Why not get mad...the pitch was a worse than Eric Gregg right handed batters box calls.

(Maybe they were just a reminder to Livan Hernandez of just how bad those calls were.)

How many times does a hitter have to except such a obviously inept call by a major league umpire. Players are graded in so many ways on their performance and umpires can make a bad call like that and punish the player for erupting in frustration.

Henski had a series in Chicago in which he hit several shots that were right at people. So yes he was very frustrated tonight.

pretty sure if the bat crosses the plate you swung. Otherwise you would never miss a bunt, the bat was parallel and crossed the plate. That, my friend, is a swing.

The bunt has to be pulled back as the ball crosses the plate, or it is a swing. I can't believe I had to explain that to you. And btw if you twist and your bat goes across the plate, that is a swing too.

Nope, sure isn't. The also look at the hands a lot more than the bat. Either way, I've seen players extend the bat a half foot further than that and it be called a check swing. It was a horrible call and shady officiating and EVERYONE here but you shares the same view.

"Why not get mad...the pitch was a worse than Eric Gregg right handed batters box calls."

pretty close..
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o122/gunzen31/OMFG.jpg

"Nope, sure isn't. The also look at the hands a lot more than the bat. Either way, I've seen players extend the bat a half foot further than that and it be called a check swing. It was a horrible call and shady officiating and EVERYONE here but you shares the same view."

This is a judgement call for an umpire, and crossing the plate is used as a tool for that decision. His hands have nothing to do with it.

If a batter's bat crosses the plate while trying to stop his swing, and the ump deems he could not have stopped without doing so, it is a strike. This is the case, you cannot stop the swing by rollong your hands through the strike zone by a foot, it will get called.

That my friend is a strike call 99% of the time. BTW thanks for speaking for everyone else in the world.

"The Major League Baseball rulebook doesn't contain an official definition for a checked swing; it is the decision of the umpire presiding. Generally, factors such as whether the bat passes the front of the plate or the batter pulls his wrists back are considered in the ruling. Some umpires prefer to use the "breaking of the wrists" as the method to decide a checked swing."

Since it's not in the rulebook, it's entirely up to the discretion of the umpire as to whether or not it's a checked swing.

So it's not necessarily whether the bat crosses the plate. Some umpires use that in their discretionary decision and others use whether or not a batter broke his wrists.

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Edited 5/12/2012 2:08 am ET by brrichmond

Exactly, read the post I submitted before yours. When you roll through the plate to keep from swinging it gets called. You are correct in saying it is a judgement call, but if you bring your bat past the plate in an effort not to swing, you are gonna lose 9/10 times.

there is also no rule that says a tie goes to the runner, or that the hand is part of the bat, or that a runner has to turn right at first. These are all guidelines. And running your bat a foot past home is a strike to an ump, and it should be.

hey

shut up

what ever happened to Pete Orr???
he use to be a "top prospect" when he played for the Braves.

I feel most UMPS are guided by the "breaking of the wrists" doctrine.
Hinske was screwed, based on that.

I figured Hinske blew a fuse because the ump didn't ask for help. The 3B ump has the better angle. If it is close the home plate ump will always ask for help but on that play the home plate ump just rang him up. I think that is what really set Hinske off.

He swung, and he said after the game he didn't. I think what pissed him off was he blew it, and he was probably frustrated.

Sometimes guys get that call, but most time they don't, and if he would have gotten help, he would have been run. His whole body went forward like a foot past the plate.

The homeplate umpire should really never make that call on their own, they have an awful angle to see it, no reason to not ask for help.

Its not a swing. Ive never even seen anyone think that a swing was the bat crossing the plate, that is false. Its idiotic. Then everyone would just stand as far back in the box as they could and they would have a ton of leeway.

That is the biggest myth in baseball...so if you're in the front of the box your bat can cross the plate by barely lifting it off your shoulder, likewise if you're in the back you can take almost a full swing and the bat not cross the plate.

He was NOT in the front of the box, he was toward the back at least a foot and a half to two feet behind the zone.

Look where he started, and where he finished. His whole body moved from a foot behind the plate for the middle, and his hands bat were two feet behind the plate, and wound up a foot past.

The white line is his chin. I love Eric, but you cant move your whole body and bat through the zone and not expect to get called for swinging.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o122/gunzen31/Untitled-29.jpg

so if Im standing in the back of the box, and move to in front of the plate without taking the bat off my shoulder, you're calling a strike? both the bat and my body went through. Even the Cardinals broadcast thought that was a bad call.

He did take his bat off his shoulder, what are you saying. He brought his bat and body all the way through the zone. He swung. Why would you say "If I didn't take my bat off the shoulder"????

It is a judgement call, and if you bring your arms, bat and body 2-3 feet forward and through the zone, you are gonna get called for a swing. My goodness, how much clearer can it be?

again...

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o122/gunzen31/Untitled-29.jpg

He brought hos whole upper body at least 3 feet through the zone. He swung, and at the very least it was not a reason to throw a fit.

I don't care what the announcers said, they didn't take the time to break down the film. Trust me that ump is not feeling bad about that call. If that was the other way around, and that was Kimbrel/Beltran, you would be screaming bloody murder that he swung and brought the bat/his hands/and his body through the zone.

I have no idea how that cant be a swing.

Looks like he checked his swing to me. I've always been under the impression that as long as the bat doesn't go in front of your hands, it's not a swing. I don't think where you're standing in the batter's box at the point of the check has anything to do with it.

His wrists didn't break on the "swing." Clearly looked like a check swing to me.

I think what made it worse was that the home ump was so quick and didn't check to the 3rd base ump.