Braves-Pirates Marathon Ends on Blown Home Plate Call

The Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates played one of the year's longest marathons into Wednesday morning. But the Braves and Pirates won't be looking back at how they went 19 innings, as that incredible stat is actually the second biggest story of the game. Unfortunately, the biggest story is what happened in the last half inning, as Atlanta's Julio Lugo was thrown out at home plate -- according to everyone but umpire Jerry Meals.

Since Meals had the only opinion that mattered, the year's second-longest game became the latest symbol for the instant replay debate. Atlanta was given the 4-3 victory, but Meals got all the credit for it due to blowing the final call.

Perhaps a home plate ruling was the most fitting way for a Braves-Pirates game to end, given their history. After all, the memories of Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS hang over this series, as Sid Bream's climactic slide into home doomed Pittsburgh to two decades of losing. But for the first time since that night 19 years ago, the Pirates have postseason hopes, although this defeat dropped them out of first place for now.

As for the Braves, the gift came just in time; the loss kept them from falling further behind in the NL East. Atlanta is now six games behind the Philadelphia Phillies, and was starting to cede ground to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the wild card race. But the controversial win kept the Braves from falling seven games back to the Phillies, and being only 2 ½ ahead of the Diamondbacks.

Yet Philadelphia still managed to outdo Atlanta in finishing off marathon games this season. If not for Meals' decision, Tuesday/Wednesday's game could have gone beyond 20 innings, surpassing the length of the Phillies-Reds battle on May 25. That classic had a headline-making ending when utility player Wilson Valdez actually pitched in relief and got the win. But in this case, a late ending made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Now instead of talking about another marathon or the Pirates' return to prominence, the next day or two will be consumed with calls for more instant replay. The likes of Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan are already on the attack, writing that "there is no rational answer" for why Major League Baseball has no replay to correct these mistakes.

But if Bud Selig didn't expand the system when umpire Jim Joyce cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game last year, he won't do so just because Meals made a 19-inning game end early. All Pittsburgh can do is make sure the latest play at the plate doesn't hurt the franchise like the last one did.

There are still two games left in the series, and some new ground for the Bucs to make up in the NL Central while Atlanta tries to avoid a deeper hole in the NL East.

Sources

ESPN- "Braves Win Controversial 19-Inning Epic"

Yahoo Sports- "MLB needs to wake up now and expand replay"