MLB Bullets Is Overturned After Further Discussion

On further review, the World Series is tied at a game apiece. Most of the links are connected to game one, as the stories on the Cardinals game two victory haven't been written yet as I write this. Also, most of you don't want to read about the Cardinals winning anyway.

Not a lot of non-World Series news because of MLB's blackout on major announcements during the series.

• The most talked-about play in game one of the World Series was the missed catch in the bottom of the first inning by Pete Kozma that umpire Dana DeMuth originally called an out, only to be reversed by the other five umpires. With the call (correctly) reversed, the next batter, Mike Napoli, lined a three-run double that gave Boston a lead they would never relinquish.
• DeMuth knew he was in trouble when the other five umpires converged on him after the play. "It's an awful feeling" he said, and he explained that he was watching the foot on the bag too long and didn't look up until the ball was already falling. He also said the most important thing is to get the call right. The transcript of the press conference with the umpires is in that second link.
• Cardinals manager Mike Matheny wasn't happy about it, of course, and you can hear part of his argument with crew chief John Hischbeck here. In his postgame comments, Matheny didn't argue that the call shouldn't have been reversed, only that it was "tough to swallow" and that "It's a pretty tough time to debut a reversed call."
• Ken Rosenthal, like pretty much everyone else who's not a Cardinals fan (and even a lot who are), thought the umpires did the right thing.
• Craig Calcaterra says the reversal is a preview of the replay system expected to debut next season,and also points out having a manager come out to challenge a call, rather than having a fifth umpire in the booth or New York, is going to make games a lot longer.
• Ian Crouch explains how game one's call shows that sometimes the manager coming out to argue actually has real value, as the other umpires didn't move to overturn DeMuth until after Red Sox manager John Farrell left the dugout.
• Kozma said of the play "I just missed it."
• Kozma would make a second error later in the game which also led to the Red Sox scoring. Grant Brisbee explains why Kozma is the Cards starting shortstop despite hitting like a pitcher and how those errors, from the Cardinals point of view, are simply unacceptable.
• The other controversy in game one came from a member of the Palm Beach Cardinals, who took to Twitter to claim that Red Sox starter John Lester was putting a foreign substance on the ball. MLB has investigated and said the evidence was inconclusive.
• David Brown has a little more background on other accusations of ball doctoring in the postseason.
• David Schoenfield looks at the evidence and concludes that it was probably pine tar, which is technically illegal but so many players use it to improve their grip that no one challenges it for fear that they'll get challenged in return.
• Red Sox manager John Farrell says it was rosin.
• Jeff Passan thinks this is a non-story. So he writes a story about how it's a non-story.
• This is what most of you want to see. Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina watching a ball drop between the two of them.
• Wainwright said flatly "I was the reason we lost." He also said "I can fix this" by going over each pitch he made "five or six times." Afterwards, he said "I'll probably kill myself." He was joking about that last part.
• Here's help for Wainwright and the Cardinals: How not to pitch David Ortiz. (Hint: don't throw him a low fastball.)
• Carlos Beltran robbed David Ortiz of a grand slam in the second inning, but exited the game immediately afterwards after his ribs collided with the RF wall. Jon Heyman says that it's a cruel twist that after 16 years of waiting to play in a World Series, he lasted two innings before getting hurt.
• However, the X-rays on Beltran's ribs came up negative, and he played in game two and was 2 for 4 with an RBI in the Cardinals game two victory.
• Once written off as an expensive free agent bust, game two starter John Lackey had a surprisingly good season in 2013.
• The media and the fans in Boston were pretty rough on Lackey through his former struggles. Lackey says that he "forgives" but doesn't "forget" the "nasty" things that were said about him.
• Jerry Crasnick says that long postseason games are here to stay.
• Game one of the World Series did have a higher rating than the terrible Monday Night Football matchup, but not by much. That's sad, America.
• Christina Kahrl gave Fenway Park another chance. She said that whether or not it's her bad memory or the remodel, but she enjoyed it much more than she did when she attended a game there in 2002.
• In the spirit of the World Series, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra faced off against each other, West Side Story style. Very cool.
• It's official. Don Mattingly will return as Dodgers manager in 2014. Beyond that?
• Athletics bench coach Chip Hale interviewed for the Mariners managerial job.
• Danny Knobler thinks Lloyd McClendon should replace Jim Leyland as Tigers manager.
• Matt Williams is the favorite to be the next Nationals manager.
• Reds GM Walt Jocketty said he's not talking to other teams about trading Brandon Phillips. But he wouldn't guarantee that he wouldn't trade Phillips if the right deal came around.
• The Dodgers signing of Alexander Guerrero likely takes them out of the Robinson Cano sweepstakes. (Although this is a sweepstakes where you give, rather than get, hundreds of millions of dollars) Cliff Corcoran thinks that Cano will likely only have one serious suitor other than the Yankees: The Detroit Tigers. Mike Ilitch is 84 years old and wants to see the Tigers win the World Series before he passes on.
• Gwen Knapp says the Giants signing Tim Lincecum to a two-year deal was driven more by sentiment than baseball sense. The idea of Lincecum reviving his career in another team's uniform was also more than the Giants could bear.
• The Indians are polling their fans for their attitudes towards Chief Wahoo. Profiles in courage. No doubt learned from Dan Snyder.
• Frank Deford admits that the ability to hit in the clutch doesn't exist but we should pretend that it does in order to improve the poetry of the game. Seriously.
• Finally, every baseball fan older than 30 remembers where they were and what they were doing before game three of the 1989 World Series. For one, most of you were still upset the game wasn't at Wrigley Field, which would have spared everyone from what happened when the Loma Prieta struck the Bay Area. Grantland has an excellent oral history of the events of that day and the aftermath. A must read.