Conspiracy 101- MLB Replay

What do JFK's assasination, 9/11, Area 51, and Major League Baseball all have in common?

They're all ripe with conspiracy theories.

Up until last week, MLB was not technically on that list, but we'll prove otherwise.

ESPN keeps running highlights of what they call, a "bad week for umps". Was it really a bad week for umps? Or was a message sent from the commissioner's office to umpires, issuing an edict demanding that umpires around the league deliberately blow home run calls?

How often can one find this many bonehead calls in such a short time frame? Let's examine:

Yankees-Mets Series: Carlos Delgado hits a ball down the left field line for an apparent home run. Third base ump calls the ball foul, however. Instant replay shows that the ball, did in fact, hit (and left a mark) the foul poll. Should have been a home run, instead, its a foul ball.

A-Rod Home Run: Alex Rodriguez hits a fly ball to right center in Yankee Stadium. The ball ricochets off a yellow stair case in right field, bouncing back onto the field. Umpires signal a ground rule double, but instant replay shows otherwise.

Geovany Soto: got an inside-the-park three-run homer in the fourth inning despite replays showing that it should have been an automatic home run. The ball bounced just to the right of the yellow line on the wall in left-center field.

Ben Francisco: Umpires botched another home run call Friday when Damien Beal missed a ball hit by Cleveland's Ben Francisco that cleared the fence in the sixth inning. Television replays showed that Francisco's ball was clearly a home run. Instead of being a three-run shot that got the Indians within 12-9 to the Texas Rangers, it was ruled an RBI double.

These examples are just from one week of games. It just happens to be the same week that baseball announced it will try to implement instant replay in its Arizona Fall League.

Baseball purists are quivering at the thought of implementing machines to help determine the outcome of the nation's last pure sport. The NFL, NHL, and NBA have all taken to instant replay to review potentially blown calls, but baseball need not follow their lead.