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What few slow pitch games I've done, I call pitches strikes if they're in the strike zone. Who care where they land (except for on the plate)?
In the SP league where I play, every umpire adds their little commentary to just about every ball call- high, low, outside, etc. This makes my skin crawl!
The guy last night was the worst. Not only "high", "low", whatever on every ball, but he would step up and place his foot in the spot the ball landed, I guess to show everyone the pitch was "deep" or "outside".
On some pitches that tailed outside, he would even use his hands to mimic the path of the ball, showing a sweeping curve while announcing "outside"!
To make things even more irritating, I was the pitcher for this game. I had to really bite my tongue, but I made no comments on the stupid mechanics, nor did I question any pitch calls made throughout the entire game.
I really wanted to say, "Who cares where the heck the darn ball lands! We're not playing "mat ball"! Just call the freakin' strike zone!". But, this guy seemed to be in a cranky mood from the get-go, and I really didn't want tick him off any more than he seemed to already be.
By-and-large, the umpires in our city slow pitch league are marginal, at best.
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