MLB Replay

The use of instant replay for dispute home run calls was approved today by MLB general managers. Here is the article with some details and quotes from ESPN.com. Although I think any use of replay beyond this is a horrible idea, I do think that replay on home run calls has become almost a necessity. It's really not a knock on the umpires abilities, a lot of those calls are simply just too hard to make from an umpire's point of view and they usually aren't in position to make the correct call. Those yellow lines really don't help decipher all that much between the top of the wall and over the wall. And the designs of stadiums and the different quirks in them has also made the duty that much more difficult. Just look at the one game playoff this year played in Colorado. Matt Holliday hit a ball that hit off a railing placed directly on the other side of the wall. The call was made incorrectly, but most everyone could sympathize with the umpire in that situation. How was he supposed to see a railing out of plain sight from the field? The talk after that game was all about whether or not Holliday actually touched home plate on the winning run, but really the game may have never headed to extra innings, because Holliday's hit was ruled a double and the Rockies never scored. Had the Rockies lost that game the entire course of the playoffs would have been altered. Surely the biggest concerns would be the addition of time to already long games and the fear of additional replay being instituted down the road. The people in the top in baseball are surely aware of the risk of adding extra down time to the games and will probably take this into great consideration when finalizing the replay procedure. Limited replay used to prevent these situations is a reasonable addition to the game of baseball.