Welll.....
 

...Mr. Danley did not exactly cover himself with glory this evening.

Yeah, those games happen even World Series guys. He's got to be an excellent umpire in order to earn the Series, but still--tough night for him.

BTW, fashion plates--he wore a hat under his HSM.

Because?

Great! Another apologist. Did you even watch the game?

He also wore one of those collars that dogs wear after they come back from the vets under his deep sea divers helmet.

... Ahem... he rang a guy on a check swing and then asked the first base umpire if he swung ...and then Rollins got nicked pretty clearly and Danley kept him at the plate and helped kill a key rally.

I love the guy and I work in the same unit with his big brother. They're both great guys. Kerwin gives a lot back, too. But it was a nightmarish kind of outing for him. He didn't leave on a gurney this time, so it was only his second worst game of the season. Now he gets to hang out down the left field line and listen to all those Philly fans.

:D

I just got a rug burn when I fell out of my chair.

I'm one of the biggest 'dont knock it till you are there' guys, but even by most modest standards this was a bad, bad outing. The check swing incident was all but unbelievable at this level... I don't know what happened to the thought process on that one.

Oh well, as you say, he's sure to have fun in Philly. Ce la vie.

Yeah , I did.

I am sure he is just shaking at the thought.

I gotta kinda blame the 1st base umpire as well.

He should have banged the guy. The check was close enough to go either way (at least the replay I saw) and if he would have pumped him out it would have bailed out Kerwin at that plate.

One of the few times in my opinion that you have to bang the batter out from the wing regardless. At least in a "protect the crew" mentality.

Precisely! Definitely close enough, and definitely would have bailed him out of the screwed up mechanic. It was just a fart that made his arm go up, and then Culbreth burned him. Brutal.

I thought Culbreth was trying to "protect the crew" with his no swing call. However, I would have pumped him out and dealt with the consequences if I was at 1B and that happened to me.

Not to pile on (although I suppose I am), but did anyone else feel that his zone was a bit inconsistent. There were some pretty erratic b/s calls.

he seemed a bit jumpy...but he's got to get his experience somehow...that's how you learn...I'm not bailing him out, but I'm sure this may have been one of his first experience on a global stage...probably a bit nervous.

He is a 12 year MLB umpire......

Here's what I think happened after watching it a few times.

The pitch was initially called a strike - that is quite obvious. But the catcher was asking for an appeal on the swing even before he was aware that the PU was in the process of ruling it a strike. If you watch, the catcher appeals very quickly.

Since it is a policy to honor all check swings (but only on pitches called a ball), I think the PU instinctively honored the appeal, momentarily not realizing that he had just signaled the pitch as a strike. In fact, the umpire did not finish his third strike mechanic as he was interrupted by the catcher's prompt appeal. The PU went from "third strike mechanic mode" into "appeal mode".

Just a brain fart.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN

I hope I would have made the call on what the swing/no swing dictated.

Nothing else.

I hope I would have been thinking quickly enough to repeat what my partner just called. If my partner rings up a strike, it remains a strike.

I'll try it this way: Oh, I'm sorry to have implied that he lacked courage. I was trying instead to emphasize how the Philadelphia fans will be somewhat harsh. Is there a code to use to warn everyone that a joke is coming?

Not with people devoid of a sense of humor, unfortunately.

As the base umpire, whenever asked about the swing, I always just rule how I saw it, with total disregard to the fact that the homeplate umpire had called it a ball.

But I think, in this particular case, I would have called it a strike regardless of what I really thought - based on the fact that the homeplate umpire had already called it a strike.

It was clearly a knee-jerk mistake by the plate umpire in honoring the appeal. I would not have compounded that mistake by overruling his indication of a strike.

You have to remember, the catcher signaled for an appeal on a pitch that was called a strike. That is highly unusual and I think that is what fooled the plate umpire.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN

Ke-Zone!
 

The batter's performance would win an Emmy for good acting and no one talks about it. The batter was swinging at a close pitch on the corner and held up when it appeared to track out of the strike zone. He tossed his bat and ran to 1B, selling it to both PU and BU. It would have looked just as bad if the batter was called out half way up the first base line.

There is.

You missed it.:)

I think he started to call strike three and changed his mind and called for help on the swing.

Well, so did you.

How do you change your mind in the middle of a punchout?

well we all know now how you do it...

My general philosophy has been if the batter has a bat in their hands they went. in that instance the philosophy would have worked. :cool:

Not to pile on
 

I feel the K-zone pitch tracker, or whatever name it goes by, has been a bit inconsistent.

Is that anything like "the truth has a liberal bias"?

A friend who works for MASN was told how the Fox system works by one of his producers. Don't know how reliable all this is, but here's what he said.

ESPN uses basically the Questec system of 3 high cameras (also the technology used for tennis challenges).

For FOX, a guy in the truck draws a box where he believes the strike zone to be for that batter. From there the comedy continues. The pitch is tracked from a low center field camera, and a guy in the truck basically presses a STOP button when he believes the pitch to be across the plate on the replay. The computer then just freezes where the ball was on the camera at that point and puts a little mark there compared to the batter's already arbitrary assigned strike zone.

Just for everyone's information... :)

I wonder if this is how Questec is used as well. If so, I would not like to be graded with it either.

Naturally McCarver is relying on the pitch tracker when making his pronouncements...:rolleyes:

I don't care about Questec or Pitch Trax or K-Zone or any other stupid mechanical strike zone. They apparently don't have the 3D strike zone worked out yet. It seems to call some breaking pitches that catch the back corner balls because of where the catcher catches the ball.

Give me Fielding Culbreath's zone anytime. I hate it when the umpire has a little cracker box zone because he's afraid of Questec.

Both names misspelled now? Not much of a jock sniffer if you can't even get his name right. :p

You're right, I'm not much of a jock sniffer.