With two outs in the ninth, Adam Rosales hit a drive to left field that seemed to clearly hit a railing above the edge of the wall tying the game, yet somehow, crew chief Angel Hernandez ruled that there was “not enough evidence” to overturn the call. Apparently, actually seeing the ball clear the wall, is not enough.

”Everybody else said it was a home run, including their announcers when I came in here later,” a miffed Melvin said. ”I don’t get it. I don’t know what the explanation would be when everybody else in the ballpark knew it was a home run.”

”Clearly, it hit the railing. I’m at a loss, I’m at a complete loss,” Melvin added.

Buster Olney and Ken Rosenthal are both calling for resumption of the game from the point in the ninth inning where Rosales tied it 4 – 4. While the chances of this happening are slim, MLB will likely offer some consolation in the form of an “official statement” … there may even be a “policy review.”

The term that’s being knocked around a lot this morning in light of this astonishingly bad call, is “centralized review.” Central review is similar to what is employed in the NHL, involving a team of officials monitoring a video bank (most likely in N.Y.) with access to all the video feeds of all in-progress games.

During the off-season MLB also agreed to test two advanced replay systems live during games, a radar-based system and a camera-based system, similar to the ones used in tennis for down-the-line fair-or-foul calls. Yankee Stadium and our very own Citi Field were chosen as guinea-pig parks for these systems, which have apparently already been installed.

So my question is, where were these systems during the botched call in the ninth inning the other night? In fact, where are these systems period? I don’t see them, are they so advanced they have “stealth” capabilities? Is the box that Buck crashed into last week that prevented him from making a play in foul territory part of these systems? Are they supposed to interfere with players that way? How are they testing these systems? Is there a team of officials umpiring certain games in a video room and comparing their results with the rulings on the field? A digital domain, if you will, where the alternate umps officiate in real time only instead of wearing black outfits they’re dressed in blue spandex dotted with blinking LED lights … Maybe instead of popcorn and hotdogs they snack on couscous and baby carrots …

In 2012, Ken Rosenthal, in the midst of his little conniption over Santana’s no-hitter, reported that commissioner Bud Selig remains wary of slowing down games for fear of a “robotization” that may eventually extend to balls and strikes. Robotization, yep, that’s the word he used … Bud Selig is afraid of a robot takeover. Can you imagine? A terminator-series cybernetic umpire? Hasta la vista Bob Melvin.

One thing is clear, in an age where video review is everywhere, where anything out of the ordinary can end up on Youtube in a nanosecond, MLB is well behind the curve.

The purists will tell you the game doesn’t need to be changed, but there is a growing consensus that technology has improved to such a degree that the game would be improved dramatically with the addition of these technological assets.

I’m all for it … in fact I don’t see what would be so difficult about equipping umpires with some high resolution 12 inch tablets with direct links to all the video feeds. Umpires could watch the game as it happens … shucks, they wouldn’t even have to be at the game, they could officiate from the comfort of their living rooms thereby also avoiding any potential bodily harm from fan riots.

Thoughts from John Delcos

There’s arrogance. There’s blind arrogance. And, there is Angel Hernandez arrogance, which by the way, incorporates a little bit of the blind.

Another night, another blown call, but Hernandez’s last night in Cleveland was compounded by his bullish behavior afterward, which should be met with swift and forceful action by Commissioner Bud Selig.

“Probably the only four people in the ballpark,’’ Oakland manager Bob Melvin said about the umpire’s non-reversal.

Replays clearly showed the ball struck a metal railing over the padded outfield wall. More to the point, after striking the railing, the ball ricocheted as you know it would when it strikes metal. Umpire supervisor Jim McKean told ESPN.

Hernandez, using the umpire’s stock get-out-of-jail-free card, said: “It wasn’t evident on the TV we had and it was a home run. I don’t know what kind of replay you had, but you can’t reverse a call unless there is 100 percent evidence and there wasn’t 100 percent evidence.”

Hernandez clearly didn’t want the interview recorded because he could come back and claim he was misquoted. The quote the reporter acquired the old fashioned way was damning enough.

The umpires use the same camera angle used in the broadcasts and have additional cameras. To suggest the reporters had different camera angles is absurd, not to mention a fabrication.

Hernandez was trying to cover up his own ineptitude with an outlandish story. Clearly, he blew the call, threw dirt on the system used to correct mistakes, and compounded his failure by refusing the interview to be recorded and his arrogant answer.

The ball now is in Selig’s court, and with his powers “to act in the best interest of baseball,’’ his reaction should be swift.

The call should be reversed – to hell with it being in the umpire’s judgment – with the game resumed after the home run. Any fines for Melvin and Rosales should be rescinded.

As for Hernandez, he must be fined and suspended for his actions. Selig needs to come down hard on Hernandez. Really hard. And, in the future, any attempt by an umpire to bully reporters by preventing interviews to be recorded should be met with similar punishment.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, righthander Chien-Ming Wang tossed six shutout innings to lead Chinese Taipei to a 4-1 victory over Australia. The 2013 World Baseball Classic is officially underway.

As the tournament kicks off, the sentiment from most fans I run into is that they view the WBC as a “big pain in the ass”. Some fans resent the fact that their team’s top players have bolted their Spring Training camps in Arizona and Florida just so that they can begin training and competing in the WBC. “What a damned nuisance.”

I beg to differ.

I believe the WBC should be embraced by MLB fans and players alike. It’s in the game’s best interest to promote our national pastime throughout the world and open it up to new markets for a variety of reasons. The least of which is uncovering new and brighter stars from an ever-increasing talent pool. We’ve seen this happen before.

In the history of baseball, breaking the color barrier in the late 1940′s and expanding the game to Latin America in the 1960′s did more to popularize the game and produce more stars than anything else MLB has ever done. The WBC can be another watershed moment for baseball.

In an interesting article about the this subject by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, he mentioned that the WBC Championship Game in 2009, was the sixth most watched sporting event that year, drawing more than 82 million viewers world-wide. And yet fewer MLB stars will participate in 2013 than in 2009. Many of the stars who were invited to participate decided to opt out. Too bad.

Many Mets fans moaned yesterday when it was reported that David Wright had left Port St. Lucie to represent Team USA. Not me. I applauded him.

“Of course, I’ll miss being here and I’m sure I’ll have to catch up a little bit once I get back,” Wright said. “But for me, the chance to represent Team USA, to go play for your country, was something that I just couldn’t pass up. I had so much fun the last time. I wanted to do it again.”

By the way, before Wright left, he took care of business and lined a two-out single to plate Justin Turner with the go-ahead run in the Mets 6-2 win over the Tigers.

One more thing. Rosenthal makes a great point in his article when he said the U.S. loses on every level when its stars decline to participate.

“The reluctance of aces such as Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw and David Price is understandable, given the fragile nature of pitching. But position players such as Buster Posey and Prince Fielder? And youngsters such as Mike Trout and Bryce Harper? C’mon.”

The WBC isn’t a nuisance. It’s an opportunity.

I’d like to express my thanks to Joe D. for posting this article for me on such short notice. It’s an honor to contribute to such a prestigious site for Mets baseball.

This Fan Shot was contributed by Robert J. Loewen.

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Great job by WFAN’s Boomer Esiason who called out Ken Rosenthal on his morning show today for Rosenthal’s latest column in which he continues to perpetuate the allegation that the Mets are broke.

Boomer asks Rosenthal about his claim that “people in the industry” confirmed that the Mets are short on cash pointing to the team’s desire to hold down payroll for the 2010 season.

“The Yankees are doing the same thing, does this mean they are short on cash too?” Rosenthal concludes, “You’re right, the Mets are not the only team doing this and they will still have a top five payroll in 2010″.

Boomer really starts to tear apart Rosenthal’s column when he asks,

“Why do you use terms such as ”some in the industry” which I consider to be a throw-away line and it’s only purpose is to alarm readers into saying OMG the Mets are having some major financial problems. You use words like that and it drives Mets fans crazy, but seriously is using a phrase like “some in the industry” evidence that it’s from a valuable or legitimate source?” (nice job by Boomer)

Rosenthal completely skirts the question and says,

“What the phrase says, with regard to the catching situation, what I’ve been hearing from some in the industry, and that’s how we report in baseball and other sports, that hey, the Mets are not in a position to spend anymore money. Look at Jon Garland and Joel Pineiro and how they signed for less than what some expected and yet the Mets did not get involved. Obviously they don’t want to raise payroll anymore, that’s why I wrote what I did.”

Carton chimes in and says that “the Mets have made it well known that aside from Lackey who had no interest in coming to NY, none of the other pitchers out there were any better than the pitchers the Mets already have”. (Solid point)

Boomer says,

“I still don’t get you… You are aware that the Mets have the highest paid starter, highest paid left fielder, highest paid closer, highest paid centerfielder…”

Rosenthal counters,

“I go back to my original point, the Mets are going to have a top five payroll, and I guess they’re not really totally broke. But to have the rotation that they have and not to make one addition, that to me is a shocking development.” (shocking development?)

Boomer, “Isn’t this the same rotation that exactly one year ago was predicted to go all the way and win the World Series?”

Rosenthal, “The single most baffling news of the 2010 off season was that Joel Pineiro wanted to come to the Mets, it doesn’t happen, he and ends up going to the Angels for a deal that was lower than expected.”

Carton, “But didn’t the Mets make him an offer?”

Rosenthal, “Yeah… they made him an offer… but my original point was about their  decision making.” (umm, whatever dude)

Rosenthal goes into his Mets “paint by numbers” approach to the off season and is then cut off as Boomer completely hammers him and says,

“I don’t have a problem if you believe that Wilpon is too hands on and Omar isn’t a real general manager, that’s your opinion, but my problem with you is when you say “industry sources say the Mets are short on cash”. It could be someone with an ax to grind against the Mets for all I know, or maybe it’s even the Yankees saying it. I just think it’s a cheap shot Kenny.” (Go Boomer!)

Rosenthal goes into hyper-defense mode,

“You’re assuming my sources have an ax to grind, you have no idea who my sources are. I’m not buying this cheap shot stuff! Their payroll is going to be down this year”

Boomer,

“So is the Yankees!”

It’s hammer time… This is great listening if you happen to be a Mets fan who is sick and tired of how the media has portrayed the Mets all offseason. Awesome job by Boomer…