Umpire Assignments
Tonight's choice of umpires for the playoff entry tie-breaker that was played between the Rockies and Padres was a refreshing and interesting one. Tonight's six man crew consisted of Tim McClelland behind the plate, Ed Montague, Tim Tschida and Chuck Meriweather around the infield and Fieldin Culbreth and Jim Wolf on the foul lines.
It was refreshing because all six are serious about there performance on the field, aren't attention-getters and are typically measured in their on the field responses to challenges to their authority.
It's interesting because I believe those Major League Baseball officials who decide on who umpires which games made a calculated decision to field a) a skilled and competent crew and b) a crew where the personalities are such that if some player/manager confrontations occurred these six would be the least likely umpires to go off the handle and create an unnecessary scene.
Fielding Culbreth
The blatant baiting of Padre outfielder Milton Bradley by umpire Mike Winters in the last week of the season as well as a number of other incidents over the past few months has highlighted the ridiculously short fuses of some umpires. I believe this has caught Major League Baseball's attention and they have begun to take real steps in addressing the actions of these umpires.
The first step in the process of getting the umps in line was to suspend Winters for the remaining five or so games of the season after he uttered something akin to, "You're a f****** piece of s***" to Bradley under his breath in an attempt to provoke the notoriously short-tempered player. In the ensuing argument Bradley was wrestled to the ground by his manager and during the fall tore his ACL. He'll be on the disabled list well into next year. In regards to the Winters suspension I can't remember the last time an ump was publicly suspended.
The second step was the assignment of these six umpires to tonight's game. While the Winters suspension was more for public consumption tonight's game assignment was probably meant more for the umpiring fraternity's consumption. In other words, if you want to make tens of thousands of extra dollars each October umpiring the playoffs and World Series you'd better not be a jack-ass when dealing with players, coaches and managers.
In tonight's crew Major League Baseball got it right.
9 comments:
Funny how the game ended on a controversial play. Which ump was that?
Tim McClelland of Iowa!
I think he was waiting to see if the catcher held the ball.
I'd say it was an 80% chance that Holliday didn't get the plate. Not enough for an NFL-like overturn but if I had to bet on it I'd say he got the call wrong.
I agree on all accounts. I definitely wouldnt want replay. Weren't there no outs? why send holliday anyway?
How about umpire baseball cards? (Blown calls, ejections, Questec ratings, etc.)
Ray, I think there are umpire cards just recently. I saw a McClelland one in Google images last night.
There was one out after Giles caught the ball. I think it was a good risk. Giles has an average arm (although he made a great throw) and was average depth. Holliday should've slid feat first though. You can see what happens when you slide face first into home plate.
Do you not like football instant replay also?
So feet first is always better? Faster? Please do a post on this. I'm ok with football replay - just not the way it's currently done. I'll try to do a post. Baseball is different though. Too pastoral.
heh
I am unsure if sliding feet first in that particular play would have had a better result. Sliding is more powerful and could have knocked the catcher's foot enough to allow homeplate to be touched, but you also have less dexterity in touching home as you would with your hand. The proper approach would have been an old fashioned, Pete Rose, (dare I say, Republican?) collison.
The same thought crossed my mind as to whether Holliday should've bowled him over but the way Barrett was positioned it would've been almost like Holliday moving into the tag when he had as good an opportunity to slip by -- which he did.
By the way, Republicans today are old-fashinoed in a 1960's Great Society sort of way.
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