How to Call What You Can't See

[Zvon]

I found this article pretty amazing.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704198004575310961357883580.html

Mr. Strasburg isn't the first phenom who has had this problem. Former umpires and managers say baseball immortals like Jack Morris and Dwight Gooden got similar treatment during their careers because their pitches moved too much.

[Theoldmole]

This actually raises Strasburg another notch in my estimation.

[Frayed Knot]

Not really related to the above article, but I caught brief glimpses of Strasburg's game last night between innings of our game - although that one was going so quickly compared to ours (so do plate tectonics) that I never saw more than a few pitches at a time. But of the dozen or so SS pitches I did see that weren't called or swinging strikes, Rob Dibble on the broadcast questioned - well, not questioned really, just flat out called a fraud - at least 4 of them. The fact that Dibble does this for every Nats pitcher in every Nats game or that the electronic gizmo on the screen showed the ump to be correct and him to be wrong while he's claiming otherwise (as it always does) neither stopped nor slowed down the diatribes.

So, in other words, yes the umps are missing Strasburg strikes, just like they're missing them for every other Nats pitcher ... at least in the gospel according to Rob Dibble.

[Zvon]

Frayed Knot wrote: The fact that Dibble does this for every Nats pitcher in every Nats game

"Not every team!"

"Yes, every gang!"