True, but strike zones, eventhough they're supposed to be between the knees and letters of the batter and the width of the plate, are somewhat subjective with each umpire. And although I know that 99% of the time they seem to get the call on the bases correct, I think there are an increasing number of calls that are wrong. And all you need are a couple calls to go the "right way" in order to change the outcome of a game.
Last years' World Series was weird I thought. There were a couple of times when I thought the White Sox should have been eliminated. Perhaps the PTB (powers that be) felt it would be good to finally let the Chicago WS have a baseball championship after what, 100 years?
In the ALCS against Anaheim i believe, that play where Pierzynski (correct me if I'm wrong) should have been called out on a 3rd strike, but thought the catcher dropped the ball or something and ran to first base and was ruled safe. None of the umpires made any kinda call until the manager came out and argue about it. Some sort of call should have been made immediately, but wasn't. An important game and a important moment and all the umpires do is stand there!!
And what about this year? Detroit winning the AL penant?? What's that all about? This is a team that lost well over 100 games a couple years back, and hadn't been able to put together a winning season for nearly 10 years. The previous year they finish 20 games BELOW .500, and then with just the addition of a few key players they finish 19 games above .500, almost run away with the central division by the all-star break, only to lose it on the last day of the regular season. They seem to revert to their old ways during the second half of the season, then uncharacteristically blow away both the NY Yankees and the Oakland A's!!!!! Never mind the A's, weren't the Yankees supposed to be the Golden Boys of the AL?
And in the World Series, when FOX-TV was bringing to light the fact that Kenny Rogers had some unidentified substance on his hand the umpires didn't bother to look closer at the so called "mud", all because Tony Larussa says it's no big deal? Since when do the umpires take their cues from the opposing team's manager??? No to mention the fact that while Larussa is conferring with the umpires about the whole matter, Rogers discreetly ducks into the clubhouse and washes his hands!! Don't get me wrong, I'm a Tiger fan, but I still had to laugh at it all. True, by the way Rogers pitched (?) it didn't seem to matter. But what if Rogers had been disqualified?
And I even thought it was a little odd that a team that could practically do no wrong against NY and Oakland suddenly can't seem to throw a ball straight to either first or third base, or hit the ball!
Well, like I said, I think it's all entertainmet for the masses. 2 blue-collar cities meet in the WS. I thought by the way they took care of business it should have been a subway series between the Yankees and Mets. But then, I don't live and work in Hollyweird!
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