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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.
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theres a bunch of MLB umpires that track with their head, reilly being one of them. i dont know the names of the others
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I've seen some other MLB umpires move their heads, even one who told me to never, ever do that. |
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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!
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I think Mike has been head tracking for a while now. Sure is distracting to watch!
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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 |
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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! |
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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.
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bruce was only out a step or two,paul was next to the plate,i still think bruce had the right call,but i agree in it looked weird.Paul had to stay home for the runner coming in,so really U2 should have come over.Either way,in the end the right call was made.
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Something like this makes me feel better about my own screw ups! |
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It's a toughie cause, you're right, the plate umpire doesn't really have a whole lot of time to get up to make this call. U2 is expecting a catch, so he may have a lousy angle on it and not have time to slide over. Although, with R1 and R3 he'd have a tag at first. Once it fell, though, he was probably thinking about the force at second. Sometimes an unexpected result leaves a hole in the coverages, I guess. |
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I remember a game in the late '90's. It was a FOX Saturday National game of the week. Harry W. (U1) was the crew chief and Hunter was U3 as a MiLB call-up. Game was in St. Louis. Mark McGwire (sp?) had already been tossed (balls and strikes), followed by LaRussa, and coach Duncan, which caused a mini-riot in the Stadium (fans realized they weren't going to see a McGwire homer that day) which, in turn, caused a delay for the grounds crew to clear the field of debris...as I remember. Then, as I remember, (St. Louis batting) a bloop was hit out behind shortstop, with multiple fielders converging. Hunter and (U2) (Rieker, I think) made opposite catch/no-catch calls. This in turn led the runners to have no idea what to do. The other team (which I can't remember) threw the ball in and attempted to retire another runner for a double play. No one knew what was going on...Harry got the umps together and they ruled a double play had occured. Acting manager Lachemann didn't even argue much...I'm guessing at this point he thought the whole crew was a "lost cause" and out to screw the Cardinals. I remember a shot of him standing on the dugout steps waving his hands in disgust. This is all from memory...and since I'm usually in the middle of my afternoon Saturday siesta while the FOX game is on the tube, it is possible I have incorrectly remembered some of these "facts"...I welcome corrections. |
Proper mechanic for a 4-man system in this case is for U2 to slide over, ESPECIALLY with runners on base. UIC has to stay home for touches and plays there. U2 has plays at first AND second.
JJ |
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