A reversal of fortune

Replay gives A-Rod homer, sends Yankees on way to win

PHILADELPHIA -- So much for the human-element argument keeping the full-fledged use of instant replay out of baseball.

The best argument for preserving the human element was thrown out the window to get the call right on a home run hit by New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez in Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park.

And his homer set the stage for a Yankees comeback, as they rallied beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-5 to take a 2-1 lead in the 105th World Series. Andy Pettitte earned the victory in his eighth World Series, and Mariano Rivera got the last two outs.

But this game will be remembered for the homer that almost wasn't.

Rodriguez got the Yankees' first hit off Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels with Mark Teixeira on first base in the fourth inning. The ball sailed toward the right-field foul pole and initially looked to have bounced off the top of the wall. Teixeira stopped at third base, and A-Rod pulled into second twirling his finger to signal home run.

Right-field umpire Jeff Nelson, who should have had the best view in the park, was adamant it was a double. Yankees manager Joe Girardi came charging out of the dugout to argue, and the umpires held their now-familiar group meeting in the infield. After some discussion, four of the six charged off the field to watch the replay monitor in the dugout runway.

Replays clearly showed the ball struck a TV camera positioned just inside fair territory over the wall, and the umpires soon jogged back onto the field, mimicking A-Rod's home-run signal. Before the game, umpires had discussed that any ball that hit the cameras, which hung over the wall, would be ruled a homer.

''Our coaches started yelling that they thought it hit the camera,'' Girardi said. ''My eyes aren't that great. ... With replay, you're going to go out there, and we did.''

It was a tough blow for many in the crowd of 46,061, but it was the right call. The reversal cut the Phillies' lead to 3-2 and breathed new life into the game.

''I'm just glad we got a good ruling,'' Rodriguez said. ''It was a big hit. I think it woke our offense up a little bit.''

Baseball began allowing replays in August 2008 to review home-run calls only, and this was the first instance of such use in a postseason game.

After watching so many botched calls throughout this postseason, it's too bad baseball has restricted the use of replay to homers.

Getting the call right should be paramount. Consider the impact limited replay has had on baseball. Replay was used 58 times during the regular season and resulted in 20 reversals. More than a third of the time, the human element was wrong.

Oddly enough, Rodriguez also hit the first homer to be reviewed under the replay system -- on Sept. 3, 2008, at Tropicana Field.

Commissioner Bud Selig has indicated he will review the issue during the offseason. You can count the Yankees among the teams that likely will be in favor of its expanded use.

Rodriguez's homer seemed to pump new life into Pettitte. The veteran left-hander got off to a shaky start, needing 51 pitches to get the first six outs. By that time the Phillies had a 3-0 lead, thanks to the first of Jayson Werth's two solo homers, a bases-loaded walk drawn by Jimmy Rollins -- Pettitte's first in 2009 -- and a sacrifice fly by Shane Victorino.

After a one-hour, 20-minute rain delay, Hamels came out firing, tossing 10 of his first 11 pitches for strikes during a 1-2-3 first inning. He was dominating the Yankees until A-Rod's blast.

After that, the Yankees took control by rallying for three runs in the fifth. That rally, which was ignited by Nick Swisher's leadoff double, chased Hamels, who was the MVP of the Phillies' World Series victory last season against the Tampa Bay Rays. Swisher, who had been benched in Game 2, then hit a solo homer in the sixth to give the Yankees a 6-3 lead.

It all added up to another thrilling World Series game. And the stage was set by a bad call being reversed by instant replay.

Technology trumped the human element -- and the game went on.