It's as clear as day: These umpires are a bunch of softies. They see a pitcher struggling to put the ball over and they go all Gandhi on us, giving the pitcher an an extra chunk of strike zone to work with when the count reaches 3-0.
And when the batter becomes the underdog, when the count goes to 0-2? Why, the hearts of our merciful arbiters simply turn to mush: They can't help pulling for the poor batter as he chokes up on the bat, hoping to make some kind of contact. Who knew the umps were such empathetic characters?
Can we just use Pitch-FX to call balls and strikes now?
The umpire thing doesn't bother me. Arguably it is the umpire's "compassion" which makes for exciting close games. Much like the NASCAR "debris on the track "call.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the MLB rulebook but the little league rulebook is worded to say "the umpire's strike zone."
That is to say, not yours, mine, or pitchfx. Therefore the umpire is literally correct all the time and that's why you never argue balls and strikes.
The problem with pitchfx is that pitchfx is always "right" but someone must now interpret pitchfx. This interpretation is subject to argument and now your back to an umpire.
That's a lot of "quotes"