The Cardinals Just Enjoyed A Perfect Example Of ‘Ball Don’t Lie’

It’s a great adage in sports and one that seems to prove itself more often than not: ball don’t lie.

Which is to say, when an official, ref or umpire misses a call in a game, don’t be surprised when something happens shortly thereafter to negate the effects of the errant ruling.

It happened that way for the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon after the replay review center in New York inexplicably called a runner safe at first base despite a brilliantly executed pickoff attempt by Michael McGreevy.

The Cardinal right-hander seemed to nab Rockies outfielder Jordan Beck before he scampered back to the first-base bag, with Alec Burleson applying the tag to Beck’s hand before the fingertips could grasp the base.

Evidently, the replay room didn't find a camera angle that definitively showed what we all know to be true—which is one of the inherent frustrations with replay review in sports.

But in this case, any frustration for the Cardinals was short-lived. Because following a replay process that took several minutes from our lives to determine that in a billion dollar industry, we don't have the equipment to overturn an obvious mistaken call, McGreevy and the Cards found a different way to retire the base runner—on a sequence that required no second look from replay.

After that lengthy delay, Beck apparently thought he could catch the Cardinals napping on the very next pitch—and he was mistaken. He took off to try and steal second base, with Pedro Pagés eager to catch him in the act.

Not even close. Ball don't lie is undefeated.