Frayed Knot

The funny part is that most if not all of the stories dealing with umpiring this week have used some form of the -- Tim McClennen is considered one of the best umpires in baseball -- qualifier. The problem with the umpire post-season rotation system is that it doesn't always select the best umps because ... that's not really what it's designed to do! The umpires union - acting the way unions often do - long took the stance that all umps are equal so any kind of 'merit system' which determines that one umpire is better than any other is inherently wrong and therefore unfair. The self-destruction of the old union which resulted in MLB having more control than they did in the old days ended that orthodoxy, at least on an absolute basis, although the resultant process is a kind of compromise which retains some of the old attitude. There is now a merit system of sorts but one that works with a rotation dictating several provisions, including ones that say that no ump gets to work more than one post-season in a row (so as to spread the wealth); that umpires working a WS one year can't work it again the next (ditto); and that all umps will eventually get some post-season work whether they rate highly on their evaluations or not (a remnant of the: 'we're all equals and you can't say otherwise' philosophy). So yeah the umps working in October have supposedly earned their way on, although all those qualifiers waters down the 'get the best guys in there when it matters' goal to the point where it's only partially true. Sounds like with CB Bucknor (about whom Gammons said last week: 'I don't know why he's even out there') MLB is making an example of him so as to make it appear that they're taking action.

The umps actually claim that further distance (to an extent obviously) gives them a better perspective on foul pole hits than does closer up (kind of like McClellen the other day with the botched tag-up call) even if in short foul line parks (like YS III) the OF umps look like they're breathing down the backs of their 1st & 3rd base buddies. Having those extra guys also might cause as many problems as they solve; umpires aren't used to working with the larger crew so it can occasionally screw up their assignment and rotation system on batted balls leaving veterans used to doing things a particular way unsure of where to go.

Speaking of silly names, the new Richmond, VA AA team (Atlanta dropped them as a AAA team a year back) will be the 'Flying Squirrels'

Instant replay reviews are always much smoother in imagining than in implementation. Like football, one guy, one minute, call made or not. Has a football replay call EVER been made inside one minute? They have a rule that states 90 seconds (I think) but even the seemingly simple ones frequently take 2 minutes or 3 (or more).

Youse guys can hit all the sensory deprivation chambers you want, but there's been some fun baseball games played over the last two weeks. Now if we could knock off about a minute of commercial time per inning and cut the number of mound visits down by about 70% percent it would be even better ... but that's a discussion for another day.

You gotta be kidding me Fuentes!?!!

Normally I'd kill the IW in this kind of spot (putting the tying run on) but w/ARod hitting like he is and setting up a lefty/lefty situation w/Matsui I approve.

I think the idea was to turn Teixeira around to hit righty where he's less likely to HR - but I would have given Lackey at least one more batter. and now he can't even get a win.

I spoke too soon it looks like. Lackey got screwed on that (non) call on Posada.

Joe Buck, in discussing the latest Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, described the land-locked mountainous country of Andorra (Chapman's current nation of residence) as "a small island". Meanwhile, nice 1st inning by the Angels (which I missed) but they're still holding on to the same 4-0 lead *PLUS* the game is running at a somewhat normal speed and, at this rate, could even come in under the 3 hour barrier. Lackey's kept his pitch count down and looks like he can go for a while longer as they head to the 7th.

I think Billingsley and his late-season mediocre-ness got passed somewhere in the night by Padilla and his strong stretch following his August pick-up. Seems like LA had a lot of decent pitchers but none who were good from wire to wire so, as opposed to what he was used to for all those years, there were no clear-cut choices or defined order here for Torre.

And the Mattingly curse continues

And they don't get it. They had one run in and the bases loaded w/no outs but Madson got them to go pop-up, K, groundout Now it's all over but the shouting.

Dodgers need one or two big hits RIGHT NOW to make this a game/series again. Otherwise ...

OVer two hours to play the first 4-1/2 innings - and I think the bottom 4th/top 5th took at least an hour of that time. Something's gotta be done about this. I know there have been a bunch of pitching changes but still ... it's like everybody's moving in slow motion.

Game 5: Pitching around Utley & Howard in the first inning not looking like such a good idea right about now.

btw, Holliday has hit 30+ HRs exactly twice - the same number of times as Wright and once fewer than Beltran so it's not like he's any more of a sure-fire candidate to hit 30 than are several incumbents. Plus both of his times were while calling Coors Field home which, even though it's the post-humidor era at Coors Field, is still a much better offensive park than just about anywhere else now or in MLB history. Signing him - or anyone for that matter - as a way to break the psychological CitiField barrier (if indeed there actually is one) is, by itself, a lousy reason to get someone. Aside from that, Holliday does have some things going for him although he's far from a complete player. He's strictly a corner OFer who's about to turn 30 and is already no better than a mediocre fielder and runner. Worth a look but I just hope they don't get it into their heads that this is a 'Have to Have!!' guy.