Davidoff: Baseball needs instant replay

ARLINGTON, Texas

The instant reaction was loud and angry.

And wrong.

And proof, once again, of why baseball needs to expand instant replay: When it comes to major-league officiating, there is trust neither in the process nor in the execution.

If you watched the eventful bottom of the first inning of American League Championship Series Game 1 Friday night, you saw it conclude with a thrilling, potentially game-turning play.

A wild CC Sabathia, facing his ninth batter, unleashed a high fastball that sailed over Jorge Posada. Nelson Cruz broke for home and Posada grabbed a generous carom off the back wall and flipped the ball to the late-breaking Sabathia, who dived to tag Cruz.

Plate umpire Gerry Davis called Cruz out. The Yankees - already down by three runs - exhaled, the fan base at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington groaned and manager Ron Washington argued the call.

Then came the boos in the seats and the guffaws in the press box. Fans must have seen replays on their various devices, because they don't replay controversial calls at ballparks.

The early replays looked bad for Davis. It appeared that Cruz easily beat Sabathia's tag and that the Rangers should be leading 4-0, with Jorge Cantu at the plate.

When TBS returned from commercial, however, alternate replays provided a much better picture: Davis had nailed the call. Sabathia tagged Cruz's upper body before Cruz, sliding feet-first, touched home.

A highlight-film play for the Yankees and especially Posada. Vindication thus arrived for Davis in short order.

In light of the poorly called Division Series round - and myriad mistakes in the 2009 postseason - umpires have found themselves under intense scrutiny. That scrutiny would dissipate immediately if commissioner Bud Selig, the players association and the umpires could come to an agreement on expanded replay.

Not on balls and strikes. If you do that, the games will never end. So the occasional borderline Carl Pavano pitch will be called against the home team, as happened to the Minnesota righthander against the Yankees last week. Or Michael Young will catch a break on a check swing, as the Texas third baseman did against the Rays before hitting a three-run homer.

But the base that San Francisco's Buster Posey shouldn't have stolen last week against the Braves? Returned to its rightful owner. That phantom hit-by-pitch that the Phillies picked up from Cincinnati's Aroldis Chapman? Exorcised.

Remember when the Yankees' Greg Golson made a shoestring catch on Minnesota's Delmon Young with two outs in the ninth in ALDS Game 1? Umpire Chris Guccione ruled it a single. With replay, it's game over.

And with replay, the crowd will better appreciate how many calls the umps get right. If baseball deployed the challenge system, for instance, and if Washington had used his one challenge in the first inning Friday night, perhaps fans would lament the inability to double-check on a call later in the game.

The place was absolutely rocking here in what might have served as the pinnacle of this 39-year-old franchise. Never before had the Rangers played in an LCS game. The fans wore red to match the team's uniform, they waved their rally towels and they booed former Rangers Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. (Guess who got it worse?)

The fourth-largest market in baseball might be breaking through. But in order for individual markets and the entire sport to move ahead, old-school tradition can't hold it back.

It took a correct call, of all things, to reinforce that reality.