Umpire Rick Reed has admitted that he blew a call at second base in the 10th inning of Game 1 of the AL championship series.

"There's six umpires out there. They're supposed to be a team," Williams said before Thursday's Game 2 of the best-of-7 series. "They have to help each other, don't they?"

On Wednesday night, after Jose Offerman singled leading off the 10th, John Valentin hit a grounder to third. Scott Brosius threw to second attempting to force the runner, but Chuck Knoblauch dropped the ball.

Reed called Offerman out, even though the replay showed Knoblauch never had the ball.

"I thought he had possession before he dropped the ball," Reed said after the game. "After we went in and looked at the tape, we decided that wasn't the case.

"As an umpire, it was my job to get it right. I didn't. You feel bad about it. I feel awful."

Instead of having runners at first and second with nobody out, the Red Sox had a runner on first with one out. The next batter, Brian Daubach, hit into an inning-ending double play.

Bernie Williams led off the bottom of the 10th with a game-winning home run off Rod Beck.

"It changed the whole format of the game," Boston outfielder Darren Lewis said. "On that type of play, you need that call."

Williams wondered why baseball umpires can't follow the lead of the NFL and NBA, leagues whose officials frequently discuss a play before making a call. The Red Sox manager said, however, he doesn't want baseball to use instant replay, as professional football does.

"I love the human element in baseball. I think it's a beautiful part of this game," Williams said. "I think maybe the game's a lot like life. So why put something like that in there?"

Williams noted that the umpires corrected themselves in the first round when Cleveland's Travis Fryman hit the ball off an outfield railing against the Red Sox. The ball bounced back onto the field and was ruled in play by left-field umpire Tim Welke, but Jim Joyce, who was at second base, came out to say it was a homer.

"He (Joyce) said our whole responsibility is to get the call right," Williams said, "so I accepted that."

Now, Williams is wondering why this crew didn't have the same attitude.

"I didn't ask Rick (to ask) for help. I guess I messed up," Williams said. "But why did I have to?"

Williams, who was more annoyed than angry about the incident, said he did not blame the umpires for Boston's Game 1 loss.

"I'm certainly not trying to tell the American League how to run their umpires. I'm not mad up here. And I'm not saying we would have scored," he said. "I'm not trying to point the finger at Rick Reed or anything. We have to go on."