Time to Ditch Umps? (Or at Least Some of Them)

Female umpire speaks out against baseball's 'stained-grass ceiling'

(NEWSER) - Forget blown calls. The real problem with umpires in the MLB, says Perry Barber: A complete lack of females. Barber, who has been in the business since 1981, works high school, college, spring training, and Independent League games—and tells DoubleX , “ We’re just going to have to storm the Bastille, baby, and flood the schools with women candidates and shatter what I call the stained-grass ceiling.” More»

Postseason miscues have MLB considering drastic changes

(NEWSER) - This year’s postseason has featured the usual thrills—pitchers' duels, come-from-behind victories—and an outbreak of something unusual: botched calls by umpires. The threat of more gaffes in next week’s World Series has the tradition-bound sport considering expanding the use of instant replay beyond the verification of home runs. And not everyone objects. More»

With Dodgers in NLCS, only Philly-Colorado remains up in the air

(NEWSER) - The Yankees wrapped up a sweep of the Twins tonight in Minneapolis, getting homers from Jorge Posada and suddenly clutch Alex Rodriguez in a 6-1 win. They advance to face the Angels, who mounted an unlikely ninth-inning comeback this afternoon, scoring off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon three times and hanging on for a 7-6 victory and their own sweep in Boston. More»

(NEWSER) - Opponents don’t spend much time looking at the scouting report for Joe Mauer, because it shows that the Minnesota Twins catcher doesn’t strike out, doesn’t pop up, and has no holes in his swing—and that’s no misprint. That’s why Mauer, currently hitting .394, has a shot at being the first player to finish over .400 since Ted Williams, writes Tom Verducci in Sports Illustrated. More»

Fan interference call dropped on homer; Rays topple Twins 11-1

(NEWSER) - A Twins fan's near-catch caused MLB's first-ever instant replay reversal yesterday, the St Petersburg Times reports. Carlos Pena's 3-run homer was initially ruled a double for fan interference after the first-base umpire thought he saw a fan touch the ball while it was in play. The replay showed that contact was not made until the ball was over the barrier and the Rays went on to win 11-1. More»