Quote:
Originally Posted by realistic
This is the first post that I have read of your's but if the other 1k or so are similar than I would rather not read them.
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Pete's posts from years back were far different. They were the thoughtful product of one who could analyze...dispassionately, and discuss topics factually and without emotion.
Lately, however, he has changed. His posts are hard to differentiate from a typical fanboy.
Year's back, Pete would never have said that MLB umpires are hired to make certain call. He knew better. MLB umpires are hired because they are the best trained and most experienced at what they do. Those who hire them know that theya are not hiring umpires to make certain calls. They are hiring umpires who, statistics disclose, get calll right a little more than 95% of the time, including balls/strikes, safes/outs and foul/fair. No one with a rational minds believes that MLB umpires are hired to be perfect.
The old Pete would not have made light of the play Kellog had at first. Many, if not most, other umpires would not have adjusted during that mess to see what he saw and make the right call. To dismiss his effort on that play as "that's what he gets paid for" is the same as dismissing a player for hitting a home run in the upper deck of the center field bleachers. After all, that's what players get paid for.
I'd love to see a pitcher strike out 95% of the batters he faces. Isn't that what he gets paid for? When was the last time a batter did his job correctly 95% of the time? Who could afford a .950 hitter...the Yankees?
I've never said MLB umpires are perfect, nor have I said that some mistakes haven't been made in the WS. It seems however that the current fad of dumping on the umpires has obscured reality.
Some of this, no doubt, they have brought on themselves. 30 years ago umpires would never admit their mistakes on national television. They would say, "i called what I saw" and that would be the end of it.
The new warm and fuzzy movement that began about six years ago and includes excessive huddling that has resulted in correct calls being changed to incorrect calls as often and the other way around, was supposed to make umpires more human and accountable. An unintended consequence, I believe is that it has made them the target of an endless supply of fanboys and wannabes who use the umpires admissions to try to appear superior.
The worst umpire at the WS this year is better than anyone on this board. Disagree if you'd lile, if that gets you through the night.