Cobb settled in from that point, and escaped the threat.

The Rays offense responded in the bottom of the frame. Desmond Jennings walked, advancing to second on a groundout, and scored on an RBI single by Zobrist. Following a two out walk, Sean Rodriguez singled, driving in Zobrist to tie the game. After an infield hit loaded the bases, Jose Lobaton came through with the first Rays hit of the year in that situation, driving in two runs to put Tampa on top 4-2. A’s starter Brett Anderson would record the final out, but left the game with a sprained ankle. He gave up the four runs on four hits and two walks.

Tampa’s offense continued their surge. Shelley Duncan led off the third with a double in the gap to left center, and scored on Ryan Roberts‘ single. The Rays tacked on three more runs in the fourth, highlighted by a two run home run from Evan Longoria to go ahead 8-2.

Cobb, over his first inning struggles, held down the A’s lineup the rest of the way, allowing a solo home run to Crisp as the only other run allowed. He ended up pitching 7.1 strong innings, allowing three runs on ten hits and a walk while recording three strikeouts. It may not have been the cleanest performance, but after the Rays recent struggles, it was more than enough. The A’s threatened to cut the lead in the top of the ninth, after Fernando Rodney walked the first two batters he faced to load the bases, but he struck out John Jaso, then induced Seth Smith to ground into a double play to end the threat and close out the 8-3 victory.

Zobrist and Roberts each had two hits in the victory, as every Rays starter reached base. James Loney came in as a pinch hitter, and got a hit in his only at bat. He has gone 7-9 over the past three games, raising his batting average from .167 to .308.