Another day, another horrendous call

The Twins and Joe Mauer were the latest victims of atrocious postseason umpiring in Friday’s game against the Yankees, when the likely MVP sliced a liner down the left-field line and had it drop a foot fair, only to see the ball ruled foul by left-field umpire Phil Cuzzi. Cuzzi did have to contend with left fielder Melky Cabrera’s body on the play, as the ball ticked off Cabrera’s glove and then dropped, but he hardly seemed to be screened. He should have had a clear view of the ball coming down inside the line. Cuzzi’s sole purpose in being on the field is making that call, and he simply didn’t do his job. It’s just the latest example of an obvious call being missed by a seemingly bored umpire, and it’s yet another in a long line of great cases for expanded instant replay in baseball. Forget putting six umpires on the field. Simply put one in the booth with the TBS, FOX or whatever feed in front of him. Within 10 seconds of Cuzzi making the call, it was obvious to the millions of people watching that he had blown it. Why should anyone stand for it? We need to let the players on the field decide the game’s outcome, and technology can help get us closer to that goal.