[greymule]

Some of the leagues around here have gone to the mat, in hopes of quelling arguments about balls and strikes and in an attempt to make all umpires' "strike zones" the same. To me, it's easy to ump with a mat, but it does have certain disadvantages (other than the fact that strikes with the mat may not be strikes through the "real" zone, and vice versa). What was all the trouble over, whether the ball actually hit the mat?