Questionable Call in Eighth Spells Doom for Cubs Against Marlins

COMMENTARY | Fans hate to see ballgames won and lost by umpires or referees. The Chicago Cubs Sunday had a call not given to them that led to a loss to the Florida Marlins. The final score was 7-5.

Carrie Muskat has posted an article at the MLB.com website titled "Finale gets away from Wood, Cubs in eighth." The eighth inning was when the dreaded "no-call" occurred.

Going into the eighth inning, the score was tied at four. The Marlins had a pinch-runner on at second. Cubs reliever Kerry Wood quickly turned to second and got the ball in Starlin Castro's glove. As you can see in the reference material replay, there is little doubt that the runner, Brett Hayes, was out.

It was after this horrible call that the Marlins scored three runs, thus taking the lead and winning the game

There are three ways you can look at this situation. Only one entirely puts the blame on the ump.

First, the Cubs simply put themselves in harm's way. After all, with two people out in the eighth inning, Wood hit one batter and walked the next. The Cubs controlled their destiny at this time; had Wood gotten the batter(s) out, there would have been no call to miss.

A "purist" fan might say it doesn't matter what the Cubs did and it doesn't matter that the call was blown: It's simply the nature of the game, and it is what happened.

Finally there are the "modernists" who would say we have the technology, let's use replay to the maximum. The call should have been reviewed.

As I viewed and re-viewed the tag by Castro, I believed the runner was out. However, I did see a glimmer of doubt. Castro needed to block the base with his knee; had he, I think the Cubs would have gotten the call. However, Castro is a brand new player, not a veteran.

What is much more important for Cubs fans is that the team is 20 games under .500 with a record of 38-58. They have managed to win 38 games out of 96 and have 66 games left.

The season is over.

Reference:

MLB.com Website, Carrie Muskat, "Finale gets away from Wood, Cubs in eighth"