Phil Cuzzi's Vision

[SanDiegoSteve]

Stop making excuses. He blew an easy call. Quit defending MLB umpires at all costs. Everyone blows a call now and then.

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Stop making excuses. He blew an easy call. Quit defending MLB umpires at all costs.

Huh?

No argument about the call. Did you see an argument? Perhaps you have me confused with someone else. I have never disputed that this call was blown.

In my post, I was questioning the "easiest call in all of umpiring" claim. If you have a problem with that, feel free to discuss. But there is no sense in arguing something that isn't being debated.

Chill.

[SanDiegoSteve]

It was a pretty damn easy call, and he wasn't "out of position." He had the best position and angle in the entire building and still managed to miss it. But it's all good, because we all miss calls. I don't need to chill, I'm just tired of excuses about the gross miss. When I badly kick a call, I say, "Damn, I sure blew that one," beat myself up for a while, then move on.

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

It was a pretty damn easy call, and he wasn't "out of position." He had the best position and angle in the entire building and still managed to miss it. But it's all good, because we all miss calls. I don't need to chill, I'm just tired of excuses about the gross miss. When I badly kick a call, I say, "Damn, I sure blew that one," beat myself up for a while, then move on.

You read too much into my post. When I make an excuse for an umpire blowing a call I'll get back to you.

But, I can think of several calls easier to make that a fair/foul call near the line. Again, that was what my post was about.

So if my comment of "chill" was inappropriate, let's change it to: don't assume.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Name a few easier calls, then.

[TussAgee11]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Name a few easier calls, then.

Same play, if you are U3 looking from behind the bag all the way down the line.

The eyes do fail us when we have to move them sharply one way, then another. They will, at times, give bad information to the brain. This is why we line up our tagup plays, come to a set on force plays, and improve angle before distance. And on the play in the OP, Cuzzi had to move his eyes awfully quick to track where that ball hit.

It's not an excuse, its an explanation on to why he called what he did. It happens. Blame the receptors in the optic nerve and the occipital lobe.

[MrUmpire]

Here's three to begin with:

1. Full swinging strike
2. Can of corn to F4
3. Wild pitch that goes to the backstop

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by MrUmpire

Here's three to begin with:

1. Full swinging strike
2. Can of corn to F4
3. Wild pitch that goes to the backstop

Oh, you're so droll!

[RPatrino]

#3 is not a call, try again. LOL

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by RPatrino

#3 is not a call, try again. LOL

You wouldn't call it a ball? You'd make no call on a pitch? I guess that would be funny. LOL

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Oh, you're so droll!

Nothing whimsical here. A poster named fair/foul as THE easiest call in baseball. I disagreed. You asked for examples. I gave you three.

[SanDiegoSteve]

The easiest call that requires effort and/or judgment to make, then.

[LDUB]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

The easiest call that requires effort and/or judgment to make, then.

So a full swing doesn't require anyone to judge if it was a swing or not? What if the PU blinks? What if he is blocked by the catcher? It is very possible to miss a full swing. It happened to Eric Gregg in a NL game.

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Quit defending MLB umpires at all costs.

I really haven't seen anyone doing that here. Although several people here seem to be looking to bash MLB umpires whenever they get the chance.

[tballump]

SDS

Not arguing that the call was kicked big-time or whatever phrase anyone would like to use.

Did the ball tick the glove in this case? Have you read anything about that? If so, he probably couldn't hear that with all the noise, even though that would have made it fair also. If he thought the ball was going to be caught, and then would have to point fair, and then follow the player's momentum into the wall before making the catch sign, and then the ball wasn't caught and the empty glove blocked his view of where the ball hit the ground until after the bounce, who knows, especially when you get the tunnel vision of being too close to the play and it all kind happens in the blink of an eye.

If you are too far from this play (although in this instance maybe it could have helped) and the ball just ticks the glove while barely fair but does not show a change of direction, and some how would have been just foul, then everyone would say he wasn't close enough to the play. There just may have been more involved in the whole process, including trying to stay out of the way of the fielder, (what a disaster if one were to run into the fielder on that play) and fighting that natural instinct to go out as far as you can to get a good look at the play when working during the regular season.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by MrUmpire

Nothing whimsical here. A poster named fair/foul as THE easiest call in baseball. I disagreed. You asked for examples. I gave you three.

A high fly ball dropping fair or foul with zero chance of a player or players screening him is the easiest call in umpiring. Not any fair/foul, that fair/foul.

And I re-stated it because the chronically disagreeable LDUB once again stated that my personal opinion is wrong, but made no claim of an easier call in so doing.

Some of these examples of easier "calls" are pretty curious. That call he blew is the easiest call in umpiring. Just because some of you can imagine that there is something easier, doesn't change my opinion.

I have enjoyed watching you try to come up with an easier call. That's dedication to a cause. Very admirable.