I had a post ready to publish about how great it was that the Tigers were winning all these games, running the table on the Indians and coming up with the clutch hits. I went into examining what changed over the winning streak that accounted for the change and how great it was to be a Tigers fan. Before I had a chance to make the final tweaks – insert highlights, links, etc – they lost a series to NY. Ok. Then they lost another series to Chicago. Meh. Then they lost a series to KFC (Kansas Freaking City). Officially concerned here.
Throwing errors, starting pitching falling down, relief pitching exposed (Coke & Alburquerque shouldn’t see the light of day), big hitters coming up with big outs in big spots…
This isn’t supposed to happen to this team. The Tigers have the best starting rotation in baseball. They have the best hitter in baseball. They have REALLY good middle defense – C, SS, 2B, CF (although the catchers can’t throw out the garbage) – and they’ve had solid hitting in the top ¾ of the lineup. But often in baseball, the unexplainable happens.
Saturday, for example. Fister threw a pitch in the dirt that the batter waved at for some reason & fouled off. Pena, the catcher, asked the ump for another ball except the ump wouldn’t give it. Pena was confused. Chris Getz was on first and decided to go for it, making it to 3rd before Fister picked up the ball that the ump inexplicably had ruled a wild pitch. Leyland came out to argue, the umps conferenced (next year this will become a reviewable play, but for now we have to put up with this BS) and ruled it a wild pitch, runner stays. Leyland argued, went back to the dugout (under protest, I presume), and then got thrown out by the ump on the opposite end of the field (I’ll never comprehend how that guy understood what Leyland said at that distance when I can hardly understand him when he’s got a microphone in his face). The runner on 3rd ended up scoring of course, Pena apparently made some comment while looking away from the home plate ump & got also tossed. I feel I should mention that this was John Hirschbeck’s crew that was umping this particular game, which probably explains the quick trigger.
What’s amazing about this? Well, a) calling a foul tip is relatively easy because you just listen for the sound AND the ball changes direction, b) none of the other umps heard or spotted anything despite BOTH the pitcher & catcher knowing it was tipped, and c) the umps gave the Tigers NO rope to argue once the call was made despite suspecting their ultimate call was incorrect. I’ve heard a lot of excuses for umps over the years – it’s a hard job, it’s a thankless job, the rules are often ambiguous, the speed of the ball is sometimes too fast for the eye to pick up – and these are all true… But on the other hand, there’s a LOT more at stake for the Tigers than there is for the umps (Fortunately the Tigers would go on to win this one with a walkoff in the 9th).
There is no metric for how good an ump should be, little to no consequences for screwing up call after call (Angel Hernandez has been one of the worst umps in the league for a while & he still has a job). If a player displayed the incompetence of some of these umps, he’d get sent down or cut. If a manager, he’d be fired. If a GM, he’d be fired. There are consequences for failure (THAT sounded like Dr. Evil) at every job in baseball except umpire (and commissioner I guess). Expanding replay will help them get a few more calls right, but the underlying problem remains until the league figures out how to expand accountability.
It's very possible, given the state of umpiring today, that few of them would ever overturn a call based on replay.
Throwing errors, starting pitching falling down, relief pitching exposed (Coke & Alburquerque shouldn’t see the light of day), big hitters coming up with big outs in big spots…
This isn’t supposed to happen to this team. The Tigers have the best starting rotation in baseball. They have the best hitter in baseball. They have REALLY good middle defense – C, SS, 2B, CF (although the catchers can’t throw out the garbage) – and they’ve had solid hitting in the top ¾ of the lineup. But often in baseball, the unexplainable happens.
Saturday, for example. Fister threw a pitch in the dirt that the batter waved at for some reason & fouled off. Pena, the catcher, asked the ump for another ball except the ump wouldn’t give it. Pena was confused. Chris Getz was on first and decided to go for it, making it to 3rd before Fister picked up the ball that the ump inexplicably had ruled a wild pitch. Leyland came out to argue, the umps conferenced (next year this will become a reviewable play, but for now we have to put up with this BS) and ruled it a wild pitch, runner stays. Leyland argued, went back to the dugout (under protest, I presume), and then got thrown out by the ump on the opposite end of the field (I’ll never comprehend how that guy understood what Leyland said at that distance when I can hardly understand him when he’s got a microphone in his face). The runner on 3rd ended up scoring of course, Pena apparently made some comment while looking away from the home plate ump & got also tossed. I feel I should mention that this was John Hirschbeck’s crew that was umping this particular game, which probably explains the quick trigger.
What’s amazing about this? Well, a) calling a foul tip is relatively easy because you just listen for the sound AND the ball changes direction, b) none of the other umps heard or spotted anything despite BOTH the pitcher & catcher knowing it was tipped, and c) the umps gave the Tigers NO rope to argue once the call was made despite suspecting their ultimate call was incorrect. I’ve heard a lot of excuses for umps over the years – it’s a hard job, it’s a thankless job, the rules are often ambiguous, the speed of the ball is sometimes too fast for the eye to pick up – and these are all true… But on the other hand, there’s a LOT more at stake for the Tigers than there is for the umps (Fortunately the Tigers would go on to win this one with a walkoff in the 9th).
There is no metric for how good an ump should be, little to no consequences for screwing up call after call (Angel Hernandez has been one of the worst umps in the league for a while & he still has a job). If a player displayed the incompetence of some of these umps, he’d get sent down or cut. If a manager, he’d be fired. If a GM, he’d be fired. There are consequences for failure (THAT sounded like Dr. Evil) at every job in baseball except umpire (and commissioner I guess). Expanding replay will help them get a few more calls right, but the underlying problem remains until the league figures out how to expand accountability.
It's very possible, given the state of umpiring today, that few of them would ever overturn a call based on replay.
No comments:
Post a Comment