Quote:
Originally Posted by greymule
Some of the arbitrary and illogical scoring rules cited in Tru_in_Blu's post remind me of why I lost interest in scoring at about age 12.
You can make a great play and be charged with an error, and you can make a horrible play and not be charged. You can come in in relief and get shelled and end up with a win, and you can pitch well and be charged with a loss.
I liked the (unofficial) scoring rules when I played slow pitch. If you hit the ball and reached base, you were credited with a hit. If the outfielder kicked the ball and you made it so 2B, you were credited with a double. (That ball took a bad hop, didn't it?) Even the Trenton Statesmen (the pro team) followed those guidelines.
Years ago I saw the following very common play in a MLB game on TV. Runner on 2B. Batter lines a hit to RF. Runner tries to score, and F9 throws toward home, but way over the cutoff man. The BR, seeing the high throw, keeps running and reaches 2B safely as the run scores. The great scoring expert Joe Morgan explained that the batter is credited with a double because, after rounding 1B, he didn't slow down but continued directly to 2B.
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Hi greymule,
I'll agree that scoring a particular play can certainly be arbitrary. I'm not sure I agree with the illogical assessment, though. Just as there are judgments that an umpire makes, there are judgments that scorers make. At the kid's rec level, or men's wreck level, allowances differ. When my son played as a 10 year old: someone blooped a ball to the outfield, and the outfielder overran it, then picked it up and tried to throw it anywhere, and someone else tracked it down and threw it somewhere, and finally the play was over because the batter had hit a "home run".
And in men's wreck, when F4 drops a popup, and the batter's standing on 1B grinning and begging for a basehit - "Didn't you see that tough hop it took?"
Not sure if your comment about the great scoring expert Joe Morgan was tongue in cheek or not. Given what you described, I have the batter w/ a run-scoring single [assuming the runner scored] and advancing to 2B on the throw.
But the "mommy's in straw hats" in general probably aren't so sophisticated or well versed in applying some of these judgments. Some will score a routine grounder that was muffed as a base hit; some will score a diving attempt my a fielder who got a glove on the ball, but didn't catch it, as an error. Maybe it depends upon which side of the field they're sitting on while scoring.
I've had parents ask me if a play was a hit/error, WP/PB, etc. I tell them that I can only rule on if a run counts at the end of a half inning and can't help them with their stats. It's mostly in good fun although I'm sure there are some parents who are just over the top with their kids' stats.
When Tony Conigliaro played in HS at St. Mary's in Lynn, MA, some believed that his stats were "cooked" to make him more attractive to potential colleges or major league scouts. As the home team books are considered official, perhaps he got the benefit of homer scoring. But there were also some rumors that if a batter got a hit in an inning and Tony C. didn't, the hit might just find it way onto Tony's linescore. Don't know if any of that is remotely true or not or just someone's sour grapes.
And of course in MLB the stats are the be all, end all. I agree that it's a bit strange to have a closer blow a save and through no offense on his part [mostly, unless he's batting in the NL] his team pushes across a run and he is credited with a win. That is neither arbitrary or illogical based on how the rules are written. I can see how it might be unfair to the starter who pitched 8 shutout innings and left with a 1-0 lead only to see the closer give up a dinger to tie the game. Such is life...
Ted