Comments on last night(6/29/15) game. "Pace" and poor umpiring

[1968_bills_fan]

With MLB putting in encouragements to speed up the game, pitchers are coming to the plate quicker and likewise batters. The Rangers were smart enough to ntoice this and used some ploys to break up the Orioles routine and it helped them. Several times theyr batters asked for time just as Norris was starting his windup. (A little league tactic!). When the Oriooles had a rally started, they held a mound conference with the pitching coach hidden inside of 6 players and the manager talking face to face with the B&S ump to keep him in place. That gave about 30 second for the ump to get around the manager and 10 second to unwravel the crowd around the pitcher- they couldn't see the ump coming. Later the catcher claimed to have gotten hit in the nuts (no cup?) and needed to squat behind the pitching rubber for a minute and then have a warm up session. That ump got taken, as did the O's.

In soccer there would have been a couple of red cards- in beball, what I would have done is changed the size of each team's strike zone for 2 inning to send the message.

Tht ump also had a weird and cahgable strike zone. He was calling low thrown balls by their height 10 feet in front of the plate. From the side you could clearly see the ball going by at shin height and the right hand going up. Uggg. Anyway it didn't matter. Our pitcher though he was warming up the home run derby batters for the all-star break.

[mdbdotcom]

He's had a weird and changeable strike zone since before Alomar spit on him. Obviously, that didn't help.

[weams]

He's had a weird and changeable strike zone since before Alomar spit on him. Obviously, that didn't help.

Roch Kubatko

Orioles couldn't catch a break from Hirschbeck, who would have called a strike if the ball were rolled to the plate.

Pearce and Ryan Flaherty were just two of the Orioles who openly showed their disgust, which is unusual coming from them.

"Nobody is mild-mannered. They're just respectful of the game. They get frustrated, too," Showalter said.

"Certain umpires come in with a reputation for hunting strikes, so you have to take advantage of it on both sides of the ball. I've known John a long time. There are so many pitches during a game that can go ball or strike. We had some people that had real credibility. It's frustrating for them, especially when you're trying to get back in that game."

[Can_of_corn]

Shame the O's didn't have a pitcher on the mound that could take proper advantage of the strike zone.

[clapdiddy]

Shame the O's didn't have a pitcher on the mound that could take proper advantage of the strike zone.

Yup...he was calling the low strike for Bud, too. Bud just couldn't find it.

[Going Underground]

Also the catcher was in pain. You don't want to slow down your pitcher that much.

[Camden_yardbird]

The catcher was credibly injured. We (as sports fans) need to stop getting on the case of credibly injured players. I makes me physically sick when I hear the crowd boo an injured player in the NFL because they think they might be stopping a hurry up offense. Sometimes they are, but as fans we do not know the real truth in most cases.

[Morgan423]

In case anyone was curious, here's the pitch fx from Hirschbeck in yesterday's game. We all knew he was awful in real time last night, but here's the actual evidence. Pretty ugly.

www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=6&day=29&year=2015&game=gid_2015_06_29_texmlb_balmlb_1%2F&prevDate=0629

[Phantom]

The fact that we still have humans calling balls and strikes is completely idiotic.

[DrungoHazewood]

The fact that we still have humans calling balls and strikes is completely idiotic.

I'm fully in favor of robot umps calling balls and strikes, but I actually think the tracking systems have improved the umps' performances. By my hazy recollection I think games like last night used to be more the rule than the exception.

[DrungoHazewood]

In case anyone was curious, here's the pitch fx from Hirschbeck in yesterday's game. We all knew he was awful in real time last night, but here's the actual evidence. Pretty ugly.

www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=6&day=29&year=2015&game=gid_2015_06_29_texmlb_balmlb_1%2F&prevDate=0629

Hey, he only called 21 balls strikes, and a handful of strikes balls. That's the human element that makes baseball so special!

[25 Nuggets]

I'm fully in favor of robot umps calling balls and strikes, but I actually think the tracking systems have improved the umps' performances. By my hazy recollection I think games like last night used to be more the rule than the exception.

I'm in favor of more young umpires that train using tracking systems. Hirschbeck should retire.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Other than that last pitch to Flaherty, which was a good 3 inches off the plate, they all looked to be strikes by what pitch track was showing. The only one they didn't show was Reimold's walk which lit off Ridriguez. I guess you can argue that the lower part of the strike zone was still ridiculous and there were a lot on the edge/borderline but I didn't think he was inconsistent.

One thing I didn't like was TEX hitters requesting and being granted so many timouts which clearly bothered Norris.

[El Gordo]

They should give a pair of Google glasses to a chimp and train him to raise his right arm if the pitch fx shows a strike. Then suit him up and let him call a game.

[Camden_yardbird]

I'm in favor of more young umpires that train using tracking systems. Hirschbeck should retire.

This. Get guys in the league who have come up through the system with pitch tracking. I would hate baseball if a robot called balls and strikes. One of the things that makes a great pitching performance fun to watch is a pitcher taking advantage of the SMALL variation in an umps strike zone. When you are calling pitches inches off the plate strikes and not keeping a consistent zone, then you are a problem.

There needs to be some accountability for the umps. That's tough to get with the union.