Editorials

Dodgers News: Gonzalez Was Told Of Change To Neighborhood Play Review

Jon SooHoo-Los Angeles Dodgers
Jon SooHoo-Los Angeles Dodgers

After sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Los Angeles Dodgers traveled south for a three-game series with the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers survived a late blunder in Friday’s game to get a win and came from behind Sunday to take the series after losing Saturday night.

All three contests were decided by two runs or less, and aside from Joc Pederson’s game-saving catch and Adrian Gonzalez’s go-ahead hit in the 12th, Sunday’s game included some controversy. After a Matt Kemp single in the 10th, Yonder Alonso hit a ground ball to Adrian Gonzalez, who threw to second to start a would-be 3-6-3 double play.



However, the Padres challenged the call, saying Kiké Hernandez had prematurely lifted his foot off the second base bag. Padres’ manager Bud Black’s challenge was successful as Hernandez was charged with an error and Kemp was ruled safe, though he wouldn’t score.

Although the “neighborhood play” is not one that’s reviewable, Gonzalez was told the umpires determined that is no longer the case. “Within themselves [the umpires], they started saying that they’re going to make sure that the guy stays on the bag,” Gonzalez said. “That the neighborhood [play] is a neighborhood if the throw is perfect.”

Crew Chief Bill Miller also discussed the call after the game, via A.J. Cassavell and Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:

The throw was not true,” crew chief Bill Miller told a pool reporter after the game. “The throw caused him to come off the bag. That’s when we don’t enforce the neighborhood interpretation.”

Even with the explanation of a change, Gonzalez believes “there is a lot of grey area there,” in regards to when a neighborhood play can be reviewed. Although the Dodgers won the series, there were many umpiring inconsistencies that at various times went in favor of and and against each team.

It primarily consisted of called balls and strikes, which drew the ire of Gonzalez, who was ejected from Friday’s game for arguing; something he later explained he wanted to occur. Sunday’s strike zone also appeared to be rather generous, which led to Padres hitting coach Mark Kotsay getting ejected.

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Adrian Gonzalez On Why He Wanted To Get Ejected

Staff Writer

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2 Comments

  1. There should be no instant replay, recording, graphic overlay of the strike zone, nor any other type of technological intrusion into the game. If there is a questionable call, any umpire can call the team of umpires together to see if they saw the event differently. If the others support the ump that made the call, the debate is over. “Missing one” is part of the game. In the instance of a strike zone dispute, the home ump calls ’em as he sees ’em. If he says it’s a strike, it’s a strike – in or out of anyone else’s perception of the strike zone. That’s called baseball.

    Now, if you think we have achieved technological superiority over having umpires and all calls can be made by machines, then let’s get rid of umpires and let the precision of technology rule. But, I wouldn’t call that baseball. It would have to be called something else.

  2. wkb4447 — There’s just too much money in Baseball to not use technology. The integrity of the game must be above reproach. If calls get blown, fans get pissed, players lose out on great contracts, gamblers lose money, attendance goes down. Football has not seen a drop in popularity with technology. I don’t think Baseball will either. I’ll wait a little bit while you type your response on the Commodore 64. 🙂

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