Post Season Boo Boos

[Cobra]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

They are expected to blow a call like McClelland's, Cuzzi's or Bucknor's (all easy calls for any umpire) zero percent of the time.

Good thing we have such a smart guy like you here to let us know which calls are difficult enough to be missed.

[SethPDX]

Originally Posted by Cobra

Good thing we have such a smart guy like you here to let us know which calls are difficult enough to be missed.

I have to agree with Kevin regarding McClelland. The missed DP at 3B was bad enough. The appeal play on the sacrifice fly was just atrocious.

There were plenty of missed calls you would not expect from a major league umpire this postseason.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by Cobra

Good thing we have such a smart guy like you here to let us know which calls are difficult enough to be missed.

It was a general citation, not just mine.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Cobra

Good thing we have such a smart guy like you here to let us know which calls are difficult enough to be missed.

You are correct even though you are trying to be sarcastic. If you knew 1/4 of the baseball this man does, you would know more than the majority of people do. If you had ever sat down and discussed baseball at length with him, as I have, you wouldn't smart off.

[Kevin Finnerty]

A tip of the creased, black six-stitch to you, sir.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

A tip of the creased, black six-stitch to you, sir.

I'm hoping to break you of creasing your caps one day, Kevin.

Hope you have a Happy New year!

[Cobra]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

You are correct even though you are trying to be sarcastic. If you knew 1/4 of the baseball this man does, you would know more than the majority of people do. If you had ever sat down and discussed baseball at length with him, as I have, you wouldn't smart off.

I don't care how much baseball anyone knows, that doesn't mean anything when it comes to sports officiating. It is obvious that he doesn't understand officiating by reading what he wrote.

In the real world officials are expected to get calls incorrect. Any time that an official actually has to make a decision there is a chance that it will not be the right one. Certain calls are easier than others but there are no calls which are so easy that the odds of the official getting it incorrect are 0%.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Cobra

In the real world officials are expected to get calls incorrect. Any time that an official actually has to make a decision there is a chance that it will not be the right one.

You are correct, and this is irrelevant to what was actually said.

Originally Posted by Cobra

Certain calls are easier than others but there are no calls which are so easy that the odds of the official getting it incorrect are 0%.

Get a dictionary. He never said that the odds of those particular calls being missed was 0% (and as someone who loves stats, it's a pet peeve of mine to display odds as percentages.) He said the expectation was to blow the call 0% of the time.

Do you expect to get into an accident when you drive your car, or do you realize there's a chance?

[kylejt]

Originally Posted by Cobra

In the real world officials are expected to get calls incorrect.

No, we're expected to get every call correct. We're expected to be perfect, and then improve from there. That's Umpiring 101. Every umpire knows this, and that's what make our profession so difficult (and cool).

Heck, if we were expected to make mistakes, anyone would do this.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by kylejt

No, we're expected to get every call correct.

I don't agree with this. We know that we'll miss some. Every manager I've talked to in this regard has said that they expect calls to be missed occasionally. Now, this is in the general sense, because no one expects a particular call to be incorrect, but this whole idea that people expect us to be perfect just doesn't ring true.

[Ump153]

Originally Posted by kylejt

No, we're expected to get every call correct. We're expected to be perfect, and then improve from there. That's Umpiring 101. Every umpire knows this, and that's what make our profession so difficult (and cool).

No, that's better described as a whine.

Professional umpires receive good ratings when they meet the expectation of 95% accuracy.

I'd wager that McClelland and other MLB umpires the experts here b!tch about meet that criteria regardless of their much publicized errors.

[Cobra]

Originally Posted by kylejt

No, we're expected to get every call correct. We're expected to be perfect, and then improve from there. That's Umpiring 101. Every umpire knows this, and that's what make our profession so difficult (and cool).

Heck, if we were expected to make mistakes, anyone would do this.

Who is expecting that? Fans, TV announcers? They don't know anything about officiating; see my post above.

The reality is that calls will be made incorrectly. No call is so easy that it will never be made incorrectly.

[kylejt]

Originally Posted by Cobra

Who is expecting that?

Everyone. Everyone is expecting us to be perfect. Just like every routine ground ball to Jeter is expected to be handled.

But we aren't perfect. And that's part of the allure of the game. If it weren't for our accepted imperfection, we'd be replaced be radar equipped robots and instant replay tomorrow.

There's a big difference between expectations and acceptance. They expect us to be perfect, but accept that we aren't. And that's why they boo.

[Ump153]

Originally Posted by Cobra

I don't care how much baseball anyone knows, that doesn't mean anything when it comes to sports officiating. It is obvious that he doesn't understand officiating by reading what he wrote.

In the real world officials are expected to get calls incorrect. Any time that an official actually has to make a decision there is a chance that it will not be the right one. Certain calls are easier than others but there are no calls which are so easy that the odds of the official getting it incorrect are 0%.

Some of the worst umpires I've met were experts on baseball.

[SethPDX]

Originally Posted by Cobra

Certain calls are easier than others but there are no calls which are so easy that the odds of the official getting it incorrect are 0%.

Some of the calls that were missed this postseason were easy, and the probability of them being missed was very close to 0%. Not many people watching would have (or should have) expected those misses.

And by reading Kevin's posts I would say he understands umpiring just fine.