And so while we attempt to measure the immeasurable — Chase Utley's intent and whether his actions were "dirty" the other night — the bigger picture hovers in baseball, remaining as maddeningly unclear as it was three days ago.

The bigger picture is this: Major League Baseball officials and the people enlisted to enforce the rules need to huddle and fix their alarming ignorance. We should applaud Joe Torre for at least meeting the media to attempt to explain L'Affaire de Utley/Tejada. But it's pretty clear he had no idea about the rule and its application. And the umpires? All they did was illustrate how badly baseball needs more reviewable situations.

Torre's explanation — that the Mets should have tagged a player already called out — defies explanation. The essence of counterintuitive. Hence, MLB needs a clearer set of rules about takeout slides. They need to make such situations subject to more review and thus take the responsibility away from the umpires, whose interpretations should be based on firmer parameters.

Start here: all takeout slides should be reviewable. MLB can figure out the language and the guidelines. But if a baserunner, for example, rolls instead of slides or slides spikes up or without the ability to touch the bag, the result should be an automatic double play and an ejection. We ought to be able to distinguish breaking up a double play against an attempt to injure.

Baseball recently invoked new safety rules about how and when catchers can block the plate. Why not afford middle infielders, who aren't wearing chest protectors, masks and shin guards, the same consideration?

Moreover, think about how umpire Chris Guccione's misinterpretation — or flat out error — affected the Mets' ability to win the game and perhaps the series. The fixation on Ruben Tejada's injury, while totally understandable, doesn't scratch the problem where it itches. Utley's body hit the dirt and Tejada almost simultaneously. At no point could Utley have touched the bag. Hence, it should have been a double play, under the existing rule. The baserunner and batter should have been out. And without two runners on, the game would have gone to eighth inning with the Mets ahead 2-1.

I'm not sure how anyone could have ruled otherwise. But then, my faith in professional officiating started swirling the bowl the night the immortal Walt Coleman summoned the tuck rule. (And wasn't Walt just his stupendous self once again Sunday night at the Meadowlands?)

I know we're going to hear arias about how more reviewable plays criminally extend the length of games. The "human element." Good, old hard-nosed baseball. Too much technology. We need the old days back. How Willie Randolph got it much worse from Hal McRae. Blah, blah, blah. Except that the safety of all the players and the necessity of getting calls right, even if they take a few more minutes, outweigh any personal whims.

Again: I get how some people — in the media, too — can't see beyond the immediacy of the moment. They're obsessed with whether the play was "dirty," which would be irrelevant with better rules in place. They're occupying their time wondering Matt Harvey should have exacted revenge Monday night to "protect his teammates" instead of winning the game. You know. Winning. That old thing.

But the issues are so much grander for the future of baseball. The people who interpret the rules should know them. And if they don't, replay should be there to help. I'm not saying neighborhood plays should be subject to review. But takeout slides, using the same reasoning as plays at home plate, must be. I doubt Chris Guccione was the first — or will be the last — umpire to get that kind of play wrong.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius