In watching a series with the Reds and Marlins this year, I could have not seen worse umpiring from a crew in a long time. Again in the Reds last series with the Nationals, there were calls made that just didn't make sense.
Scaenario: Man on first with Paul LoDuca at the plate. LoDuca attempts to sacrifice pitcher to second. He successfully bunts the ball about feet up the first base line. David Ross fields the ball and throws to second to Jeff Keppinger, who throws to first to complete a double play. But Wait! The first base umpire, Bruce Dreckman, was running around first base with hands in the air. He was calling the play dead from the first base area. He was saying the ball hit LoDuca coming out of the box. This in turn made the runners slow up and the Reds completed the double play. It was obvious on replay that LoDuca had no contact, or even close to any contact with the ball coming out of the batters box. And why was Dreckman making this call from 100 feet away anyway? Was he sure? So the umpires congregate near the pitchers mound. It was obvious that Dreckman had made a mistake. The play was completed and should have resulted in a couble play. The umpires decide to call the runner out at second, and award LoDuca first base. A happy compromise I guess.
With all the technology today, I would be interested in seeing a game with just one umpire. That umpire would be behind home plate. His only purpose there would be to speed the game up, and listen for foul tips. We now have this technology called K-Zone. I would just let K-Zone call the balls and strikes. The batter can look up at the scoreboard and see what the pitch result was.
There would be other umpires on the field, but their only purpose is to make initial calls of fair or foul. safe or out. The official scorer in the booth would then post the offical score on the scoreboard. I am all for instant replay in baseball. I give umpires credit. They make the correct call almost 99% of the time. But there have been some bad ones too.
I would be all for the challenge rule too. You give managers two challenges per game. I just wan't to see the correct call made.