665344444F7644444F4844210 wrote: A game like this, you can't have a schlep calling balls and strikes. Bryant strikes out after seeing two balls that were WAYYY out of the zone called strikes.
I hate umpires that make the game about them and their effing strike zones. This clown is awful
This brings up the point again about whether or not umpiring as always been this inconsistent with strike zones, or has calling balls and strikes correctly become worse over time? Technology allows us to see the mistakes so easily now whereas, in the past, we didn't know if umpires missed the number of calls that are missed now.
If someone wants to know enough, the tech exists that would allow them to go back to old games. It might not be as price as today because we have more camera angles and other things, but it would probably be a good estimate.
My gut says that it's probably not significantly different, percentage-wise, but it could be. Today's technology, combined with every game being covered holds umpires more accountable than decades ago. We went forever before games were televised to mass audiences.
Dave was talking with Elroy Face about this just the other day.
I think the faster the pitching gets, the harder it is for umps to call balls/strikes with a fraction of a second to see the pitch and decide. You want to get that mental snapshot to make the call but it just comes in too fast now to even do that. A few decades ago throwing in the 90s was fast. Now unless you are mid to high 90s with occasional 100 you're a soft tosser. I just don't think the umps get a good enough look at many of the pitches to call them accurately.
And I've never liked getting a check swing call from the 1B or 3B ump about 100 feet away when the HP ump right there didn't call it. Last night was the perfect example. Clearly, Flores checked his swing. Didn't even look close and the HP ump right there on the spot never budged. He saw that Flores had not swung. So the catcher asks the 1B ump 100 feet away who makes the wrong call because he obviously was too far away to see it correctly. I think check swings should only be called by the HP ump and should be reviewable.
Another problem with asking the base ump for a call on a check swing is a rare situation I've seen maybe twice over the years. With 2 strikes (and less than 3 balls) the batter checks his swing and the ball gets past the catcher as the HP ump calls the pitch a ball. The catcher goes and retrieves the ball and only then appeals to the base ump on the swing. The base ump rules it a swing for strike 3 so the catcher now has the ball and can tag the batter or throw to 1B for the out. The batter could have run to 1B on a strike 3 past the catcher but had no reason to do so because the HP ump called the pitch a ball and did not indicate a swing. They should at least disallow an appeal to the base ump if the catcher fails to hang onto what could be strike 3.