Torre Admits Umps Missed The Call Last Night

From Mark Feinsand:

Major League Baseball acknowledged that umpires muffed the home run call in the Yankees’ 5-4 loss to the Royals Wednesday night, but given that Joe Girardi opted not to file a protest, there’s nothing that can be done about it.

“The game is over and that’s what it is,” MLB executive VP of baseball operations Joe Torre told the Daily News on Thursday. “It’s unfortunate. Everyone had to cooperate to make it a one-run game.”

...

The mistake was the result of DeMuth’s interpretation of the ground rules at Kauffman Stadium, which underwent structural renovations prior to the 2009 season.

“It was a missed call, but there was also a misunderstanding on the rule,” Torre said. “He just missed it, but his interpretation was that the back fence was behind the wall and out of the ballpark. It certainly wasn’t for a lack of doing his job, just a misunderstanding of the rule.”

...

“This man works very hard at what he does,” Torre said. “His interpretation was that the back screen, which is behind the wall, is behind the wall. To him, that meant it was out of the ballpark. He was wrong and there was a price to pay to learn that lesson.”

Torre stressed that the instant replay system did not fail despite the blown call.

“The replay gave him every look that he needed to make the right call,” Torre said. “He thought he did make the right call. This isn’t an umpire not doing his job. That was his understanding of the rule when he’s umpired there and nothing had happened to change his mind until last night.”

Doesn't really do us much good now, but at least MLB is admitting the mistake. Still, it would have been nice to see how that game had played out without the gift homer.