Originally Posted by
Maxbialystock
The OP is silliness personified. The simple fact is that we have a lousy pitching staff. I think it is possible that in these last two games in Toronto when we lost late and despite scoring first 5 runs and the 9 that the Jays are reading our signs. However, I also think that Uehara threw too many "fast" balls (that top out at 86-88 mph) and not enough splitters. Kimbrel has blazing speed but can also be predictable--but the case for the Jays reading our signs is stronger there.
Having a troubled pitching staff in no way is helped by poor umpiring. When pitch after pitch is called a ball when they are clearly strikes, how can that be helpful? It isn't the umpire's job to be helpful but they aren't supposed to create more problems. I don't really care if you think that is silly but anytime batters are given more opportunities to hit it creates problems. Porcello throws to the lower end of the strike zone as a natural part of his game. When those pitches are called balls it forces him to throw higher and much more into the batter's hot zones. If you cannot see that, I have nothing more to say. The might before Kelly had to throw into a strike zone that was so small that when I use the understanding of Teddy Ballgame's old strike zone all the advantage goes to the batter. You cannot go wide or inside. You cannot go high or low - or they are balls. Silly me.
The reality--and the reason why I call the OP silly--is that umpiring keeps getting better and better thanks to the multiple camera replays and the semi-official use of automated strike zones. I say semi-official because the umps still make the calls on balls and strikes and only get feedback later, which is a whole helluva lot better than before those automated strike zones.
I beg to differ. They are not getting universally better and better. Especially the last two games. The TOOLS for measuring them are getting better but the application of those tools are not reaching everyone. I accept that I don't watch other games, I hardly have time to watch an entire game at any given moment. I had this weekend off, so I saw every pitch - except when I stepped away in disgust. I was hardly the only one making statements about the calls made.
A further thought is that I think the hitting lobby continues to be far more powerful than the pitching lobby. You can see this in every game when almost every batter is more than willing to complain about a call, but rare is the pitcher or catcher who will do so.
To be honest, my sympathies tend to be in favor of pitchers and umpires. Pitchers because they have to throw that ball very hard--in the case of starters, 100 times or more a game--with a variety of speeds and spins while still hitting an incredibly small target 66 feet away. They throw so hard they put their arms and shoulders at risk, but they are still nothing if they don't have control.
I am all in favor of the pitchers and umpires, recognizing the skill necessary for each. While I am always for the Red Sox, I am not asking for special favors. I am asking for the codified understanding of neutral and fair. When you give the batter extra strikes, which in baseball means balls. They favor the "opposing" hitter.
The home plate umpires, on the other hand, put themselves at risk by just standing behind the catcher. On top of that, they have to make literally hundreds of calls, every one of which is being tracked by special cameras and computers. Did anyone every wonder (as I have) why MLB doesn't simply pick the best home plate umpires, pay them more, and keep them behind the plate? My guess it's because home plate is just too tough a job night after night for the incredibly long MLB season. So the job rotates among the four-man umpire squad.
If they cannot handle the "risk" of being behind the plate, find a job as a matre'd or a donut baker (I am not knocking either of them. I was a celebrated baker for half a decade.) If the job is too tough, especially in the first quarter of the long season, find another gig. They weren't drafted or conscripted.
And don't forget that the umpire's view is inevitably and slightly blocked by the catcher, usually on low pitches and outside pitches. The other issue is that a breaking ball might or might not have passed thru the plane of the strike zone even though it began and ended outside it.
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