Bad Officiating | Righting The Wrong in Sports Officiating » MLB

It is Official: Umpires Have ruined baseball & The World Series

refpolice — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:35:15 +0000

Please submit your resignation Bud Selig, because this website will not rest until you do and pay for the crimes you have committed against baseball. Had instant replay been in use tonight in Game 2 of the World Series, the false double-play in the bottom of the seventh would have been overturned and the Yankees would have added to their 3-1 lead and salted away the win. Good god, if you need a hint, how about Ryan Howard running to step on first base? He certainly knew he didn’t catch that soft line, and we all did too. It took about 20 seconds for the video to come up and verify what had happened. How would that slow down the game? Then, very the same first base umpire Jeff Nelson gave it right back by missing another call in the top of the 8th. Had the correct call been made on that play, it would have brought up Ryan Howard with 2 men on base. Instead, we as fans sit back and wonder why we keep watching.

Ugly Night for Umps in Anaheim

refpolice — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:12:59 +0000

Fortunately for Tim McLelland and the rest of the umpiring crew at last night’s game 4 between the Yankees & Angels, the Yankees ran up the score and the bad calls didn’t impact the game’s outcome. But the sad and troubling fact remains: video replay is exposing not just inconsistent strike zones, but flat out missed tags and blown calls from tag-ups and base stealing to tags and foul balls. What’s more, the fans and commentators are have grown tired of it and are silently wondering: “Why do we need those extra umps in left and right field during the playoffs? The only thing they’re looking at are foul pole hits and fan intervention stuff, play that video can call more accurately than the human eye.” Bud Selig needs to let video replay into the game before human error changes a game’s outcome.

Utley’s Check Swing Hit Latest Missed Call in MLB Playoffs

refpolice — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:55:26 +0000

As if freezing their asses off weren’t enough to drive Rockies fans and players crazy, they had to accept Chase Utley’s foul ball as a hit in the ninth inning of a crucial tie game 3 last night tin Denver. Utley fouled a pitch off his knee and ran to first base where he wa rules safe. Not only was he out at first, but the play shouldn’t have been allowed to begin with. At a time when good officiating is essential to the overall experince, fans are seeing blown calls at first base, questionable and inconsistent strike zones, and totally missed fair/foul balls calls that are having serious impacts on game situations and game outcomes. Maybe this is the year MLB finally does something about it.

Questionable Strikezone at Fenway: Sox win, Angels get Screwed

refpolice — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:12:37 +0000

In a potential playoff preview, the Angels got a preview of what kind of treatment visiting teams get at Fenway. With bases loaded, two outs and a full count in the ninth and the Angles clinging to a 1-run lead, Halos reliever Brian Fuentes delivered a pitch straight down the middle (obviously) and batter Nick Green took it. Call strike 3 game over right? Nope, not even close. Home Plate umpire Rick Reed shocked everyone watching by calling ball 4, tying run score and the next batter blooped in the game winner. Mike Scioscia was incredulous as were lots of viewers as they replayed the pitch on national TV, framed squarely in the the strike zone. This followed a questionable check swing called ball earlier in the at-bat. This was a gift and even MLB.com is saying he blew the call. Andrew Siciliano says as I write this that the Red Sox get more preferential calls than any other team in all of sports, and it is hard to argue with him.

Colorado Rockies Allege Umpire Name Calling During Game

refpolice — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:12:12 +0000

You’d think the Colorado Rockies would be pleased about beating wildcard rival San Francisco in extra inning in Denver on Monday night, but they weren’t. According to some of his Rocky teammates, catcher Yorvit Torrealba was called derogatory names by second base umpire Bill Miller while Torrealba was a baserunner late in the game. In fact, the players were so angry and upset about the alleged slurs, that after the important win they waited around and confronted Miller about his behavior. MLB spokesperson and head disciplinarian said the league was looking into the incident. The game was already marred by both teams visibly and verbally complaining about home plate umpire Angel Campos strike zone through the game. Missing balls and strikes is one thing, outright slander is quite another.

Cuddyer Safe at Home, Blue Misses Call

refpolice — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:58:28 +0000

In a seesaw, back-and-forth game in Oakland last night, Michael Cuddyer scored the tying run from second base on a wild pitch. While replays were pretty clear, home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski punched him out. Naturally, Cuddyer wen berserk and Twins Skipper Ron Gardenhire had to restrain him. It seems to me, that if the replay rules allow for umpires to stop the game and review video to verify a meaningless 1st inning home run, they should also allow for umpires to review a potentially game outcome changing play as well. Cuddyer was safe and he had tied the game; no one disputes that. But MLB needs to figure out a way for this play to be reviewed. Maybe because of this they’ll finally get their act together and implement a functioning policy on instant replay.

AJ Burnett Suspension: the Wrong Guy

refpolice — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:20:41 +0000

AJ Burnett has always done the right thing. He’s always stood for up his teammates, but never put them in danger. Vicente Padilla on the other hand, is a well known jerk. In fact his own teammates hate him so much that they convinced management to request outright waivers. Translation: get this prick out of our locker room. Padilla is such a cancer in baseball, that respected analyst like Buck Showalter and Rick Sutcliffe don’t even bother hiding their disdain for the guy. So what does MLB’s front office do? They suspend Burnett for doing what every other self respecting pitcher would have done, he showed his teammates he had their back by thowing a purpose pitch. He didn’t even hit anyone. Padilla started it all by beaning, not just hitting, beaning his former teammate and currently the hottest hitter in baseball Mark Texiera not once but twice Tuesday night. Padilla has been fined, but the point is missed: If you’re going to suspend guys like Burnett, who by the way has never before been suspended, then why not preemptively suspend and fine guys like Josh Beckett, who routinely begins beanball wars without hitting anyone. In baseball the Book is just a guideline, and going by the book here is the wrong move.

Big Z Meltdown

refpolice — Thu, 28 May 2009 02:50:45 +0000

Carlos Zambrano is a large, short tempered, passionate player. But one thing we admire about him is that he knows when he’s right. He was right tonight when he followed his wild pitch to the plate, fielded a perfect throw from catcher Geovany Soto, blocked the plate from Nyjer Morgan trying to score from third and slapped a perfect tag on him. Home plate umpire Mark Carlson blew the play by calling Morgan safe, then prematurely thew Zambrano out after he protested. Big Z then got his money’s worth by blowing up and throwing Carlos out. Replays showed that Big Z was right, Morgan was out, and that Carlson positioned himself poorly to make the correct call.

It’s Enrico Pallazzo!!

refpolice — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:56:25 +0000

As I tuned into this year’s World Series between the Rays and Phillies, I began to hear myself say things to myself like “That looked like a balk to me.” And then “Boy, sure looked like he tagged him”. And then “Wow. Those look like strikes to me.” Finally I had it figured out, or so I thought. For sure Leslie Nielsen was going to take off his mask, stare into the camera and give that stupid look and I’d realize that I was watching the Naked Gun and not the 2008 World Series. But alas, this horrible one-sided display of poor officiating was and is real: Cole Hamels balked the tying run to second base with no out in the sisth inning of game one, but it wasn’t called and the runner was picked off. In game 4, Joe Blanton got the biggest strike zone I’ve ever seen, and Jeff Kasmir got squeezed all through his game 5 start. And in games 3 and 4 (I know because Fox showed a video montage of all of the bad calls), more bad calls, all against the Rays. Then there was the questionable handling of the weather in game 5. I’m not sure what I’ve been watching, but it sure doesn’t look anything like World Series baseball is supposed to look like.

Bad Baseball

refpolice — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:07:35 +0000

Maybe it’s because Derek Jeter isn’t kown as a guy who complains, or maybe it’s because the left field foul pole at Yankee Stadium does not line up with the left field baseline. Either way, the umpires reversed a Carlos Delgado home run by calling it foul instead, and it suggests that a renewed look at instant replay for certain kinds of plays might be worthwhile in baseball. It’s used in the NBA and NFL for non-judgement calls to establish correct clock time and sideline plays, and so it seems natural that baseball take a look at how it might be used in MLB. And if that isn’t enough, umpires somehow failed last night to see that an Alex Rodiruguez shot had cleared the fence by over 10 feet, and instead gave him double instead. Why is sports officiating getting worse instead of better?