Like ‘Duk, I fell asleep last night, so I missed another bad call.
With the score tied 5-all in the top of the ninth and a runner at second, Chase Utley(notes) hit a chopper in front of home plate. Pitcher Huston Street(notes) made an athletic play to pick up and throw the ball, but he didn’t have a clear line to first base, so Todd Helton(notes) did some fancy footwork to keep his spikes in contact with the bag.
Street’s throw beat Utley but Kulpa, the first-base ump, ruled Helton wasn’t touching the base. Jimmy Rollins(notes) moved to third and, a batter later, he scored the go-ahead run on Ryan Howard’s(notes) fly ball to left.
If the call is made correctly, Howard’s fly ball is the third out of the inning. It’s really time to assign umpires to the post season based on merit only. The best 24 get the LDS, the best 12 of those get the LCS, and the best six of those get the World Series. With PITCH f/x, MLB should be able to determine the best umps at calling balls and strikes, and with the replay technology in place for home runs, MLB should be measuring accuracy on disputed calls. Make a measure of how often an ump’s calls are disputed, and among those, how many were correct. The highest rating go to the playoffs, so the umps that perform best during a season get to make a lot more money. Seems like a great incentive to me.
Posted by David Pinto at 12:10 pm | League Division Series, Umpires | Permalink | 4 Comments
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October 12th, 2009 @ 1:38 pm
I watched the replay over and over and I think the call was correct. But the mistake on the play was that Utley was hit by the ball while still in the batter’s box. I believe the ump has to determine if Utley was in the foul territory portion of the batter’s box (most of it) and call the ball dead if that is the case.
October 12th, 2009 @ 3:00 pm
Ya, the ump blew the play at the plate when the ball came up and hit Utley in the knee while he was still in the batter’s box. It was obvious in real time on the broadcast, and with six umps on the field it should have been obvious to at least one of them.
What’s with these clowns?
October 12th, 2009 @ 3:33 pm
CB Buckner for sure should be kicked out of the league. He is a bush league, smirking, arrogant clown that misses more calls than he gets right. Why does MLB keep this guy? I realize he was not the umpire in question here, but he is always embroiled in something in nearly every game. Usually with BOTH managers.
October 13th, 2009 @ 7:47 am
CB and Angel Hernandez were working this post season.
Those two are universally regarded as the worst.