Mike Reilly
 

I'm watching the Astros get beat by the Cubs. Nothing new in that.

I'm also watching Mike Reilly, the plate umpire, track EVERY pitch with his head. He moves to follow the ball EVERY time.

I think it looks horrible. It reminds me of some of the mechanics of fast pitch softball.

Anybod know if Reilly's technique is the wave of the future?

If it is, I'll have to give up treaching.

I noticed Mike a couple of weeks ago in the Mets-Marlins series and noticed that he was moving. It led to a lot of inconsistency and a lot of complaining from both sides. I noticed Mike seemed to use his whole body to track the pitch, swinging instead of just turning his head.

theres a bunch of MLB umpires that track with their head, reilly being one of them. i dont know the names of the others

I doubt that much of what a 29 year vet does is the wave of the future.

I've seen some other MLB umpires move their heads, even one who told me to never, ever do that.

Like Supreme Court Justices, it's a job for LIFE. You have to die, or retire.

I'm pretty sure I've heard a story about Reilly instructing at clinics and saying "do what I say, not what I do," acknowledging that he's a bobble-head behind the plate and it's NOT a good habit.

Can I get an Amen from the bobbleheads?

http://www.news10.tv/assetpool/image...lehead-185.jpg

I was fortunate enough to receive instruction from both Gerry Davis and Jerry Crawford at a clinic I attended a couple years ago. They both instructed follow the pitch with your eyes, but if they saw slight movement, they were happy to note that that's a sure sign of concentrating on the ball and not the self. They're advice was to concentrate on mechanics during pre-season games and cage work, but during regular season games, the ball, the ball, the ball!

Haven't been watching the Cubs much this year, have you, Carl? :D

I think Mike has been head tracking for a while now. Sure is distracting to watch!

In November 2003 I had the pleasure of attending Matt Hollowell's North East Umpire Clinic where Mike Reilly was the guest instructor. During the opening meeting when Matt introduced Mike, Matt made a comment that Mike moved his head more than any other MLB umpire and that none of the participants should follow Mike's example. Mike laughed at Matt's comment and whole heartedly agreed with him.

As for Mike being old fashioned or the "wave of the future," during my time in the cage with Mike, he taught me the Gerry Davis stance. Even though he didn't call it that, he was aware of one of the newer plate stances and taught it very well (though he didn't teach this stance to everyone - I like to think that what I was doing before this was so horrible that he thought my only hope was to make a radical change).

Mike was scheduled to appear at the NEUC in 2002, but he was stuck working the 2002 World Series - including game 5 where he worked the plate with his "bobble-head" style.

The NEUC was the best clinic I ever attended. The professional umpires working at the clinic were friendly, approachable, and knowledgeable. Too bad the clinic stopped after Matt left the game. Matt and the others opened several doors in the umpire world for me - and I will always be grateful.

Walter

i bet he was mad that he got stuck on the world series.

Speaking of MLB umpire mistakes....
 

Did anyone see the Red Sox Tigers game last night?

I believe it was R1, R3, 1 out, flair batted down the right field line. Bruce Froemming (U1) goes out to rule fair foul. Fair ball dropped by right fielder, who gathers the ball and throws behind BR who rounded first base, U1 calls BR out (from the outfield) on the tag..... UIC (Paul Emmel) signals safe. :eek: Where was U2?

Froemmings call stood.

I don't believe I've ever seen this in an MLB game. Even they blow coverages once in a while!

I would think this belongs to the PU. With the ball falling, he catches the plate touch over his shoulder.

I thought that in this sitch, U2 has all touches and plays at first and second and UIC stays home for all plays there. If the ball were caught (it should've been, it was fair because Peňa touched it over fair territory), R3 will possibly tag and attempt to score.