Hope nobody is eating when they read the bottom of the lineup for today…. Betts RF Freeman 1B Martinez DH Muncy 3B Vargas 2B Peralta LF Heyward CF Taylor SS Barnes C Syndergaard P
Bases should have been loaded for Mookie. Call on 2-2 pitch to Smith should have been ball four. Hate ragging umpires (lament of losers), but that was ridiculous.
Indeed. Doing everything to make the game better, so to speak ( infinitely debatable ), but the most complained about aspect of baseball, from time immemorial, is balls and strikes, is left to fester in starkly in- your- face rampant incompetence. It's not a given that if Mookie walked instead of being punched out by that stroonz ump would have changed the final result, but it sure could have. And if you lose the division by one game, I guess a blatant bad call can really fuck up your whole season, effect money, playoff spots, etc., etc. Doesn't the challenge itself, in place for years, all but validate the contant "getting it wrong" by umpires ? We were all told it was implemented initially so the game ventured to " get it right" at all costs. Considering if "the human element" is so sacred, and is the main reason it hasn't happened yet, then why does that particular element suck so badly ? Bunch of fucking hypocrites.
Okay, so what weak-ass lineup is Roberts going to stick Kershaw with today? Actually, since Barnes played yesterday, maybe Clayton will get a real catcher this start.