Alex Rodriguez must feel pretty happy this morning that the MLB powers that be decided to institute instant replay in baseball games in the middle of the season. In the midst of one of the third baseman’s poorer late-season runs where he’s been hearing it from the fans, last night might have been a slight victory as umpires decided to use replay to validate a home run in the ninth inning that put the game out of reach. It was the first time that instant replay was used, and contrary to most beliefs, actually took less time to implement than it would to get a beer from the concession stand—even the line-free ones selling Budweiser (bleh…).

Alex Rodriguez’s ninth-inning homer was upheld in baseball’s first use of instant replay… Rays catcher Dioner Navarro protested, bringing manager Joe Maddon out of the dugout. After convening, the umpires left the filed to review the tape, a process that took 2 minutes, 15 seconds to back the onfield call.

Considering how glacially slow baseball is sometimes, the fact that it took them as long as it takes to cook a Hot Pocket to make their decision is amazing. In the NFL, it usually takes ten minutes and two commercial breaks to see where someone’s body stopped for a first down, and that’s not even counting the eventual opponent’s time out to get them to review it again. Video below.

A-Rod homer upheld by replay, Yankees beat Rays [Yahoo]
Image [AP]