In 2014, I was early money on either going FULL roboumps or at least replacing the homeplate ump. And I'm a traditionalist and a conservative so that was a big switch for me. But in this era, where players outearn umps & refs by plenty (and that's league minimum), bad ball-strike results were bound to happen. In 1970, players and umps were paid a minimum of $12X per season each. Gradually, players got quantum pay raises, and tickets & merchandise shot up in price to match that. Ditto cable deals and the like. Not so with umpires. Now, it's 150K vs $740K (Again, minimums) ... I'm no socialist but I'm a pragmatic capitalist. That disparity will always generate tangible resentment and invariably, ego-driven spite. Not every ump or football ref expresses that frustration openly or ridiculously, but when these guys KNOW that umpscorecards exist and they still go full Angel Hernandez... something is wrong besides bad eyesight. Homeplate umps will be gone soon enough. May as well be now as later. And if you think that's wrong... you were probably anti-DH a few years back. That was inevitable anyway. So will this be too.
Hilarious! But yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of truth in what you say, even if the umps don't realize their calls are skewed by bias. They may be doing it subconsciously. It seems like the graphics that jpl puts up always favor the Dodgers opponent, so there's something there that's causing the umps to favor the underdogs... or lower salaried.
One added thought on this. I've always taken the "umps/refs are human, there will be bad calls but it all evens out in the end" attitude. But again citing jpl's scorecards, it doesn't seem to even out in the end for the Dodgers. Unless he's just not posting the games in which we were given extra runs. Yeah, I think there definitely is some bias, again if only in the subconscious.
Don't they have workhouses for these people ? Or some other fucking place they can go where they can stink it all up like they so commonly do ?
Heyward to the IL with back tightness. In his place, the Dodgers call up... ... not Pages ... not Vargas ... but Taylor Trammell whom they just claimed from the Mariners. Trammell boasts a 0.168 batting average over 304 career ABs, and he strikes out roughly 38% of the time. That last stat is important because it gives him something to talk with CT3 about on the bench.
If this wasn't an obscene fact, I'd swear it was the lamest hyperbole. But Scarecrow is real. God help us ... he's as real as chlamydia...
This Harrison kid is no joke. His control is sketchy, so it hopefully Dodger hitters are patient. Hate to be complimentary to SF players, but I really like their new CF (no homo).
I hate to even think this, but it's not a stretch to say there's a chance Ohtani will never be the same as he was pre-injury. I know it's still early (very early). And even if he wasn't coming off injury, players slump. So I'll revert to the fantasy, um, belief that by the end of the season it will be a three-person race for MVP between him, Mookie, and Freddie.
I was never a Ohtoni fan. While he put up good numbers I always thought his best value was as a pitcher. I think he really thrives by playing on a team that was never in contention. In effect a lot his at bats he faced pitchers who were not really hyper focused like they are when they face a contender like us or say the Yanks or Braves. Thus he hit a lot of mistakes for HR’s. He is not going to see very many mistakes as a Dodger
We all know it, but won't say it, but Rojasey is better than Ohtani. Way more powerful. Square business.
Last night was the first alarming scorecard of the season. Usually you’ll see a scorecard with a .20-.40 favoritism for a team but anything over 1 run is rare…just an awful night for Phil.
Hudson faced the middle of lineup in the 8th. Couldn't believe the crap Lamet struck out Chapman and Estrada with.