2 games. What a crock of shit! That ump was blind and stupid! http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...uspended.ap/index.html?sct=hp_t2_a3&eref=sihp
That entire umpiring crew needs to be banned from baseball forever, what a disgrace they are to this sport. More so than Rose betting on games.
Bud Selig really needs to get off his ass and do something about the umpires. Some are okay, they make mistakes, but some are just cunts and we know who they are. Call the game the right way. If you get a call wrong, admit to it and FUCKING FIX IT RIGHT THERE AND THEN. Fuck the human element and how it makes the game what it is; the human element puts the integrity of the game into question when they call guys out and the first baseman doesn't even have his foot on the bag. Fuck this crap about how doing this will make the game longer. How hard is it for a guy in a booth to see how bad the call is and reverse it? Umpires need to be fined for shitty performance. These are the supposed best of the best and they make stupid mistakes and throw their weight around. I hope the next commissioner has some balls and lets the umps know that shit won't be taken lightly anymore.
To piggyback off MZA, I am almost to the point of hearing about the "integrity" of the game. How many bad calls have cost teams in the past three years? Think about the last two years in playoffs alone. It is obvious that umpires are simply not as good as they used to be. At one time, it was "what an asshole...low strikezone all night". Occasionally, it was "damn, missed that call". Now, it is "of fuck, look who is behind the plate". By allowing subpar umpiring, the league has ruined the integrity. There is a very simple solution. The electronic strikezone. There would no longer be different strikezones for "hall of famers". Hitters and pitchers would not spend two innings trying to gauge what is a ball and strike. In the bullpen, a pitcher can know he is throwing correctly before he hits the mound. The hitters can practice BP knowing exactly where pitches need to be to be called a strike. Right now, we have what I call a "floating zone". The zone depends on the interpretation of what the umpire deems a strike. How in the fuck is this even close to fair? Also, why not add another umpire in a booth? For every crew to have one more umpire would require another 17 umpires. At a league average of 210,000 per, that is only 3.4mil more a year. I have no doubt that owners would be willing to pay to ensure that calls go the right way. How many times have we heard an announcer say that he could see it better from up top? With today's technology, most of these checks and balances could be added seamlessly. People talk about how slow the game is currently and any changes would only make it more so. How long does it take for a manager to argue, the crew to get together, more arguing, more arguing, and then the crew to stand by the bad call and toss the manager or player? Tons. How often do we know what actually happened (and how wrong or right the umpire was) before the manager makes it out there? With today's technology, every fucking time now.
