The Texas Rangers can't buy a win against playoff-bound teams on the road. The last thing they need is to get snubbed by umpires when they do have a chance to win.
The latest umpire blunder in 2010 came at the expense of the Rangers today, when Michael Young was called out due to alleged contact with third base coach Dave Anderson after rounding the bag on a single by Vladimir Guerrero in the ninth inning. The Rangers were down a run at the time, and had Nelson Cruz in the on-deck circle. The call ended the game, and instant replays, of course, showed no contact with the coach. Still, the result was a victory for the AL Central-leading Twins and a sweep of the series over the Rangers.
Michael Young said it best when he remarked, "It's a shame the game had to end like that." He's absolutely right. It's a shame. I'm no proponent for instant replay becoming a part of baseball, but calls like this make me want to change my stance on the issue. We've seen a plethora of them in 2010, and when division titles or pennant races are at stake, these calls become magnified in a big way. Games should not end on bogus calls like this one. It makes me feel cheated, even though I'm not a Ranger fan or a Twins fan. As a baseball fan, I want to see Nelson Cruz come up in that situation. I want to see if Matt Capps can get him out to end the game. I don't want to see a call made that might only be made one more time in the next fifty years. The ridiculousness of it all is mind-boggling.
Fortunately for the Rangers, the Oakland A's lost as well today, so the Ranger eight-game division lead remains intact and the magic number comes down to 19. The Twins are doing themselves a favor by sweeping this series, because the White Sox are now winners of six in a row and are really on a roll. Is the perennial slacker Manny Ramirez really having that much of an impact in Chicago???
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