Not so 'instant' replay

A-Rod's reviewed homer makes history, takes a long 2:15

They said it took only 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

Instead, the first use of instant replay (where did that "instant" come from) in baseball history seemed to take half an hour, doing nothing to speed up a game that so many believe needs speeding up.

Still, what happened in the New York Yankees' 8-3 victory at Tampa Bay Wednesday night was historic. Major League Baseball had decided to use replay on disputed boundary calls beginning with the games of Aug. 28. Wednesday brought the first one.

Boundary calls include things like whether a ball was fair or foul, or whether it cleared the fence and bounced back or hit the top of it and is not a home run. Anything affected by the boundaries of the playing field.

The Yanks were leading 6-3 in the top of the ninth when New York's Alex Rodriguez hit a monster shot to left with two outs and a man on. The ball went high over the foul pole, but whether to the foul or fair side of it was in question.

Rodriguez waited at home plate to see how third base umpire Brian Runge, would call it. The latter threw up his right arm, making circles with his index finger to signal "home run."

Catcher Dioner Navarro went nuts, and the umps huddled and decided to review it. That means the chief of the umpiring crew-in this case Charlie Reliford-consults with MLB in New York, where they receive all the TV feeds from the game and check the replays.

The final decision was, home run indeed.

From the only view ESPN offered, the blast was inconclusive, hitting a catwalk at an angle behind the foul pole. To me, the ball looked foul. To both TV announcers it looked foul. Whatever.

The delay did seem to interrupt the flow of the game, but the umps -- who opposed replays from the beginning -- have blown an awful lot of boundary calls this year.

This won't be like the NFL; balls and strikes and other on-field judgment calls are not reviewable. And inconclusive boundary plays happen so seldom that moderate delays can be accepted in order to get things right.

It still seemed longer than 2:15.

IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING: And how about those Rays? Every year, some team expected to be terrible suddenly clicks. Last year it was Colorado, this time it's Tampa Bay.

The Rays aren't battling for the wild card; they've raced away from the fading Yankees and are ahead of Boston in the tough AL East. And they've stayed in front despite long-term injuries to their best player, outfielder Carl Crawford, and their rookie sensation, third baseman Evan Longoria.

Credit pitching for their rise, in particular a starting rotation that features two aces in James Shields and Scott Kazmir.

And finally, how about manager Joe Madden, who pulled it all together and has kept it that way all season. AL Manager of the Year in a landslide.

HE'S STILL THE BABE: Seemingly all that could be written about Babe Ruth has been, with Robert Creamer's epic biography still the standard. But "Babe Ruth-Remembering The Bambino In Stories, Photos and Memorabilia," is interesting in a different way.

Ruth's daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, has joined writer Bill Gilbert in producing this handsome hardcover book ($35, publishers Stewart, Tabori & Chang) that is due out Sept. 15.

The book has numerous pictures, many of which I had never seen.

There are interesting anecdotes as well, but beyond the writing, the book may be the best "coffee table" baseball book I've seen.