Phil Cuzzi's Vision

[RPatrino]

I agree Kevin. When I saw the replay the first thing that came into my mind was, "Damn, Cuzzi is in perfect position to make this call, how can he blow it?" He was set, didn't seem to be screened or straightlined. How is it that we see a pitch come right down the pipe, yet we say... "ball"..... ?

The human mind is a mysterious thing.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by tballump

I agree with you that he absolutely kicked it big time.

So, why didn't everyone on this forum go to the umpire school and become MLBU? I am sure this would not have happened if the people on this board were MLBU.

Look, we're not insulting your wife, here. We're criticizing the dreadful call by a very highly paid professional, who performs his work in public.

So why is your first instinct to insult us for seeing and stating the obvious? Perspective is not a bad thing. Why do you want to close yourself off?

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by RPatrino

I agree Kevin. When I saw the replay the first thing that came into my mind was, "Damn, Cuzzi is in perfect position to make this call, how can he blow it?" He was set, didn't seem to be screened or straightlined. How is it that we see a pitch come right down the pipe, yet we say... "ball"..... ?

The human mind is a mysterious thing.

My last blown "easy one" was a mysterious mind thing all the way. It was headfirst slide into first on a pressure play. I got a great angle, I was set, I waited, listened, saw it right, heard it right, told my tongue exactly what to do (the guy was out by about two feet), and then tongue said safe!

I literally said the wrong word and waved my arms and everything. I don't even know why or how. It just came out.

The coach didn't even come out on me.

It hasn't happened since. But I bet it will someday.

It was easier for me than for Phil, because I'm lowly paid.

[RPatrino]

Lucky for us we only do 'low quality' ball.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by rpatrino

lucky for us we only do 'low quality' ball.

:d ...

[Paul L]

Putting myself into Cuzzi's shoes, I could see three things that might have caused me to make the same call.

First, he might have been thinking as the ball came down 'fair, fair, if the ball touches the glove, it's fair. Nope, ball seems to have missed glove, foul!'

Second, at the speed at which events were occurring, he might have simply mis-seen where the ball hit the ground, especially as the ball seemed to veer foul sharply after impact.

Third, he seemed to rush the call. Had he replayed the action in his mind for another half-second, he might have realized that it was fair and made the right call.

That being said, he blew the call, it was a bigtime call, so he blew it bigtime. May we all learn from his mistake. Thanks to JR12 for posting the link.

[SAump]

Yes, he kicked the call. The ball landed within a foot of the foul line. The ump was in position and made the wrong call. Did it matter that he had a split second to find the ball in his field of vision, the fielder touched the ball and that the ball took a sharp rebound? No, none of that matters.

Another call for instant replay - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

What does matter is that there is a major distinction between a bad call on a banger like this {ball/strike, fair/foul and safe/out} and taking a "mightier than thou" attitude displayed on this thread. Perhaps he was thinking the fielder was going to make the catch and was surprised when he dropped it. It was a serious Matt Holliday moment. His timing was off a bit and in the rush from safe/out he erred on fair/foul. But my point is, let it go already. I'm not referring to any discussion about the call, just those "I-walk-on-water" comments coming out of the fanbox. I'll defend the little SOB.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...yhoo&type=lgns

[LDUB]

Originally Posted by HardtailStrat

That call was not why the Twins lost the game. Leaving 17 runners on base is a good start.

But, I have to say these are things that make you go hmmmm...

Rd. 2: Guillen upset with umpire Cuzzi | whitesox.com: News

Home rules for New York Yankees; Indians lose, 6-5 | Cleveland Indians - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com

Ozzie Guillen Is Not A Fan of Phil Cuzzi -- MLB FanHouse

Sports: Healing Thome gets extra swings

Ozzie Guillen doesn't like him, some newspaper said he called a pitch incorrectly back in April, and a different newspaper says he missed 2 pitches in a Spring training game in 2004....hmmmmm he must just be terrible

[LDUB]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

Another thing that makes that thing so egregious is that it almost couldn't have been an easier call to blow. Zero factors, just watching the ball hit the glove and the ground. Preposterous

There were several factors which played into this call 1) Did the fielder touch the ball? 2) (If #1 is yes) Where was the ball touched? 3) (If #1 is no) Where did the ball touch the ground?

Look at the post game interview video at :57. You can see how fast the play actually happened. He got it wrong but you saying that it "couldn't have been an easier call" isn't right.

[dash_riprock]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

I literally said the wrong word and waved my arms and everything. I don't even know why or how. It just came out.

I think that's what happened to Cuzzi. Right after he made that call I bet he asked himself: "What the #@*k did I just do?" Timing is everything.

[jwwashburn]

Originally Posted by mikebran

I won't participate in pro umpire criticism. I saw it, watched replays, and watched the interview of the crew chief.

Obvious Dept: The best professional umpires make mistakes, sometimes.

But what I think is interesting to discuss is the 6 umpire system, under the category of WHY? Doesn't it seem that more often than not over the years you have the line umpire getting near a play and missing it?

Seems to me that fair and foul is pretty well covered with 4 umpires. And last night maybe by being THAT close it contributes to the miss.

Of course the 2 extra umpires are getting big playoff money, so from umpires perspective it won't change.

But... really... does it help? How often have you seen a call that you say could only have been made (correctly) with 6 umpires.

Why 6 umps? Good question.
Why do Post Offices have a union employee work the lobby to show people how to use the self explanatory Self Service machine? They have extra guys because the union asked for it is my guess-I could be wrong but, that is my guess.

I cannot remember any calls in the postseason that were nailed because of extra umps. I can remember a lot of the kicked by them extra guys, though. Can anybody ever remember a fair/foul call like this in the regular season?

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by LDUB

There were several factors which played into this call 1) Did the fielder touch the ball? 2) (If #1 is yes) Where was the ball touched? 3) (If #1 is no) Where did the ball touch the ground?

Look at the post game interview video at :57. You can see how fast the play actually happened. He got it wrong but you saying that it "couldn't have been an easier call" isn't right.

I'm wrong again.

I'll take that as an affirmation.

[JR12]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

My last blown "easy one" was a mysterious mind thing all the way. It was headfirst slide into first on a pressure play. I got a great angle, I was set, I waited, listened, saw it right, heard it right, told my tongue exactly what to do (the guy was out by about two feet), and then tongue said safe!

I literally said the wrong word and waved my arms and everything. I don't even know why or how. It just came out.

The coach didn't even come out on me.

It hasn't happened since. But I bet it will someday.

It was easier for me than for Phil, because I'm lowly paid.

I remember a story that a MLB Umpire had a play at 2nd base. He had a brain fart and signaled out, but verbalized "safe". The runner asked "well, what was I? Safe or out?)
Umpire replied "40, 000 people just saw me bang you out"
The runner ran off the field without another word!

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by LDUB

There were several factors which played into this call 1) Did the fielder touch the ball? 2) (If #1 is yes) Where was the ball touched? 3) (If #1 is no) Where did the ball touch the ground?

Look at the post game interview video at :57. You can see how fast the play actually happened. He got it wrong but you saying that it "couldn't have been an easier call" isn't right.

It looked quite obvious in real time that the ball was touched by F7 in fair territory, dropped towards the foul line and still landed 4 inches approximately in fair territory. He was 20 feet away with a perfect look.

That being said, I blew a pickoff at first today. Had the runner as out. Offensive team squawked a little. I asked my partner later and he said it looked like I got it wrong. Oh well, we all blow calls now and then.

[zm1283]

I read something about the 6-umpire system where the MLB guys were saying that it's very tough if you're the LF or RF umpire because the ball is coming down almost on top of you all the time. They said fair/foul calls right on the pole are incredibly hard because you have no angle and you're following the ball straight down. To me, it looked like the ball got right on top of Cuzzi really quickly. I think if he were further away, his timing might have been better.

I see no reason to use six umpires in the post season.