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Originally Posted by canadaump6
I probably won't recalculate, I'll just keep giving the pitcher a ball off the plate on the outside corner.
Calling according to the catcher is the thing that gets to be tricky. I was listening to the Jays versus Yankees game today and the Blue Jays announcer mentioned how homeplate umpire Ed Montegue is balling pitches that are in the zone because the catcher sets up outside and then reaches to the inside corner to catch it. The announcer said how the umpire got fooled by the catcher and ended up missing a strike, and how that is not acceptable but that umpires do that kind of thing all the time. I think that umpires will ball this pitch on purpose, because it doesn't look like a strike, but the announcer recognized this practice as the umpire actually being fooled and not having his timing down right. I will only ball a pitch on the corner if the catcher makes a huge lunge for it.
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Since Garth apparently chose to take this hanging curve for a ball, I will try to hammer it into the gap.
First off, announcers typically do not know jacksh*t about umpiring, the strike zone, why umpires call certain pitches balls or strikes, or pretty much anything remotely related to the job of umpire. That is why they are know-nothing announcers, and not umpires. Everybody thinks they're a friggin' umpire!
Secondly, when a catcher sets up way outside, and then the pitcher throws one on the inside corner, that pitcher has MISSED HIS TARGET, and does not deserve to be rewarded with a strike call. That would be like giving the pitcher a strike if the catcher called for a pitchout, and the pitcher hits the umpire in the chest protector. What your misguided announcer "recognized" as the umpire being fooled and not having his timing down right, is in fact the accepted way to call the pitch. Ed Montague doesn't get "fooled" by crap the catcher pulls. Does this announcer really think that he knows more about umpiring than Ed Montague?
Let's see here. . .Ed Montague has been a major league umpire since 1974. What's that, 33 years or so? He has been a crew chief since 1996, worked 5 World Series' (a crew chief in his last 3), 4 MLB All-Star games (plate umpire in his last 3), 7 League Championship Series', and Six Division Series'.
Do you really want to take the word of an announcer who thinks that an umpire with such credentials was "fooled" by a
catcher?