carpet behind home

[gsf23]

Just wanted to get some opinions on this issue. I played in a tourney in Plam Springs and at all their fields the have a piece of carpet behind home that the ball has to hit in order for it to be a strike.

Personally I hated it, and as an umpire I don't think I would ever work a field that had that. Yeah it cut down on the arguing, but the games took forever with all the walks. I also feel it takes all the discretion from the umpire. I know one of the things I will do with a struggling pitcher is maybe give him a strike or two that aren't really strikes, just to try to get him going and the game moving, with the carpet you can't do that. If it is a real windy day, I may expand the zone a little bit, can't do that there.

Just seems to me that it wouldn't be any fun to umpire and you could tell the umps there were bored out of their minds. I mean you don't even have to watch the pitch, just need to look down and see if it hit the mat.