Umpires - S/D

While you're at it, destroy the replacement ump who ruled that the ball nicked the helmet and not the bat from his position beyond second base.

Tony Randazzo is his name, according to ESPN. I don't recall seeing him before, but destroy!

here's another step, past QuesTec, w/ Zone Evaluation:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4034138&name=Neyer_Rob

via Neyer:

http://awfulumpiring.wordpress.com/

destroy all obvs.

I hadnt seen that Victorino ejection (in CF) til now

That Marlins/Astros play at the plate last night was really odd. Hermida very easily beaten by the throw, but Pudge stood over the plate with his glove up and his legs beside the plate (like he was too shocked about Hermida being sent to react normally). Hermida reached plate, tagged high, called out.

the marlins tv guys were musing that pudge was preparing himself for a collision since the ball beat hermida there by so many feet and that pudge was taken by surprise by the slide and reacted slowly

Jerry Crawford:

http://twitpic.com/dodfr

Situation: bases loaded, Red Sox leading 5-1 in the fifth.

Thanks, Jerry!

god joe west is awful

iyho do you think "bad calls" are increasing or merely a byproduct of broadcast/web technology improvements?

I always say I like the human element in baseball, unless it negatively affects my team and then its some bullshit.

Posnanski called out the 'human element' garbage this weekend.

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/10/10/replays-the-thing/

When I was a kid I read an autobiography by some umpire, but for the life of me I cannot remember his name. Even after pulling up a list of every MLB umpire during the last century, I cannot figure it out. He was an umpire during the 80s, and he was incredibly fat. But most umpires were incredibly fat back then. He was known as a "funny" umpire, and his book would be filed under humor. His book included many passages describing arguments with Earl Weaver et al., and how many times managers would storm out onto the field and scream stuff like "I agree with your call 100% I'm out here because I've gotta show my players and our fans that I care about this team and I want them to win! I don't mean to embarrass you, keep doing your job and I'll keep doing mine!", before storming back to the dugout.

Whoever you are, mystery funny umpire, you are searchable.

It's Ron Luciano.

he committed suicide.

Yeah, car/garage/CO poisoning IIRC.

I used to enjoy reading his books though.

Not trying to make light of a man's suicide here ... but in life, he was a funny guy, and umpires' memoirs are still undervalued quantities in the baseball lit market!

Durwood Merrill wrote a pretty good one, too.

"I never called a balk in my life. I didn't understand the rule." - Ron Luciano

Good lord. RIP, I had no idea.

Cuzzi had called it foul, negating a leadoff double, and he spent much of the next 24 hours trying to figure out what happened. Part of it, he thinks, was playing an unnatural position - baseball only uses umpires along the outfield foul lines in the postseason and for the All-Star Game.

"We're not used to playing that far down the line,” Cuzzi said. "The instant the ball is hit, we usually start running. I think I may have been looking too closely at it. I never had a feel for where the left fielder was on the play."

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-6-36/Chewing-on-Cuzzi-s-call.html

The location of the left fielder does not matter, dipshit.

Cuzzi had called it a strike, negating a leadoff walk, and he spent much of the next 24 hours trying to figure out what happened. Part of it, he thinks, was playing an unnatural position - a plate umpire isn't usually scratching his ass during the postseason or the All-Star Game.

"We're not used to standing that way behind the catcher," Cuzzi said. "The instant the ball is thrown, we usually start watching. I think I may have been looking too closely at it. I never had a feel for where the hitter was on the play."

if his glove is in fair territory when he (nearly?) touched the ball, it might

xp

That's true, although in this case, the ball, the fielder's body, the fielder's feet, and the fielder's glove were all in fair territory during the entire play.

but he was too close to notice.

So it didn't make any difference where the fielder was, i.e. the ball landed in fair territory, so it was fair, there's no other possibility.

I guess that umpires are trained to watch the fielder's glove and feet on a play like this, and if the ball isn't caught, only then they focus on where the ball is? For plays at first base, for example, umps aren't supposed to watch the ball, they're supposed to watch the bag and listen for the sound of the ball hitting the glove.

Otherwise, I have no clue what Cuzzi is talking about.

xpost

While federal laws prohibit Major League Baseball from discussing injuries of employees, FOXsports.com has learned that the sidelined umpires include crew chiefs John Hirschbeck (testicular cancer), Charlie Reliford (back), Jerry Crawford (back), Tim Welke (concussion), Ed Montague (concussion and neck), Gary Darling (ankle and foot) and Rick Reed (stroke).

Other umpires who are sidelined by injuries include Kerwin Danley (concussion), Alfonso Marquez (back), Brian Runge (details unknown), Bill Hohn (back) and Ed Hickok (concussion).

holy crap!

Concussions from foul tips??

From looking at replays the next day and smacking themselves in the head.

laz diaz is the worst

Sheehan on Aybar's neighborhood play:

"Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, maybe 995 out of a thousand, Cabrera is called out. Last night, Jerry Layne, at random, called him safe. He suspended the de facto rules in favor of the de jure ones in extra innings of a playoff game. It's good for baseball that the Yankees didn't score in the inning, leaving the call as an afterthought.

You cannot run the game a certain way 99 percent of the time, then randomly decide to make a by-the-book call in a high-leverage moment. It turns the game into a farce. We see this now and again, an umpire calling a runner safe, or denying a batter first base for not making an effort to get out of the way of a pitch, and it becomes a nightmare every time. If the umpires want to have a set of rules separate from the ones in the book, fine, but they can't go back and forth between the two at will."

(several BP commenters disagree)

Pretty sure the "problem" was that the umpire WAS going by the rules in the book, and according to the production team, Aybar had actually touched second on every other force at second prior to that.

Bill (New Mexico): What do you think of the MLB move to install "veteran" umpires in the World Series after all the umpiring screwups of the post season so far? Will it actually help? Color me skeptical.

Eric Seidman: A lot of these blown calls have been from veteran umpires. In my mind there is no solution other than a correction-based system. Either the umps need to correct each other or someone needs to be watching the game capable of making corrections. If official scorers are simply watching the game and making decisions why not something for umpires?

Long... but well-done:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20100606%2FSPORTS02%2F6060457%2F1318%2FHow-ump-went-from-Ohio-to-bigs-to-national-scrutiny&;template=fullarticle

(could be xposted tot he kisckass media thread?)

http://twitter.com/DSpxp/status/24543405780

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- New York Yankees catcher Russell Martin said plate umpire Laz Diaz decided on an unusual way to punish him for arguing balls and strikes.

Martin said Diaz wouldn't allow him to throw new baseballs back to his pitchers after fouls during New York's 6-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.

"Laz Diaz is a d---. Write it hard," Martin shouted as he came into the clubhouse.

Martin said the ball ban was put into effect after he and Diaz exchanged some words over strike calls early in the game.

"He said that it was a privilege that I had to earn, for me to throw the ball back," said the catcher, a seven-year veteran and three-time All Star. "That's never happened to me before. I even told him, because there's guys on base, I like to keep my arm loose. Nope. 'I'm not letting you throw the ball back.' That's pretty strange, to me. That's a good story, huh?"

Destroy all.

@Tom_Gage
"Umpire told Alex (Avila), he missed the 2-2 pitch," said #Tigers Leyland about two-out walk that led to Boston's tie-breaking run in 7th

OH, THANKS.

New York Yankees catcher Russell Martin said plate umpire Laz Diaz decided on an unusual way to punish him for arguing balls and strikes.

He forced him to watch an eight-hour Filipino movie about melancholy?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_satkzCjK2F4/SPrB_tlklzI/AAAAAAAABKQ/Du_tHNiQugc/s320/melancholia2.jpg

(Directed by Laz Diaz--I'm just kidding, I was intrigued by it until I had to leave a couple of hours in for reasons that had nothing to do with the film.)

Oops--the film's by Lav Diaz.

tbf, it was just the new baseballs, and some umps throw them themselves as a matter of course -- i mean if russell martin can't keep his arm loose throwing back every other pitch that isn't fouled off, then he's got some other issues

that said, i don't think we need umpires who are so obviously petty and passive aggressive

laz diaz is the worst

― no hongro (J0rdan S.), Saturday, October 17, 2009 2:00 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cb bucknor thinks that's a bad call

The third vacancy stems from the retirement of Crew Chief Tim McClelland, who served 32-plus years and more than 4,200 games, including 94 Postseason games, as a Major League Umpire. The Michigan native had the second-most Major League experience among the active staff, trailing only 37-year Umpire Joe West. The Michigan State University product worked four World Series (1993, 2000, 2002 and 2006) in his career along with nine League Championship Series, five Division Series and three All-Star Games (1986, 1998, 2003). McClelland was the home plate umpire for the “Pine Tar Game” between the Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on July 24, 1983, as well as Game Seven of the 2003 American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium. He also called balls and strikes in the perfect game by Yankees left-hander David Wells on May 17, 1998 in New York.

His night ended with Freeman standing along the first base line, the All-Star's hands on his head after he bounced his batting helmet off the ground. From across the diamond, third base umpire John Hirschbeck ejected him.

Freeman said afterward he told Hirschbeck the call wasn't right, but stressed he didn't make it personal.

"I was just walking toward first base and I just told him ... I didn't say 'You're bad,' I said 'That's bad' a few times and (Hirschbeck) started pointing at me," Freeman said. "I kind of looked in the dugout and I heard him say 'Shut your f'n mouth.' So that's when I kind of looked at him and just (waved him off). Once I raised my hands is when he kicked me out."

Freeman said he had never heard an umpire say anything like that to a play before and made a point to stress there were young fans in the crowd.

"There's some kids in the stands and that's just not nice what he said," Freeman said.

http://www.foxsports.com/south/story/three-cuts-emotions-run-high-as-atlanta-braves-jump-on-slumping-washington-nationals-042715

Hirschbeck looked like he was seriously spoiling for a fight last night. I was glad the cameras caught the "you shut your fuckin' mouth" part.

Mike Winters, framing critic

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/30/home-plate-umpire-mike-winters-criticized-a-j-ellis-framing-ability/

The Southland Conference's statement on the New Orleans and Mississippi Valley State Baseball contest on March 10. pic.twitter.com/jZ5mFeRj6K

— Southland Conference (@SouthlandSports) March 11, 2023

Homeplate umpire Randy Rosenberg ejects JT Realmuto for this 🤨 pic.twitter.com/dkQtpU1bHt

— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) March 27, 2023

Beware, Catchers: The Robots Are Coming

Once an obscure art, pitch framing has become an essential MLB skill. But with robo umps seemingly destined for the big leagues, it is suddenly endangered.

the jomboy breakdown of this is essential. he really is excellent at reading lips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab8_xERdUa4

tbf getting thrown out of an exhibition game -- especially for a catcher -- is absolutely a bonus. save your knees for something that counts

This is one of the worst calls I've ever witnessed. Thankfully, it was overturned. #LGM pic.twitter.com/Po7x6k5zMs

— GENY Mets Report (@genymets) April 5, 2023

i mean it looks like he simply didn't turn fast enough to see where it landed but that seems like when you go with a default fair call and then call it back if it was foul, not the other way around

Be careful when you applaud because it may get you ejected.pic.twitter.com/yBbaxVZcZo

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) May 13, 2023

Obsessed with this. 34% of called strikes were balls!

Umpire: Laz Diaz
Final: Yankees 1, White Sox 5#RepBX // #WhiteSox#NYYvsCWS // #CWSvsNYY

More stats for this game 👇https://t.co/7VIQZpnDj3 pic.twitter.com/VVQPo0vHIs

— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) August 8, 2023

Umpire Laz Diaz missed 21 calls in the #Yankees #WhiteSox game and 14 went against the Yankees.

He had a lower correct call rate than Angel Hernandez did on Sunday.

After 8 innings of bad calls, Aaron Boone exploded, was ejected, and gave his best Laz Diaz impression. pic.twitter.com/VdKAuqZzgO

— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) August 8, 2023

sycophant john kay refusing to question any of those, classic

https://twitter.com/umpjob/status/177703412546497754

The ball is three inches high, the pitcher stepped off the rubber right before the pitch

Angel Hernandez: "Strike three!" pic.twitter.com/FtFHaLYKQY

— Welcome to the Ump Show (@umpjob) April 7, 2024

I've seen more horrific ball/strike calling this year already than I saw all of last year

Umpire Brennan Miller missed 10 calls in the first 4 innings and 9 went against the Twins.

He then called two more bad strikes to ring up Matt Wallner and ejected the hitting coach for complaining.

Miller missed 22 calls in the game and 17 went against the Twins. pic.twitter.com/sk6dhCueAF

— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) April 7, 2024

Nobody does it better

Umpire: Angel Hernandez
Final: Rangers 12, Astros 8#StraightUpTX // #Relentless#TEXvsHOU // #HOUvsTEX

More stats for this game 👇https://t.co/RJKSQogI6y pic.twitter.com/uRM1ykGr3R

— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) April 13, 2024

curious about how this CWS-CIN ump gets rated, he was in a different universe in the top of the 2nd.

from that ^^^ angel game:

** NEW UMPIRE AUDITOR RECORD **

Umpire Angel Hernandez rang up Wyatt Langford on three consecutive pitches out of the zone.

The strikeout pitch missed outside by 6.78 inches.

This was the largest miss on a called strikeout in Umpire Auditor history. pic.twitter.com/BWmizkDsmD

— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) April 13, 2024

hunter wendelstadt put on a real show in the bronx today

https://www.mlb.com/news/aaron-boone-ejected-in-first-inning-of-yankees-game-against-a-s

Hunter Wendelstedt showcasing some good old fashioned umpire insecurity early in this game today. The broadcast was showing Boone live as the ejection happened - he was merely chewing some gum lol

Absolutely unreal quote

More Hunter Wendelstedt: "Apparently what he said was there was a fan right above the dugout. This isn’t my first ejection. In the entirety of my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said. I understand that’s going to be part of a story or…

— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) April 22, 2024

More Hunter Wendelstedt: "Apparently what he said was there was a fan right above the dugout. This isn’t my first ejection. In the entirety of my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said. I understand that’s going to be part of a story or something like that because that’s what Aaron was portraying. I heard something come from the far end of the dugout, had nothing to do with his area but he’s the manager of the Yankees. So he’s the one that had to go.”

Jomboy media broke this down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojqxAZuHrhM

Posnanski has a 10 Worst Strike Calls since 2018 rundown in today's (free) post:

https://open.substack.com/pub/joeposnanski/p/free-friday-going-to-the-dogs?r=1jtu0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

You can also read about how lousy his fantasy team is (last place).

(Only one of the 10 calls is you-know-who.)

Awful.

"Let's go!" — Umpire Rob Drake hollering at injured Byron Buxton to hustle off the field pic.twitter.com/atFUnHFP8J

— The Twins Almanac (@TwinsAlmanac) May 1, 2024

his twitter seems chill, idk

“I will be buying an AR-15 tomorrow, because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL WAR!!! #MAGA2020”

(it's long deleted, but the articles mention "yeah, so it's THIS guy")

Aaron Civale War

this may or may not have been a strike, and yes 'you cannot argue balls and strikes' but ffs show a tiny bit of perspective before ejecting one of the biggest (and legendarily nicest) stars in the game *when he's walking away*

Aaron Judge gets ejected for the first time in his MLB career pic.twitter.com/2dzjp45kju

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 4, 2024

lmao this game was in a rain delay for hours in the bottom of the 10th with the bases loaded and two outs

I can't believe the White Sox/Cardinals game ended like this 🤦‍♂️

"Not even close."

"You've gotta be kidding me."pic.twitter.com/OoWXvh6NMA

— Baseball Legends (@Leg_baseball) May 5, 2024

Omg the umpire just wanted to go home

Umps straight up quiet quitting at this point:

https://streamable.com/m1zex4

hey look, maybe the ump was just a sympathetic guy and saw an aging reliever that could do with a handout after his recent (5 years) form

But on a more serious note:

What in the darn hell???

Famous pitchers and their favourite/least-favourite umpires:

https://open.substack.com/pub/joeposnanski/p/free-friday-umpire-state-of-mind?r=1jtu0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

https://www.tiktok.com/@umpireauditor/video/7372843079381847339

bye bye https://sports.yahoo.com/reports-umpire-angel-hernandez-after-long-and-controversial-run-in-major-league-baseball-set-to-retire-014420551.html

Poor guy. (I laughed anyway.)

https://www.facebook.com/HoustonAstrosNation/posts/pfbid02rE1T71u8LubnUbBb75ihhfGr2HLG673jqJSmYpmfxdwU1P2jPMetyiKxXP794g2gl

Famous pitchers and their favourite/least-favourite umpires

that's a really nice tom glavine story