Willson Contreras

Upon further review, Adrian Gonzalez remains unhappy

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:40 p.m. ET

Ken Rosenthal

LOS ANGELES – Commit four errors, lose by eight runs, and you can’t blame replay. But really, that is beside the point.

Something is wrong when 54,000 fans watching the video boards at Dodger Stadium and millions more watching on television see one thing and the replay official in New York sees another.

Such was the case Wednesday night in the second inning of Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, a game won by the Cubs, 10-2, evening the series at two games apiece.

Replay, for all its shortcomings, is necessary and good for the game. But too often, decisions from the replay center in New York make you want to pull your hair out because they seem to lack common sense.

Wednesday night was a classic example, and baseball actually is fortunate that the game was a blowout. Otherwise, the discussion would be far more heated, and the Dodgers would be howling.

In the second inning, with the score 0-0, the Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez was called out at home by umpire Angel Hernandez even though his left hand appeared to touch the plate before Cubs catcher Wilson Contreras tagged him with an acrobatic dive.

Gonzalez popped up immediately, signaling for a replay, signaling safe. The FS1 announcers, Joe Buck and John Smoltz, thought he was safe. The crowd at Dodger Stadium, upon viewing the replays, chanted in unison, “Safe! Safe! Safe!”

But then came the ruling from New York:

“After viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official could not definitively determine that the runner’s hand contacted home plate prior to the fielder applying the tag. The call stands, the runner is out.”

The replay official, umpire Paul Nauert, had access to as many as 12 camera angles, but none could provide a definitive answer?

Gonzalez “definitively” looked safe to most of the western world. But if you’re a replay official looking for a sliver of doubt, well, you can see anything you want.

Maybe Gonzalez’s hand didn’t get all the way down. Maybe I’m not really 5-foot-4. Maybe there is life is on Mars!

Anything is possible, right?

Actually, one photo indeed shows that Gonzalez looks out, indicating that Contreras tagged him on his left arm. Other photos seemed to suggest there was daylight between his hand and the plate. There’s your sliver of doubt, the failure to meet the standard of “clear and convincing evidence,” which is all the replay official needs.

“Let’s be honest,” Gonzalez said. “After that, we played a very sloppy game. But I think the game would have been a whole different game, 100 percent.”

Andrew Toles, the Dodgers’ No. 8 hitter, delivered the single to right that sent Gonzalez racing home from second. Gonzalez said left-hander Julio Urias might have pitched differently with a lead, that the Dodgers might have benefited from the lineup turning over.

Instead, let’s discuss two other points that Gonzalez made -- points that many of his fellow players and others connected to the sport would agree with.

First, Gonzalez contended that the replay official should not be required to find “clear and convincing evidence” to overturn a call.

“It’s not a trial,” Gonzalez cracked. “Evidence should not be involved.”

The replay official, however, cannot simply make a decision; he must base his decision on the umpire’s initial ruling.

The rules create too high a standard for a reversal, particularly when the entire point of replay is to get calls right.

“Call what you see. Do you see a safe or do you see an out?” Gonzalez said. “They didn’t say I was out. They said there was not enough evidence. They knew I was safe. They just didn’t want to overturn it.”

Gonzalez also said that the replay official should not be an umpire, but a person independent of the umpires, a person who would be perhaps less reluctant to overturn the calls of his peers.

It would be difficult to prove that the umpires “are out to protect each other,” as some in the game contend. Gonzalez acknowledged that for the most part, replay gets it right. According to baseball, 50.4 percent of the challenges during the regular season resulted in calls being overturned, a new high. But, fairly or not, calls like the one at the plate Wednesday night fuel the perception that the umpires value their solidarity above all.

Gonzalez exonerated Hernandez, saying, “Everything is moving so fast. You cannot blame Angel. He’s going to call what he sees. This is not on Angel at all. There are so many things going on. He just has to call it.”

Two other umpires, Gonzalez said, actually told him that he looked safe; presumably he was referring to first-base ump Alfonso Marquez and right-field ump (and crew chief) Gary Cederstrom, with whom he spoke between innings.

“They didn’t give me an explanation,” Gonzalez said. “They both said from what we saw on the board, we thought you were safe.”

The decision of the replay official, however, is final; the Dodgers had no recourse.

“I was pretty certain it was going to get reversed,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But those guys in New York, they’ve got a job to do, and obviously they saw it the other way.”

Roberts, too, believed the outcome might have been different if the call had gone in the Dodgers’ favor, saying, “I’m a big believer in momentum and certain plays.” But again: The Dodgers made plenty of other plays that turned the momentum against them. The game wasn’t close enough for them to raise a true stink.

The call, though, should not be forgotten. And baseball officials, as they continue to assess replay, should apply one standard. The common-sense standard.

Let’s stop overturning logic.

Somehow this is an out. #NLCS Takeseries lead tomorrow! Got to do this. Us against the world. pic.twitter.com/DAM8BRytrT
— Adrián González (@Adrian_ElTitan) October 20, 2016