[Patrick Szalapski]

This from AP. P-Sz
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NEW YORK -- Umpires have overreacted to baseball's directive to call more strikes, according to a top official of the commissioner's office, who seemed surprised at the attention given the matter.

Sandy Alderson, the executive vice president of baseball operations, said his labor lawyers were preparing a response to the grievance filed Saturday by the umpires' union, which said pitch-count pressure was threatening "the integrity of the game."

"All I've said is there is a fairly strong correlation between the misapplication of the strike zone and a high pitch count," Alderson said. "Not that a high pitch count was determinative, but it was an indication of a misapplication of the strike zone. On that basis, there was a communication with some umpires."

Umpires have interpreted that as pressure to call more strikes, cut down on the number of pitches each night and quicken games. They say that violates their new labor contract.


"If you have good pitchers pitching, there will be fewer pitches thrown, but if the pitchers are struggling, we can't control that," umpire Randy Marsh said. "If the pitch is a strike, it's a strike, and if it's a ball, it's a ball."


Larry Gibson, a lawyer for the umpires, notified baseball of the grievance in a three-page letter he faxed to the commissioner's office.


"The union has learned that the office of the commissioner believes the average to be around 285 pitches in a nine-inning game," Gibson wrote. "Umpires are being told that this number is too high and to `bring your pitch count down' ... to 270 pitches a game."


Gibson wrote that umps have been told to "call more strikes," "be aggressive" and to "hunt for strikes."


"The pitch count, whether or not it is coupled with a direct instruction to call more strikes, interferes with an umpires' duty to exercise independent judgment on each pitch," Gibson's letter said. "Pitch count pressure threatens the integrity of the game, in that it brings on to the playing field improper influence on umpire performance."

New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza said that while the strike zone has gotten bigger this season, he hasn't noticed dramatic change.

"Just to call more strikes is messing with the integrity of the game," he said. "Let's go baby steps now. Let's not say every game has to be under two hours and a certain number of pitches."

The rule-book definition of the strike zone hadn't been enforced in years, with umpires pulling the strike zone lower and making it wider through the 1980s and 1990s. Commissioner Bud Selig and Alderson wanted that changed, and emphasized that to umpires during the offseason.

This year, with more high strikes being called, many offensive statistics have decreased 5-10 percent.

"What we're looking for is an appropriate, consistent application of the strike zone," Alderson said. "There are a whole host of ways we're able to focus in on who is able to do it. Pitch count is one of the tools. It was never used in the absence of prior direct observation, observation through television and videotape."

Toronto manager Buck Martinez, a former catcher and television broadcaster, thought the debate was silly.

"I think we're making way too much out of it," he said. "I don't think it's that big a deal."

Piazza urged caution.

"I don't think the game can go from an offense-dominated game to a pitching-dominated game overnight," he said. "I'm sure pitchers wouldn't mind."

Baseball and its umpires have been at odds for more than two decades and just last month, umpire Al Clark was terminated for charging plane tickets for his wife to a credit card paid for by the commissioner's office.

Gibson blamed slow games on the 2:05 allowed between innings for television commercials, a time increased to 2:25 for nationally televised games.

"Is an umpire to catch up on his average going from one game to the next and is he to keep that average in mind when making a judgment as to whether a particular pitch is a strike or a ball?" Gibson's letter said.