Upon further review Giants catch a break

If Posey is called out here, maybe we're still playing the way these two offenses score runs.

On the other hand, Lincecum dominated and Lowe pitched solidly as well.

You hate to see one call influence the outcome of the game in this manner, but it's becoming all too frequent an occurrence.

We were watching the Twins - Yankees, and no sooner did the ump blow that call on the inside FB to Berkman, I said to my wife that he would end the AB with a hit. And sure enough, he did.

You can't give a major league hitter four strikes per AB. Imagine the outcome if before the AB you had said to both Berkman and Pavano, "Hey guys, this AB it's going to be four strikes your out at the old ballgame". What do you think would happen to Berkman's expected batting average.

I would guess an upwards adjustment of at least 100 points. So a .300 hitter becomes a .400+ hitter. Not good.

To say nothing of the damaging psychological effects that immediately hit the pitcher. He's deflated, he just struck the other guy out, in his mind. On the other side, the batter has new life. He's uplifted. How many times have we seen a batter get new life and then cash in?

Bottom line is, for the next pitch or two, the pitcher is demonstrably disadvantaged and the hitter is hugely advantaged. And the next pitch or sequence has a huge impact on how the rest of the game plays out.

It's easy to say to the perceived aggrieved party, "Hey, just suck it up and keep competing" when the guys has done his job -- done everything right -- and is not rewarded for the effort. Somebody did their job right and is hurt by somebody that did not. Too often.

In the playoffs, of course all these factors are magnified to a huge degree. There is less margin for error and less time to overcome these gaffes. A one-game swing in a five game series is huge. And someone is advancing and someone is going home as a result.

There has to be a better way and I'm not sure replay is the entire answer. The ump seemingly had a bad angle on the Posey call. That's correctable, but it shouldn't be happening at this level, with this much at stake.

The Rays have been victimized by the phantom / real hit batsmen versus hit the bat call. In some cases, replay may have come to the rescue, but in some it will not.

The umpires are under the microscope again and are becoming a part of the story way too often.

They simply have to start doing a better job. Baseball fans deserve better.