Last night was maybe the worst strike zone in the history of baseball, at least given the high profile of the game. At least it was pretty equally bad for both teams, but it was embarrassing. I don't know that I agree that the national broadcasters never draw attention to it - I think they do, though perhaps less directly than local guys do. One reason is that there has been some pushback from umpires that the technology is either inaccurate (less true these days I think) or unfair, in that it does not take into account how the pitch appears to the umpire. As the cliche goes, the real criticism is when the umpire is inconsistent - last night we not only saw clear strikes being called balls, be we saw the same borderline pitch being called ball or strike, sometimes in the same inning.
I am totally against going to any kind of electronic strike zone however - just as I remain strongly opposed to instant replay in baseball (at least in its current form). A ball or strike should always be understood as existing in the eye of the human behind the plate, not in some absolute, hypothetical eye of God (or a computer). Human beings throw the pitch; they catch the pitch; they try to hit the pitch. Evaluation of the pitch must always remain at that human level. Yes, that means there will always be error and inconsistency - that is humanity, and that is the charm and magic of baseball. On Wed, Nov 2, 2016 at 12:35 PM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Tue, Nov 1, 2016 at 12:38 PM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > >> It's well known that each umpire has his own strike zone and ball/strike >> calls can be very subjective. Some people call for an electronic strike >> zone so calls can be consistent and accurate while others want to preserve >> the human aspect of the game. As a result the PitchTrax could show that a >> called strike was clearly out of the strike zone, or vice versa, and the TV >> announcer won't call attention to it. If he says anything, it will be that >> the pitcher has to learn this ump's strike zone. >> > > This is one of my biggest gripes of national baseball broadcasters: no one > will outright say that an umpire has botched a strike/ball call. One thing > that's worth noting is that we've done a full rotation of the umpires, > meaning Larry Vanover will be behind the plate tonight. He called Game 1, > and to say he had a horrible night is an understatement. Fox repeatedly > showed called strikes clearly outside the zone, which he proceeded to > seemingly make up with a strike call for a ball that was four ball widths > outside. And yet Buck and Smoltz refused to outright say that these calls > were bad, preferring to dance around the issue. It's not like these are > amateurs. You'd point out bad calls otherwise from other umpires. Admit > they kicked a few pitches. > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
