h2oface

That's what MLB stats say. Maybe they missed a couple. Now 9 with 6 scored.

Thielbar: 7 inherited runners, 4 scored. Still at 6.48 ERA

Umpiring is an impossible job. Always a best guess. This I agree on. So why do it? Love of the game? Somebody has to do it? It certainly has a power element, no matter how one jockeys around it. They don't guess who touches the wall first in a swimming race anymore. Why? Because there is a better way. It really is that simple. Why baseball thinks the umpire is the human element to embrace instead of the best possible way available to make it right for the players, even if that isn't perfect either, blows me away. I hate the close missed calls the most. The horrible ones just make the umpire look stupid and silly, especially when they are so proud. And the higher level it is, the more proud they become, embracing the circle of power that they have signed on to wield. They never apologize. Just double down, all proud and puffy. The close calls are the ones the pitcher and batter deserve the most! The human element of being able to make the perfect pitch or take. That is the excellence that makes the game the most special to me. That is the human element to showcase, not the umpire that is just guessing. To be robbed by a lesser human guesser instead of using what is readily available and better, even if it is a tiny bit better, is not embracing showcasing the player's talents. It is robbing the game at the MLB and professional level. There will always be folks that like to be a part of the game and umpire little league, and amateur levels, and we need them. I umpired at a low level for about a year, many years ago. I have known the power. The control. The mad parents, and coaches, and especially the coaches that had their own kids on the team, and I really couldn't blame them. I also admit that it is impossible and I was always giving it my best guess. A guess. I embrace ways to make the game better, and give the human element to the players, and not an umpire, especially at the MLB level, where there is all the money available to do it.

Fun read. I like your style, @Matt Braun. Ryan did go 104 pitches, 7 past the 97. Santana was lucky he didn't get charged with an error. Seemed pretty clear cut to me. Yes, there was a runner running past.... still. Jax sure is getting scary. Lady Luck was with him. I don't understand why pitchers these days don't even try to be ready to field the ball after a pitch. A few do, but it is a rarity. I don't know that Jax even looked. Seemed he had turned around completely. Ryan finally got a W he has been deserving. Win streaks really spoil a fan. I like being spoiled.

Has Baldelli learned something? Can it be? At least he couldn't pinch hit Margot for Larnach tonight. I give the game ball to Paddack. I will take just 1 run and 10 Ks no matter how many hits he gives up or pitches he has to throw. 1 run does the trick for me. That's 2 great starts, in my book, in a row.

KC and Cleveland won, too. Keeping pace.

I love the Duran skip!

Miranda STILL looks gassed from running first to home earlier.....

Now that is just greedy.......

For some reason, I have a feeling we will need that run!

Ump now screwed Correa on both sides of the plate. An equal sided thief.

This is an eerie feeling these last two games at the end as they tank a lead.

That's lame, Castro. If you are going to run to first on a dropped third strike, which you definitely should, at least really run. Sheesh. What else have you got to do? Go sit on the bench?

Over 12 ERA the last 5 games coming into today.... Worse now.

MORE RUNS!!!!!!!

Yes. I was finishing the comment in an edit...... as you posted.

Yep. More than a little scary. Last outing he loaded the bases, too.

If you finish an inning, you don't have to pitch to 3. You don't have to start the next inning, but if you do, you have to pitch to 2 more in that case.

Tons of contact off Jax lately....... a little scary

not the white box on tv, the pitch f/x system. the box is just a representation of it. nevermind. like I said.........

the box/robot/pitch f/x..... whatever it is called, it is what is used to grade umpires. May as well have it call them if they are the grader.

all great ones! James Cool Papa Bell Walter Claude Steel Arm Dickey Dizzy Dean Spaceman Bill Lee The Human Rain Delay Mike Hargrove Toy Cannon Jimmy Wynn Biscuit Pants Lou Gehrig Crime Dog Fred McGriff

You don't think the pitch f/x is accurate anyway. Not really worth a conversation about that with any level umpire. Like talking to a pitcher about what an error is.

4 inches off the plate for Paddack. Strike. I hate bad calls no matter who they go to.

Nelson Cruz's regal robe was fine! I don't think they gave themselves Bomba Squad. I can't remember which player called a homer a bomba, but the press started it after they heard the clip or something. I liked the Bomba Squad. The fishing jacket and rod and reel was tired from the get go. Thankfully it is over.