Umpires

While saying he still embraces his sport's "human element" and its "pace," Commissioner Bud Selig announced Tuesday that "the time has come" to create a place in baseball for technology by installing limited use of instant replay. "There's nothing that's perfect in life, but the extraordinary technology will help us," Selig said in a conference call with reporters. Starting in three series that open Thursday, including the Angels' matchup with the Texas Rangers, baseball will allow umpires to review replays of disputed home runs when there are questions about whether a ball was fair or foul, whether it cleared the fence, or was interfered with by a fan. In a change to the game that some compared to the introduction of the designated hitter in the American League in the 1970s and wild-card playoff teams last decade, baseball officials said umpire crew chiefs can signal for a timeout in cases when they need to review a play.

MILWAUKEE - Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis makes his off-season home in the Milwaukee area, but at a key moment in the 10th inning Wednesday night, Ellis looked as though he'd rather have been anywhere else. With the Dodgers and Brewers tied at 2-2, Milwaukee's Nyjer Morgan broke for second base, Ellis' errant throw flew into center field, Morgan moved to third base and a dejected Ellis stood at home plate with his right hand on his side. Ellis' miscue opened the door for Morgan to score on Ryan Braun's sacrifice fly that gave the Brewers their second walk-off run against the Dodgers in as many nights and a 3-2 victory at Miller Park.

So who are you going to believe, the umpire or your lying eyes? This baseball postseason has been a real eye-opener for television viewers who, time and again, have seen a home-plate umpire make a call on a pitch only to be contradicted by a computer-generated graphic. Balls are strikes and strikes are balls. Do we need an optometrist to stand behind the ump? It's called Fox Trax on Fox broadcasts and Pitchtrax on TBS games, but the look is the same.

When Jack McDowell was a pitching standout at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in the early 1980s, umpires frequently found themselves receiving an earful from a teenager unafraid to express his feelings, because he hated to lose. He didn't change much at Stanford or in the major leagues, where he won the American League Cy Young Award in 1993 with the Chicago White Sox. At 46 and in his second year as head coach at San Dieguito Academy in Encinitas, McDowell jokes, "That's my biggest accomplishment with umpires -- staying in games.

Jeff Nelson was the umpire closest to Alex Rodriguez's fourth-inning line drive into the right-field corner. But he didn't have the best view of it. "In this particular play the ball hit something hard, solid," he said. "In my judgment it was the top of the fence." Another umpire, Joe West , thought the ball hit a fan. That left enough doubt among the six-man officiating crew for crew chief Gerry Davis to ask for a video replay, the first time an umpire has done that in postseason history.

In the eternal conflict between baseball's uniformed personnel and umpires, it's the dog-you days of summer. The temperatures soar, the season drags, and everyone wants a piece of each other. Managers charge umpires. Players scream at umpires. Entire teams physically restrain star players who are literally attempting to attack umpires, which, by the way, looks especially dumb. It's so bad, the other day I saw Boston Manager Terry Francona arguing with an umpire who had just made a home-run call after examining instant replay.

A day later, there was still widespread confusion. If anything, there was more confusion. What exactly happened in the ninth inning of the Dodgers' loss to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night? More to the point, what should have happened? In case you missed it, here's a quick summary of what was visible to the eye: Jonathan Broxton entered the game with the Dodgers holding on to a 5-4 lead. The All-Star closer, who threw 44 pitches Sunday, loaded the bases. That prompted a visit from hitting coach Don Mattingly, who was serving as the manager in place of Joe Torre, who had been ejected.

For NFL umpires, safety comes at a cost. They will be out of the line of fire — moving from the middle of the defense to several yards behind the quarterback — but their job won't be any easier. In many ways, it will be harder. "This is a radical change," said retired field official Ron Botchan, widely regarded as the best umpire in NFL history. "It's going to take some adjusting. But the owners wanted it, the competition committee wanted it, and it's their ball, man."

Joe Torre was back at Dodger Stadium to see the guys in blue. The umpires, that is. "That's really the team that I root for now," Torre said Sunday morning outside the Dodgers' clubhouse. The former Dodgers manager who now serves as Major League Baseball's vice president of baseball operations said he wanted umpires to feel as much a part of the game as players and vowed to do everything he could to support them. "We've pretty much isolated umpires from being a part of this game because they're always out there and easy to criticize, and I just didn't think that was right," Torre said.

Reporting from South Williamsport, Pa. — The wives knew first. On the same day last spring, Lauri Batterman and Rebecca Hoy stood in front of homes in Fountain Valley and Corona, waving open letters and shouting to their husbands, Lee and Toby. "I knew what it was," Lee Batterman said. "And I knew it was good news. " Lee Batterman, 67 and retired, and Toby Hoy, 40 and an eighth-grade teacher, would both be umpiring in their first Little League World Series. As it is for the players, making it to this internationally famous event is an ultimate achievement, as much a once-in-a-lifetime moment as it is for the 12- and 13-year-old participants.

Baseball has made considerable strides from those seemingly lawless days of the 1990s, when the size and shape of the strike zone sometimes shifted with the reputation of the pitcher or hitter. "There's no doubt umpires are doing a better job today," said Gary DiSarcina, the former Angels shortstop who now works in the team's front office. "When I came up [in the early 1990s] some umps played the name game; superstars got a lot of leeway. "If Dennis Eckersley was on the mound, a fastball four or five inches off the plate was a strike.

Serena Williams on Monday was fined $2,000 for her verbal outburst against chair umpire Eva Asderaki during the U.S. Open women's final Sunday. In a statement, U.S. Open tournament referee Brian Earley said the fine was for the code violation of verbal abuse. "This fine is consistent with similar offenses at Grand Slam events," the statement said. "After independently reviewing the incident which served as the basis for the code violation, and taking into account the level of fine imposed by the U.S. Open referee, the Grand Slam Committee Director has determined that Ms. Williams' conduct, while verbally abusive, does not rise to the level of a major offense under the Grand Slam Code of Conduct.

Reporting from New York — One powerful forehand could have been what sent Serena Williams to an uplifting comeback on the world's biggest tennis stage. Instead it sent Williams into another moment of uncontrolled anger and public rage against a tennis official on Arthur Ashe Stadium, and it might have cost her a U.S. Open title Sunday. Williams, 29, lost the women's final to 27-year-old Australian Samantha Stosur, 6-2, 6-3. In the first game of the second set, when Williams was desperately grabbing at some momentum, she pounded the booming forehand.

Reporting from South Williamsport, Pa. — The wives knew first. On the same day last spring, Lauri Batterman and Rebecca Hoy stood in front of homes in Fountain Valley and Corona, waving open letters and shouting to their husbands, Lee and Toby. "I knew what it was," Lee Batterman said. "And I knew it was good news. " Lee Batterman, 67 and retired, and Toby Hoy, 40 and an eighth-grade teacher, would both be umpiring in their first Little League World Series. As it is for the players, making it to this internationally famous event is an ultimate achievement, as much a once-in-a-lifetime moment as it is for the 12- and 13-year-old participants.

In the eternal conflict between baseball's uniformed personnel and umpires, it's the dog-you days of summer. The temperatures soar, the season drags, and everyone wants a piece of each other. Managers charge umpires. Players scream at umpires. Entire teams physically restrain star players who are literally attempting to attack umpires, which, by the way, looks especially dumb. It's so bad, the other day I saw Boston Manager Terry Francona arguing with an umpire who had just made a home-run call after examining instant replay.

Replaying the use of video When he was managing the Dodgers, Joe Torre said he opposed the expanded use of instant replay, calling it an imperfect solution. Such pronouncements didn't mean much then since Torre was just a manager. But now that he's MLB's executive vice president in charge of baseball operations — essentially the man in charge of everything that happens on the field — his words have wide influence. And Torre hasn't changed his view on expanded replays, even after video evidence showed plate umpire Jerry Meals blew a call in the 19th inning of Tuesday's Braves-Pirates game, giving the Braves a crucial win. "I have heard many discussions on umpiring and technology over the past two years, including both the pros and the cons of expanding replay," Torre said in statement.

Major league umpires do not expect a strike this season, the head of their union said Tuesday. General counsel Richie Phillips met with umpires for five hours to prepare for today's discussion with baseball officials on a new contract and saw some progress. Phillips said the two sides "were very far apart, but not at an impasse." He added: "I have recommended the umpires not engage in any kind of work stoppage. . . .

More than a dozen major league umpires plan to release a statement today accusing union counsel Richie Phillips of "flawed and doomed strategy" that will apparently lead to a widespread loss of jobs. "The major league umpires have been seriously harmed because union leadership adopted a flawed strategy . . . doomed to fail from the beginning," said the statement obtained by The Times Wednesday night.

Detroit Tigers Manager Jim Leyland , in the wake of the four ejections that marred the Angels' 1-0 win Tuesday night, said tension between umpires and teams is so high right now that it is palpable. "There's just too much tension," Leyland said before Wednesday's game. "I mean, you can feel it. Managers, coaches and players are on edge. Umpires are on edge, and it leads to blow-ups. It's not a good situation. " It seemed to get worse on a muggy 87-degree afternoon Wednesday in Angel Stadium, where tempers, especially in the Angels dugout, flared again.

If you're an Angels catcher, you'd prefer not to be mentioned in the same sentence with Josh Paul , but that's where Hank Conger found himself in the third inning Sunday night. Angels starter Ervin Santana struck out Dodgers leadoff batter Tony Gwynn Jr. on a slider in the dirt to open the inning. Conger caught the ball on a hop and thought he applied a tag to Gwynn, who was breaking for first base. But instead of throwing to first for the sure out, Conger pleaded with umpire Dan Iassogna , who signaled safe as Gwynn ran to first.