2006 NLCS New York Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals

What I found highly amusing was the sequence that followed on Fox. The FoxTrax graphic, which has consistently shown the umpiring to be a disaster, popped up briefly. Before it could be activated, the game went into a commercial break. They didn’t return to it until a batter had been retired, at which time they highlighted the replay with some sponsor’s logo, and “showed” that the pitch was just on the outside corner.

Now, take this with a very large grain of salt, but I’m just distrustful enough of the powers involved here—-Fox and MLB-—to speculate as to the timing of the graphic and the information it provided. To have that tool, which had consistently shown the home-plate umpires missing pitches time and time again, show up to confirm perhaps the biggest called strike of the series, and to do so after ten minutes, after it had nearly been used in the immediate aftermath of the pitch... it just seems terribly CONVENIENT. The pitch didn’t look like a strike, Valentin didn’t think it was a strike, no one I talked to thinks it was a strike.

Regardless of whether that pitch was called correctly or not, the inability of these umpires to call a consistent, correct strike zone has been one of the biggest stories of the postseason. It’s not just big strikeout calls that change games. Take Yadier Molina’s at-bat in the fourth inning. Home-plate umpire Jeff Kellogg called a 3-1 pitch well off the plate a strike; Glavine threw essentially the same pitch on 3-2, and Molina had to swing, because even though it was not a strike, he couldn’t be certain the guy making the call was going to see it that way.

Keith Law, over at ESPN.com, has dubbed it the “Heisenberg Strike Zone,” which is a label I can’t top. Until and unless we concede that humans can’t do the job with the precision needed, however, we’re going to continue to see baseball games worth millions of dollars decided by funcationaries making a few thousand.

Forgot to mention the Mets jersey I saw in thestands last Friday:

KAZMIR

Imagine the bitterness.

Dude, Q: How many batters after striking out while looking shake their heads like Valentin did?

If you ask Morbius, he'll construe it however it best defends his stance (and/or the Mets bullpen VORP).

And then calling Chris Duncan an odd choice to pinch hit before he homered... dude is a moron. I think he doesn't know what to say because Jeter is out of the playoffs :(

Elias Says

Just how rare was Chris Duncan's pinch-hit homerun? In the 1,164 postseason games played since the American League and National League champions first met in 1903, there have been only two other occasions on which a left-handed batter pinch-hit a home run off a left-handed pitcher. Johnny Mize of the Yankees hit one off the Brooklyn Dodgers' Preacher Roe in the 1952 World Series, and Arizona's Erubiel Durazo hit one off Glavine, then with the Braves, in the 2001 NLCS.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/10/18/sports/19mets600.2.jpg

SO DON'T DO IT TO BILLY

OR HE'LL DO YOU IN

More McCarver brilliance tonight when they walked 'Yadi the body'.

Buck: That would qualify as a bad walk as it clears Carpenter for next inning.
McCarver: But a GOOD walk for the Cardinals!

Uh, no shit.

Suppan vs. Trachsel? Ollie Perez? Darren Oliver?

Hence, figures to be ILE's favorite baseball figure.

Simple on the starter: if Perez is OK (like for 3 innings), D. Oliver gets to pitch deeper into the game. If he stinks, Oliver comes in as soon as 2 guys get on.

I do not want to see Billy Fucko in any more tie or 1-run games.

I don't the Mets' pitching staff was assembled with a mind to have Darren Oliver pitching in the late innings in a close Game 7. That would be a big waste of the league's best bullpen.