Not just the playoffs.
I said in "3 reasons not to watch M.L.B."
1. Umpires!!! I have only watched a very little of the playoffs because I could care less who wins, but it seems that every time I turn a game on there is a terrible call. As I said before we have known for years that the umpires were BAD. But now we can prove it and the people at MLB can do something about it. If they do not I predict that fans will become tired of bad calls deciding the outcome of games and start staying away.
As much as I am clamoring for instant replay, I'm willing to compromise. Jim Caple wrote an article about the umpiring so far in the playoffs and his solution was not to have a replay but just have an official in a booth upstairs watching the same game the rest of us are and have him overrule a call on the field based on what HE saw. No replay, no slo-mo, no multi angle extra viewings, and no time wasted. Just an ump and his eyes on the screen.
The play at third with Cano and Posada, especially, could have been called in 3 seconds flat by an umpire in the booth. If McClellen had a bad angle on it, or didn't see it clearly, or whatever, then he's blind. I saw it pretty darned easily on my TV in real time, and I'm sure an umpire could too.
I agree.
Not only those MLB umps often make blatant mistakes, but very few of them have the guts to admit the mistakes like McClellum did after the game.
Aside from those obvious mistakes, their GIGANTIC egos are just equally pathetic.
"Are these umpires under the Yankee payroll?"
There have been several calls that have gone against the Yankees. TWICE in the past few weeks, Nick Swisher was called out for leaving third base early on a tag play. Neither time did he actually leave early. That cost the Yankees two outs and two runs.
Look, I'm sorry the Yankees make a lot of money, and then reinvest that money in their team. But the umpiring has just been bad across the boards. It's not like the Yankees are getting all the calls and their opponents have gotten none. And it's not like the umpiring has been bad in only the Yankees games. The Twins made the playoffs in part because an umpire missed a call. The Twins pitcher hit Brandon Inge with the bases loaded, and the ump missed the call. The umpiring was atrocious in the Red Sox - Angels series. The Phillies won a game in the NLDS because a ball off the bat of Chase Utley that struck Utley was ruled a hit instead of a foul ball.
"I don't know, if these ridiculous umpiring helped other teams besides the yankees, I'd be less suspicious with their intent."
I'm sick of people illogically blaming everything on the Yankees. The fact that umpires apparently can't see is not the Yankees' fault. Grow up.
>>I'm sick of people illogically blaming everything on the Yankees. The fact that umpires apparently can't see is not the Yankees' fault. Grow up.>>
This. There are lots of other irrational reasons to hate the Yankees, but "bad umpiring" isn't one of them.
The Yankees had a baserunner, Johnny Damon, called-out on a call last night where he was very clearly safe.
I don't know what the deal is, but you can't miss this many calls. They have to do something. I think they should get some of the older umps off the field, and add an extra ump in a "replay booth" sitting in the press box. He's in constant communication with the umps on the field. I think the umps would eventually rather a system that can fix some of their errors. You can't just keep having all of these missed calls.
The inept umps think they have union to back them up, so they think they are allowed to have huge ego while doing pathetic job.
The concept of union is really being abused badly, not just in baseball, but in other industries as well.
I don't think it's a union thing. Umpires have had egos well before the umpire's union was established. The mindset of the umpire is infallibility. It took them YEARS to allow the third or first base umpires to assist them on calling check swings; before that it was all the home plate umpire. It took them YEARS to start calling an actual strike zone somewhat close to the rule book; before that, six or seven inches off the plate? No problem!* And it took them YEARS to allow instant replay for home run calls.
They are slow to accept changes that they feel "undermines" their authority or reveals how bad they are at making calls.
*My dad told me a story about how Stan Musial once had a pitch called on him that was off the plate and away for a strike. Musial turned and held the bat to the umpire as if to give it to him and said "You hit that." He was ejected immediately.
"If they have sensors to locate a pitch thrown within one inch of the strike zone, why not use it behind home plate?"
Because stuff goes wrong with the system. Do you ever follow along on Gameday, and notice that for a batter or two, you're not getting the PFX data? Computers freeze. Cables go bad. A camera can get knocked out of place. Worse, the top and bottom of the strike zone are set by the person operating the system.
Right now, I think the best thing to do would be to have a replay umpire sitting in the booth who could overturn those calls that are just flagrantly and obviously wrong. The balls & strikes you have to live with until they can perfect the system, 'cause you can't just have a game stop because a computer crashed...
"Also, the umpires should undergo regular testing to make sure they can see correctly. "
There is no excuse if this isn't already done. A standard eye exam takes less than 15 minutes and doesn't even require a doctor to perform.
And the pathetic umpiring continues onto World Series with 2 blown calls in Game 2....
MLB should spend some of the millions they make to have their umps' eyes checked at least once a while.
What they need is a fifth umpire sitting in a replay booth who is in radio contact with the crew chief. ("Hey, Tim, that ball was trapped, not caught." "Hey, that runner beat the throw at first.")
I was against instant replay for a long time, but the amount of screw-ups we've seen kinda necessitate it.
