2024 MLB Season Corner

[ghost of miles]

On 4/22/2024 at 7:10 PM, JSngry said:

That was a bit odd!

You can say that again:

Boone ejected for fan’s remark

Ridiculous. One thing for the ump to initially think that Boone was defying him, another thing to double down on his mistake. 

 

 

On 4/22/2024 at 12:27 AM, GA Russell said:

 

Amusing there, but maddening in general. I’ve already seen waaaay too many badly-blown calls 20+ games into the season. The sooner we get robo-ump for balls and strikes, the better. 

[JSngry]

Robots? I'd rather have humans up their game. Is that asking too much?

[Dan Gould]

4 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

The sooner we get robo-ump for balls and strikes, the better. 

Disagree and if umps have any say in such a change, they should resist. 

I'd accept a challenge system but no "do your strikeout motion NOW" in their ears.  Umps are not supposed to be judged on their strike calling on pitches within a ball's width of the edge of the zone and that is fine by me. Correcting that technologically isn't needed AFIAC,

[soulpope]

https://www.mlb.com/news/blake-snell-lands-on-15-day-injured-list

This Scott Boras gamble really "pays off" ....

[JSngry]

 

• White Sox 2024 Record 3-21, worst 24-game start in White Sox history (beating out 1948, at 4-19-1), tied with three teams for second-worst in MLB history
• White Sox 2024 Run Differential -82, tied for seventh-worst 24-game start in MLB history
• White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 20-142 (.125)
• Race to the Worst-Ever White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 32 1⁄2 games ahead
• Race to the Most-Ever White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 36 games ahead
• Race to the Worst-Ever American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 18 games ahead
• Race to the Worst-Ever MLB Record (1899 Spiders, 21-141*) 1 game ahead *record adjusted to a 162-game season

That from the South Side Sox SBN site.

[ghost of miles]

Jim Bowden at the Athletic lists his ten biggest disappointments of the young season so far, and bad umpiring clocks in at number 3:

3. Umpires making headlines because of egregious mistakes

We have never had a more talented group of umpires in the history of the game. Instant replay has been a huge success and evaluating umpires has never been more precise. That’s why it’s so disappointing that umpires Angel Hernandez and Hunter Wendelstedt stood out for all the wrong reasons in the season’s first month. First up was Hernandez, who on April 12 made a series of laughable calls behind the plate during an at-bat by Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning, Langford didn’t swing at single pitch from Astros righty J.P. France, watching all five he faced land significantly outside the strike zone. Ball 1 was in the dirt, Ball 2 was high and outside, “Ball 3” was way outside, “Ball 4” was farther outside and “Ball 5” was even farther outside. Hernandez called the last three strikes. Everyone misses calls, but not like this. Did Hernandez decide to let a rookie know who was boss, that he would decide the strike zone rather than go by the rule book? Who knows with Hernandez, who has a well-deserved reputation as one of the least accurate umpires of all time. This was a total embarrassment to the integrity of the sport, and why Hernandez hasn’t been fired or paid to go away is beyond me.

 

Even worse than that was what took place during the Yankees-A’s game on Monday when Wendelstedt, the home plate umpire, ejected manager Aaron Boone because he heard a fan heckle him and thought it was Boone. TV cameras supported the account of Boone, who said he didn’t say anything to deserve the ejection. After the game, Wendelstedt doubled down on Boone’s ejection, saying, “Apparently what he said was there was a fan right above the dugout. This isn’t my first ejection. In the entirety of my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said. I understand that’s going to be part of a story or something like that because that’s what Aaron was portraying. He’s the manager of the Yankees. So, he’s the one that had to go.”

Wait, what? Now you’re accusing the manager of lying and you’re misrepresenting the situation? Apparently Wendelstedt didn’t know YES Network had a camera trained on Boone that showed he said nothing and another camera on the fan in the front row who made the comment. Wendelstedt should have been suspended and fined a day’s pay for this egregious mistake as well as his response.

Three straight balls well out of the zone--certainly more than a ball's width--and Hernandez called them all strikes.  No reason for this nonsense anymore, given the available technology.  Some fans carried on when replay was introduced, saying it would slow down the game, erode the "romance" of legendary bad blown calls, etc.  Instead we have a game today where egregious mistakes can be easily corrected, and a system in place that keeps the replay tactic from being overused. If some sort of modification, perhaps similar to Dan's suggested challenge approach, is necessary to bring robo-ump to use, then by all means implement it.  I'm so sick of seeing numerous blown calls in games, and there's really no excuse for them continuing.  I predict we'll have some form of robo-ump in the next couple of years.

[soulpope]

“During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball.”

— Mickey Mantle

[Dan Gould]

1 hour ago, soulpope said:

“During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball.”

— Mickey Mantle

For Reggie Jackson that's 4000 total with 2400 of them Ks.  2820 games.

[JSngry]

3 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Jim Bowden at the Athletic lists his ten biggest disappointments of the young season so far, and bad umpiring clocks in at number 3:

3. Umpires making headlines because of egregious mistakes

We have never had a more talented group of umpires in the history of the game. Instant replay has been a huge success and evaluating umpires has never been more precise. That’s why it’s so disappointing that umpires Angel Hernandez and Hunter Wendelstedt stood out for all the wrong reasons in the season’s first month. First up was Hernandez, who on April 12 made a series of laughable calls behind the plate during an at-bat by Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning, Langford didn’t swing at single pitch from Astros righty J.P. France, watching all five he faced land significantly outside the strike zone. Ball 1 was in the dirt, Ball 2 was high and outside, “Ball 3” was way outside, “Ball 4” was farther outside and “Ball 5” was even farther outside. Hernandez called the last three strikes. Everyone misses calls, but not like this. Did Hernandez decide to let a rookie know who was boss, that he would decide the strike zone rather than go by the rule book? Who knows with Hernandez, who has a well-deserved reputation as one of the least accurate umpires of all time. This was a total embarrassment to the integrity of the sport, and why Hernandez hasn’t been fired or paid to go away is beyond me.

 

Even worse than that was what took place during the Yankees-A’s game on Monday when Wendelstedt, the home plate umpire, ejected manager Aaron Boone because he heard a fan heckle him and thought it was Boone. TV cameras supported the account of Boone, who said he didn’t say anything to deserve the ejection. After the game, Wendelstedt doubled down on Boone’s ejection, saying, “Apparently what he said was there was a fan right above the dugout. This isn’t my first ejection. In the entirety of my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said. I understand that’s going to be part of a story or something like that because that’s what Aaron was portraying. He’s the manager of the Yankees. So, he’s the one that had to go.”

Wait, what? Now you’re accusing the manager of lying and you’re misrepresenting the situation? Apparently Wendelstedt didn’t know YES Network had a camera trained on Boone that showed he said nothing and another camera on the fan in the front row who made the comment. Wendelstedt should have been suspended and fined a day’s pay for this egregious mistake as well as his response.

Three straight balls well out of the zone--certainly more than a ball's width--and Hernandez called them all strikes.  No reason for this nonsense anymore, given the available technology.  Some fans carried on when replay was introduced, saying it would slow down the game, erode the "romance" of legendary bad blown calls, etc.  Instead we have a game today where egregious mistakes can be easily corrected, and a system in place that keeps the replay tactic from being overused. If some sort of modification, perhaps similar to Dan's suggested challenge approach, is necessary to bring robo-ump to use, then by all means implement it.  I'm so sick of seeing numerous blown calls in games, and there's really no excuse for them continuing.  I predict we'll have some form of robo-ump in the next couple of years.

I get it, but...

Have humans beings devolved to the point that they are unable to learn a real strike zone? Have they devolved to the point that they are unable to punish egregiously bad performance?

If they have, then ok. Robo away. But otherwise, make those motherfuckers do their job right.

[Dan Gould]

7 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I get it, but...

Have humans beings devolved to the point that they are unable to learn a real strike zone? Have they devolved to the point that they are unable to punish egregiously bad performance?

If they have, then ok. Robo away. But otherwise, make those motherfuckers do their job right.

Umps like Angel have proven their incompetence over many years. But you are also talking about a union gig. There is nothing they can do to get rid of him, and nothing they can do to make him get better.

 

 

[JSngry]

Then they are bringing robo-ing on themselves.

[JSngry]

I mean, hey, I am very pro-union. But I am also very much in favor of taking care of your own business and stopping blatant suckage. Because ownership is lazy and will just let things suck more and more to the point that fans will demand the robots and, you know, give the fans what they want. Now, ok, you've begun to make yourself expendable. Way to go!

Where is the fucking pride? Where is the god-damned discipline?

Dude, where's my car?

[Dan Gould]

Too bad it's not a nationwide broadcast but the Cubs are visiting the Red Sox and tonight it's Imanaga, the 30 year old Japanese star with  an 0.84 ERA across four starts (0.75 WHIP) vs Kutter Crawford, the unlikely MLB leader in ERA at 0.66 across five starts (0.99 WHIP).

Edited April 26 by Dan Gould

[Dan Gould]

Did Ted Williams' homer off the red seat really go 502 feet?

Nope, it was longer than that

The key to understanding (and the foolishness behind people like Mo Vaugnn, David Ortiz and Tristan Casas claiming it must be a legend and it didn't happen) is

A) it was a really windy day blowing out to RF

B) Fenway didn't have a second deck back then and it was riding the wind before it left the infield.

[GA Russell]

 

[JSngry]

 

[Dan Gould]

I'm sold

 

[HutchFan]

Certainly looks like the guy was cheating.  I've never seen a video analysis like this.  Pretty damning evidence.

OTOH, Gaylord Perry would be proud.

 

******************

Regarding poor umpiring and the missed balls and strikes:  I think it's inevitable that robots will eventually be making those calls.  It's a shame to take the people out of the equation, but this is something that could easily be solved with technology.   The desire for greater accuracy will drive the change, just like the desire for greater accuracy led to video replays.

I haven't really decided whether it's a good thing or not.  But I think it's gonna happen.

 

Edited Tuesday at 04:14 PM by HutchFan

[Dan Gould]

18 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

 

 

******************

Regarding poor umpiring and the missed balls and strikes:  I think it's inevitable that robots will eventually be making those calls.  It's a shame to take the people out of the equation, but this is something that could easily be solved with technology.   The desire for greater accuracy will drive the change, just like the desire for greater accuracy led to video replays.

I haven't really decided whether it's a good thing or not.  But I think it's gonna happen.

 

If it does, I'd like a discussion about what constitutes crossing the strike zone.

Maybe I am inventing a difference, but tennis can have its microscopic touching of the edge of the line and its overruled, ball was "in." I'd love to see baseball adopt, should they use robo-calls of balls/strikes, a "a majority of the ball" standard.

[HutchFan]

22 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

If it does, I'd like a discussion about what constitutes crossing the strike zone.

Maybe I am inventing a difference, but tennis can have its microscopic touching of the edge of the line and its overruled, ball was "in." I'd love to see baseball adopt, should they use robo-calls of balls/strikes, a "a majority of the ball" standard.

Dan, I don't think you're inventing a difference.  That's definitely something that would have to be worked out and agreed upon.  The decision would definitely have big implications for the game.    

I can easily imagine pitchers wanting one definition & the hitters wanting another.

 

As a longtime Braves fan, it's interesting to imagine how pitchers like Tom Glavine & Greg Maddux would fare with a robot calling balls and strikes, given the way that they constantly "nibbled" on the outside edges of the plate.  I bet HALF (or more!) of their pitches that were called strikes would be balls -- even if the definition of a strike was only "barely touching."  . . .  I know that, over the last few years, the MLB has tried to narrow the strike zone (and extend it upward), but a machine would eliminate those sorts of cultural conventions, make the standard closer to objective.  . . .  Again, I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not.

 

[JSngry]

Who does the Braves radio games? Listened to them last night and it was a (mostly) delightfully(?) retro experience, reeking of Vitalis. I halfway expected commercials for Schlitz & Texaco!

I still say that Oakland's radio guys are super chill. Wouldn't trade them for Eric Nadel, but hey.

[GA Russell]

Dodgers play an entire game without striking out once for the first time since 2006 (msn.com)

[JSngry]

7 hours ago, GA Russell said:

Dodgers play an entire game without striking out once for the first time since 2006 (msn.com)

That game was also delayed because of bees!

[Dan Gould]

Just now, JSngry said:

That game was also delayed because of bees!

And played only because of an emergency bee keeper call-out.

I find it amusing they played "Holding Out for a Hero" and it was certainly appropriate for an impromptu ceremonial first pitch by the man of the hour. He looked young and fit and I thought he would fire one in there but alas ...

[Dan Gould]

Woh .... Yankees going up against Burnes to avoid a sweep by the O's.

Now I've done it and the bats will probably come to life. 😟