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I based my opinion on the fact that normally, a MLB championship series may have one umpire make one call in one game that is either incorrect, or in Joe West's case on the running lane call, controversial, but correct.
In all honesty, I would have probably screwed up a whole lot more than they did on tough calls with 50,000 fans watching. That is not the point, because I wasn't there and never will be. They are the best and have to deal with scrutiny that comes with being on display to the masses. Will one of my crews screw up a big tournament final one day. Maybe...probably is more fair of a statement. Will we handle it correctly. Impossible to say until it happens.
I tried to say, these guys are still some of the best at what they do, but had a bad series.
Just like the Angels are still one of the best teams in baseball. But if you only watch that series, there can be an argument that the Angels are horrible, because they did not show up to play. They couldn't hit, pitch, or play defense. Sounds like the Rays to me.
The umpires problems all happened after the Eddings call, and the ensuing press conference that IMO did more harm than good.
The issues happened to different umpires in different games. There were four that I recall that stand out. These are the one's that I saw. I did not see the entire series. Eddings' mechanics (Can't complain about the call because that's 50-50 at best), the missed catcher interference, the pickoff play in same game that didn't appear close, and the horrible timing on the glove tag.
On the glove tag, the fielder knew he was wrong and immediately tried to toss the ball to F3 but U1 was calling it long before the play ended. That type of quick call was bashed early and often earlier this summer when a set of not so stellar volunteer crews took the spotlight.
Kudos to the guy who denied the phantom play at second, however. If that had been an out, who knows how much more crap the crew would have taken. You have to touch the base at some point on that play.
Again, these guys are some of the best, just like the Angels. I feel it is just as fair of a statement to say they didn't show up, like the Angels didn't show up. They are human and it happens. Because of the spotlight, it is tough to defend their performance. I'm not bashing their skills and abilities, just their performance in this particular series. It was bad.
There are always one or two ball clubs that don't show up for the playoffs (My Braves consistently come to mind). However, it is rare that an entire series has so many misses, or controversies by the entire umpire crew. I have never seen it before this year.
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