Mets Wagner bender for a BALL in 9th
 

Did anyone see the that atbat last night in the 9th inning for the Cardnals when Wagner was pitching with 2 out's and 2 on with PH Taguchi up. That is the pitch that causes me the most trouble. It was a bender at the inside knees that I think the Umpire wanted to bang him out but didn't. I believe that it was a strike but most of us will not call this pitch because the catcher catches it so low but when I see this pitch I have called it for strikes but hear nothing but grief so I have been trying to hold back on this call but you know your first instinct is to call how you see it. Just wondering your thoughts on this one.
Thanks Mike

Darling flinched bigtime on that pitch, and also made a couple of surprising strike calls on very low pitches previously in the game. Other than those few, he had a good steady zone.

It's all about timing, and as Darling proved last night, even the best sometimes get off the program.

I think (or thought at the time) that he thought Taguchi was going to swing, and was ready to give the big showstopper-game-ending punch out. I'm sure that 99.99% of us would have worse timing than usual in a potential game-ending NLCS call. I actually kind of chuckled a bit - now knowing that it happens to even the best of us.

The pitch is low. Why fight it? Those that say the catcher has no bearing on whether a pitch is a ball or a strike don't work higher level baseball or get yelled at a lot.

In my estimation, Rich is 100% correct. Calling balls and strikes is a lot like selling used cars, especially as the level of play advances. It can technically be a strike, but if no one believes it, you probably shouldn't call it. In that case, everyone saw Darling flinch. No one on either side, including the Mets bench, though that was a strike.

Lawrence

Hi gang, just getting ready to leave Pittsburgh on my road trip back to San Diego, and just thought I'd weigh in on this before leaving you for a few days (everyone praise the Lord all together now!).

The ball was down all the way, and though Darling started to ring it up, he should tremendous restraint in stopping his call, knowing full well that it was going to look bad. I compare it to when Tiger Woods stops in the middle of his downswing when he hears a camera shutter. It takes a lot of discipline to do this, which speaks well of Gary Darling's years of MLB experience.

See everyone Monday!

I'll remember this the next time I try to explain my poor timing.

The "proper" term for Darling's flinch is a stee-ball ;) . As mentioned earlier, it is the result of poor timing or not tracking the ball all the way into the catcher's glove. Unfortunately, it happened at a critical time and he got a lot of unwanted air time.

With that said, he absolutely made the right call because the pitch was down. While it didn't look pretty, ultimately, he got the call right - which is what MLB wants. It happens to all of us from time to time and big league umpires are no exception. The difference is... when it happens to us, very few people know about it. When it happens at Darling's level, 50,000 fans at the stadium see it and millions more on TV witness it over and over again.