Bucknor, Cuzzi pay the price

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by mbyron

Why was he lying on your back?

Thanks ociffer. When do you get your gold shield?

Originally Posted by SethPDX

He's not even the only one on his crew. Bill Miller was doing the same thing when he had the plate.

Yes, Bill Miller was quite the Chatty Cathy back there. He makes me look like Silent Bob.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by luvthegame

And in the same inning McMouth (McCarver) had to correct himself 3 times...and he gets to write down and practice his judgements (facts) before hand!!

Yeah, maybe they need instant replay in the damn booth for those bozos, who make many more mistakes than the worst umpires in the universe. Maybe these jokers should have to sit out the playoffs because of their poor performances. Then they would see what it's like.

[jkumpire]

This is a shame IMO.

After the regular season body of work that gets an umpire into the playoffs, it seems pretty rough to dump as guy because he made a bad call or two on TV. Even if the call is awful, one call does not a season make.

Some or most of the stuff going on around around these gross misses by MLB umpires is very justified. But if umpire X is good enough for a playoff series, he should be good enough for a WS assignment, even if he blows a call in the DS.

Now, I was too busy working games to see a lot of the DS's, but my impression is that none of these blown calls meant one team lost a game or a series. Even the misses in game 4 of the ALCS meant nothing to the game's ultimate outcome. If Tim C gets both calls right is the score 11-1 instead of 10-1? So what?

Don Denkinger's famous miss at 1B in game 6 of the 85 WS for the Royals is the only gross missed call that cost a team a game in a playoff or WS I can remember. Please pass along others if you remember them.

I get the feeling these two MLB umpires got dumped because MLB is trying to get the press off its back about the calls. If they were dumped from the WS crew because they were graded lower than other guys in the DS's, fine. But it sounds like from what I read, these guys are the people MLB is throwing into the jaws of the "gator" so MLB is the last one eaten alive by the press.

But having said all that, it is discouraging that the guys at the top of the profession are making themselves look bad in front of millions of people.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

Don Denkinger's famous miss at 1B in game 6 of the 85 WS for the Royals is the only gross missed call that cost a team a game in a playoff or WS I can remember.

Wrong. The Cardinals' piss-poor performance cost them game 6 and 7. Not the call.

[Ump153]

Originally Posted by MrUmpire

You don't remember his two plays at first?

Base umpiring screwups are catching more attention than plate work.

All these calls on the bases in the post season reminds of two of Evans favorite quotes:

The first, the ever popular, "Surpirse is an umpire's worst enemy."

The second and less known: "The grass is where the snakes live."

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by Matt

Wrong. The Cardinals' piss-poor performance cost them game 6 and 7. Not the call.

The call only cost them Game 6. Game 7 was lost due to piss poor performance. (I can't help but think of how Douglas C. Niedermeyer would say piss poor performance.)

[Fan10]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

Don Denkinger's famous miss at 1B in game 6 of the 85 WS for the Royals is the only gross missed call that cost a team a game in a playoff or WS I can remember. Please pass along others if you remember them.

Rich Garcia not calling fan interference on Jeter's fly ball that was turned into a home run.

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by Matt

Wrong. The Cardinals' piss-poor performance cost them game 6 and 7. Not the call.

His call in game 6 caused the Cards total collapse in game 7?

WOW!

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

His call in game 6 caused the Cards total collapse in game 7?

WOW!

Don't you know? Denkinger put on Joaquin Andujar's uniform and smashed a urinal after getting pulled down 11-0 in the fifth inning. Or was he Bret Saberhagen tossing a 5-hitter?

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

After the regular season body of work that gets an umpire into the playoffs, it seems pretty rough to dump as guy because he made a bad call or two on TV. Even if the call is awful, one call does not a season make.

Some or most of the stuff going on around around these gross misses by MLB umpires is very justified. But if umpire X is good enough for a playoff series, he should be good enough for a WS assignment, even if he blows a call in the DS.

And for the teams too. Just because they got beaten in the first round is no reason to ban them from the second round. Right?

Basketball and football officials have to earn their way to the next round. Why should MLB do it differently?

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by Fan10

Rich Garcia not calling fan interference on Jeter's fly ball that was turned into a home run.

and the Baltimore Orioles were never the same after that 1996 incident......and it still stands to this day......

An interesting update on Mr. Jeffrey Maier from Wikipedia

In 2006, he became Wesleyan University's career hits leader and was featured on ESPN. The New York Times reported that Maier hoped for a career in baseball. That spring, the Washington Post and MLB.com reported that, ironically, the Baltimore Orioles might draft him----though the team denied ever having an interest in him. [7] Maier was also invited to a tryout for a number of prospects, held by the New York Yankees. However, he was not selected by any team in the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

....but my impression is that none of these blown calls meant one team lost a game or a series. ...

How can you say that? Cuzzi's blown call cost the Twins the chance to stage a comeback from a piss-poor performance! It was all Cuzzi's fault!

Seriously, though, whether or not this is a PR move by MLB, it was needed, IMO. So far, the post season is being remembered more for the umpires' blown calls than the players' great plays.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by JJ

Anyone else notice tonight's PU "commenting" on just about every pitch? Doesn't say "ball", says "no, that's down" kind of stuff. Glad to know I'm not the only one who does that, though I don't think I do it NEARLY as frequently.
It would be interesting to watch a game with that PU microphone up loud enough to hear throughout...
JJ

Yesterday: a dozen or so close pitches, I said "Ball, low" once when a pitch grazed the corner. I said "No, ball" when a batter barely started his hands at a high one and I didn't want to even hear a request for an appeal (even though there was a U3 to call it). And I said "Ball, in" once when there might have been a question as to whether it was low or inside.

The catcher should be able to know the adjustment that has to be made if it's a question of whether it's missing the bottom or the edge of the zone. But I don't like to, nor I am not inclined to detail every close one.

Now there's an NCAA Pac 10 umpire who calls out location on every ball he calls. ... "Ball, in!" ... "Ball, up!" And he does it loudly, just like you would on a close and critical ball call. On one call in the first inning, he didn't even call "Ball," he said, "Bring it up!"

So, now that he's the center of attention, his misses are far more glaring.

[gordon30307]

Correct me if I'm wrong but MLB it seems to be the only major sport where the officials have virtually lifetime employment. It's about time someone paid the price for making such lousy calls in the post season. If every year or two someone was let go or demoted because of poor performance during the season it would force them to work harder to keep their job. You know like the rest of us in the real world.

[zm1283]

The Cardinals actually collapsed at the end of Game 6 as well as in Game 7.