The calling of balls and strikes this year by Home plate umpires has been nothing short of atrocious. This past Saturday another ump who obviously missed numerous balls and strike calls made a circus of the game between the Yankees and the Indians with more unwarranted ejections.
Apparently, the Yankees continue to be “savages” at both the plate…and the dugout, as Manager Aaron Boone was the first to go, while centerfielder Brett Gardner and pitcher CC Sabathia were exiled shortly after. The ejections occurred with the Yanks up 6-4 in the home half of the sixth when Cameron Maybin stuck out looking at a pitch that must have been 5 or 6 inches off the plate. Boone barked at Home plate umpire Ben May, leading to the umpire sending him away. Gardner, emulating an elderly neighbor living below a rowdy group of friends, began to pound the top of the New York dugout with his bat, a common sight from the veteran when expressing frustration. That drew the attention of first base umpire Phil Cuzzi, who threw out a raging Gardner. The outfielder and umpire engaged in a frantic shouting match, as Cuzzi made it clear he ejected Gardner for his ceiling display. Both umpires were clearly the aggressors. May,after Boon’s initial comments stared at the dugout as if he was waiting for confrontation. He got what he wanted (comments from Boone) and responded with the ejection. A moment later Phil Cuzzi rushed toward the Yankee dugout and made his ejections. All of this could have been avoided if May had had some clue of the strike zone. Each season, MLB home plate umpires make tens of thousands of incorrect calls, many that lead to similar disputes, and yet, MLB assigns the same guys out there game after game to do the same. MLB claims they want to improve the pace of the game. How about improving the quality of umpires which will improve the pace of the games? The duty of an umpire is complex: get the split-second call right. It is a mentally and physically demanding job. But, why are Major leaguer's at their mercy when they continue to make an abundance of sometimes game changing mistake calls, and then seemingly eject players and managers for even questioning those calls? In any other job, you’d be fired if you continually don’t perform up to standards. Why do the likes of Joe West, Angel Hernandez, C. B. Bucknor, and Laz Diaz, continue to under perform, (and often have a quick trigger).go unpunished by MLB? Given how MLB is heavily dependent on performance statistics when evaluating players, it is surprising the league has been sluggish to apply similar rigor to umpire hiring, promotion, and retention. The human element of the game adds color but it comes at a high cost: too many mistakes. I’m an old school baseball fan, who has disagreed with the potential of balls and strikes being called by a computer. But lately, I’ve had second thoughts.
7 Comments
Randy
8/19/2019 01:17:01 pm
Lately the Yankees have been acting like little Leaguers. You don't see the Mets acting that way.
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john o'connell
8/19/2019 01:19:50 pm
the bat banging and the whining over ball & strike calls must stop. insinuating it's some sort of conspiracy theory?ridiculous, paranoid kid stuff. just a form of excuse-making. boone not only allowing it, he's promoting it.
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Sportyguy
8/19/2019 04:25:47 pm
I did not see anywhere in today's blog that he was indicating there is a conspiracy, I think he was saying the umpiring has just been really bad and I agree.
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Mike
8/19/2019 05:49:32 pm
Randy
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Randy
8/19/2019 07:24:21 pm
They have more class than the Yankees
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MIKE
8/20/2019 08:03:15 pm
Class ain’t winning the Mets a championship
Randy
8/21/2019 09:06:37 am
Yankees won't. Their pitching sucks
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