SPORTS ZONE: Enough with Jerry Meals

Now don’t go hating me Pirates fans. I don’t mean to bring up a sour note from the past, but I have no choice. You all remember the 2011 Pirates season. They were playing over their heads, but then took a dive to finish out the season. On July 26 of that year, Jerry Meals was behind the plate during a ballgame in Atlanta. Infamously, Meals blew a call at home plate in the bottom of the 19th inning. You know the call. Michael McKenry tagged Julio Lugo out well short of the plate, but Meals said he never saw the tag.

The rest is history.

Meals caught a lot of flack, and it was all very warranted. While it still gets brought up time and again, his name is back in the spotlight for another horrible call. Monday night, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox were locked in a battle. In the eighth inning, trailing 2-1, Daniel Nava tagged from third base on a sacrifice fly to left field. The throw came home and everyone saw Nava get his leg under the eventual tag from Jose Molina. Everyone, that is, except Meals.

The error allowed the Rays to win and take over first place. After the game, Meals admitted he was wrong, but said he called what he saw at the time.

Now I hate calling for someone’s job, but enough is enough. Meals is a veteran umpire looking like a rookie and his time to go is now before he costs someone a playoff spot.

 

 

SPORTS ZONE: Jose Fernandez Would Still Be In Any Team’s Minor League System

On Sunday, baseball fans got to see two of the true young phenoms square off as Gerrit Cole and Jose Fernandez both put on a show. Fernandez bested Cole, as he struck out 13 Pirates and led his Marlins to a 3-2 win. After the game, people took to the Twittersphere to say that if the 20-year-old Fernandez was with the Pirates, he would be at High-A at best. This, of course, was taking a shot at the Pirates. Well, not to sound like a shill for the team, but if Fernandez was on any other team besides the Marlins, he would still be in the minors.

Fernandez was drafted by the Marlins in the 2011 draft right out of high school. Anyone that knows anything about baseball knows that a transition from high school to the pro’s doesn’t happen that fast. Fernandez was invited to spring training this year, but sent him down to minor league camp. Due to injuries to Henderson Alvarez and Nathan Eovaldi, the Marlins didn’t have much of a choice but to promote its No.1 prospect. Also, coming off the fire sale, the publicity of having Fernandez on the team could only help the Marlins.

For a comparison to the Pirates, they drafted Jameson Taillon out of high school in 2010 and he is currently in Double-A Altoona. Any team, unless their the Marlins, would have Fernandez at High-A or Double-A to develop through the system.

Before you hate on the Pirates for something like that, be sure to do your research.