Phil Sheridan: Hubris worsens umpiring controversy

You can forgive umpire Greg Gibson for making a mistake at first base, even one as costly to a team in a pennant race as his safe call on Michael Bourn. Gibson is human, after all.

It's just too bad Gibson doesn't know that about himself. His more unforgivable error was refusing to accept the remote possibility that he is not perfect. Gibson would not ask for help from plate umpire Scott Barry and ejected Phillies manager Charlie Manuel for having the temerity to push the issue.

"I didn't come out there to threaten his life," Manuel said after the Phillies' frustrating 3-2 loss to the Houston Astros. "He was trying to rush me off the field."

After the game, crew chief Sam Holbrook wouldn't allow reporters to ask Gibson about the play or the ejection - an unfortunate departure from the norm.

Funny, isn't it, how the best argument for replay review of umpires is the behavior of the umpires themselves.

The play: Bourn bunted in the eighth inning with Jason Michaels on first. Ryan Howard rushed in, scooped up the ball, and swiped at Bourn as he passed. Bourn scooted several feet outside the chalk line, leaving a divot in the grass along the base path. Gibson called him safe, even though the rules prohibit a runner from venturing three feet outside his base path.

Ah, but that's where it gets vague. The base path is not a fixed line. It is the path the runner establishes himself while running. We're talking about weighty philosophical issues here. For all the poetry about the perfect geometry of baseball, there is precious little acknowledgment that the whole diamond slides a few feet over based on an umpire's judgment.

Gibson explained to Manuel that Bourn didn't go more than three feet outside the path he'd set. Since the rule depends entirely on his judgment, that's that.

Right?

Well, no.

If Gibson had asked the plate umpire for help, he might have been told that Bourn went well beyond three feet from the path he'd set. But he also might have been told something that blew a hole in this theoretical balloon, something that a replay review could have shown as well.

"I tagged him," Howard said. "I know I tagged him, and Bournie knows I tagged him. You could tell by the smile on his face that he knew."

Major League Baseball allows replay review only for home run calls - fair or foul, over the line or wall or not. It has been hesitant to expand into other calls. Certainly, three-hour games will seem like the good old days once every close call at first is being watched from four different angles.

For the most part, umpires do an excellent job. The best ones are quick to check with a colleague when they aren't certain of a call. In this case, Gibson was properly positioned behind the first-base bag, and the play occurred about 40 feet away. No harm in checking with the plate umpire.

But Gibson has to ask. And he wouldn't. And that bit of hubris changed the game.

The Phillies had a 2-1 lead when Bourn squared to bunt. The Astros had a 3-2 lead when Bourn crossed the plate with the winning run three batters later.

For the Astros, it was another game crossed off the pocket calendar, another day closer to the off-season. For the Phillies, this was a precious opportunity to cut a half-game off the Atlanta Braves' lead in the National League East race. Instead of trailing by two games, they trail by 21/2.

"Games like tonight are the kind we have to win," Manuel said. "That's a game we're supposed to win."

It's hard to say if Manuel was angrier with Gibson or with Jayson Werth. The absent-minded rightfielder managed to get himself picked off second base after an intentional walk. It's true. Werth doubled off the wall in left-center in the sixth. After Raul Ibanez struck out for the second out, the Astros decided to walk Carlos Ruiz to get to Wilson Valdez.

Not the worst strategy. Ruiz had already hit a solo home run off Brett Myers, a pitcher he'd caught dozens of times. Valdez is hitting .245.

Catcher Humberto Quintero caught the fourth intentional ball, made as if he were lobbing the ball back to Myers, and sailed a throw to shortstop Angel Sanchez. Werth was out like the trash.

"That speaks for itself," Manuel said. "I don't have to say a word."

It would be nice to relay what Werth was thinking, but he did not talk after the game. No word on whether he was hiding out with Gibson and Holbrook in the umpires' dressing room.

Hey, mistakes happen. Everyone involved in the game - players, managers, umpires - is human. Some of them even know it.