It didn't take long for the first one of the year. You know what it's like. First you're upset at the umpire, commiserating with your fellow fans or calling out for justice to an empty room: "OK... where was that one?" It's just one or two pitches, but now it seems like every pitch. Then you get mad at the announcers: "Why aren't you guys talking about the strike zone? Has the whole world gone crazy?" Then you imagine yourself as the powerless pitcher, snapping at the ball coming back from the catcher, stepping off the mound and glaring in at home plate: "Where the fuck was that?" But on screen, in real life, the pitcher acts cool, calm, and composed. Inside he may be seething, but his exterior is the picture of professionalism: "Well, even though he could have hit that pitch to the moon, I guess it was a little high. It's my fault." The pitcher-umpire relationship is an abusive one, rife with emotional insecurities, hangups, and defensive behavior, far from an impartial logic of strike zone judgment, as the fairy tales told us in our youth. And the pitcher is the battered wife or child, powerless to change his situation.
Umpires adjust their strike zone for the pitcher, and if your name is Oliver Pérez and not Tom Glavine, you're going to see a difference. Have you earned a good strike zone yet, young man? You think you can just waltz in here after a 3-13 season and get balls and strikes called fairly for you? Kids these days have no respect. Of course, name-brand strike zones aren't just afforded to everyone with a track record-- José Lima is of course not worthy of John Smoltz's treatment. He's John Smoltz!
Pitchers learn early in the minor leagues that if they question an umpire's call at any time, with even so much as a glance or a quizzical look, they are showing up the umpire and will be punished. The April 5th game between San Diego and San Francisco saw Padres' starter Clay Hensley making this mistake in his last inning of work and paying dearly for it. After earning the ire of home plate umpire Paul Emmel, Clay couldn't get anything called for a strike. Comically, Emmel was forced to call a strike on a 3-0 pitch right down the middle, half-heartedly raising his right arm in an uncharacteristic motion. Truly, the men-in-blue are a fragile, passive-aggressive breed.
It is also possible that umpires are simply confused by some pitchers. Unlike the catcher, they do not know what kind of pitch is coming; they only have it slightly better than the hitter, who has to make a guess much of time as to a pitch's location. It is pretty much a requirement for a catcher to frame pitches- for the umpires' benefit. But I digress.
If there's one thing more fragile than the ego of an umpire, it's the mental control of Oliver Pérez. Starting the game around the plate, once he stopped getting strikes called he believed he couldn't throw strikes, and no longer gave the umpire a chance. As terrible as it is to see, I find something enjoyable about this moment in a baseball game. The pitcher stops being wild, and starts being a mess. You don't know whether to feel sorry for him or to curse him (if he's on your side), or whether to feel sorry for him or to revel in his misfortune (if he plays for the other guys). The announcers start saying things like "Oh boy," and, "This is difficult to watch." Pitches are two and three feet outside, at the batters' heads, over their heads, in the dirt five feet from home plate, and to the backstop. On 3-0 he comes close, but it's just a little low or outside, and the umpire has to let it go.
To cap it all off, the pitcher does something ridiculous, like plunking a weak hitter on a two-strike count. The MELTDOWN is mercifully over.
Umpires adjust their strike zone for the pitcher, and if your name is Oliver Pérez and not Tom Glavine, you're going to see a difference. Have you earned a good strike zone yet, young man? You think you can just waltz in here after a 3-13 season and get balls and strikes called fairly for you? Kids these days have no respect. Of course, name-brand strike zones aren't just afforded to everyone with a track record-- José Lima is of course not worthy of John Smoltz's treatment. He's John Smoltz!
Pitchers learn early in the minor leagues that if they question an umpire's call at any time, with even so much as a glance or a quizzical look, they are showing up the umpire and will be punished. The April 5th game between San Diego and San Francisco saw Padres' starter Clay Hensley making this mistake in his last inning of work and paying dearly for it. After earning the ire of home plate umpire Paul Emmel, Clay couldn't get anything called for a strike. Comically, Emmel was forced to call a strike on a 3-0 pitch right down the middle, half-heartedly raising his right arm in an uncharacteristic motion. Truly, the men-in-blue are a fragile, passive-aggressive breed.
It is also possible that umpires are simply confused by some pitchers. Unlike the catcher, they do not know what kind of pitch is coming; they only have it slightly better than the hitter, who has to make a guess much of time as to a pitch's location. It is pretty much a requirement for a catcher to frame pitches- for the umpires' benefit. But I digress.
If there's one thing more fragile than the ego of an umpire, it's the mental control of Oliver Pérez. Starting the game around the plate, once he stopped getting strikes called he believed he couldn't throw strikes, and no longer gave the umpire a chance. As terrible as it is to see, I find something enjoyable about this moment in a baseball game. The pitcher stops being wild, and starts being a mess. You don't know whether to feel sorry for him or to curse him (if he's on your side), or whether to feel sorry for him or to revel in his misfortune (if he plays for the other guys). The announcers start saying things like "Oh boy," and, "This is difficult to watch." Pitches are two and three feet outside, at the batters' heads, over their heads, in the dirt five feet from home plate, and to the backstop. On 3-0 he comes close, but it's just a little low or outside, and the umpire has to let it go.
To cap it all off, the pitcher does something ridiculous, like plunking a weak hitter on a two-strike count. The MELTDOWN is mercifully over.
in between the hours of hockey i watched last night, i actually caught this meltdown as it happened. none of those pitches were strikes, it was absolutely brutal - well some were close, but you have to throw to the spot the catcher gives, otherwise they won't call it. i figured he'd get a few over and then one would be '...launched towards South America', to quote Major League.
ReplyDeletejust hope he's not the next steve blass.
oh oops - i forgot to note the beginning of this post is really well-written.
ReplyDeletethe rest of it was shit.
haha j/k, i like this blog.
Wow, that was fast, Brent- I hadn't even finished editing the post yet. You like the return to black? I hate to alienate anyone, but I prefer the black and plus, it makes my black-background Blastings picture look much better. I did make the text color white instead of gray, which should help.
ReplyDeleteAs for the strike zone, I am referring to the first two innings of the game and the beginning of the third. The 'meltdown' part is later. The small strike zone is what caused the meltdown, along with OllieP carrying around the emotional fortitude of a 14-year old.
just dumb luck i guess - i'm not reloading your blog every five seconds.
ReplyDeletewait, the meltdown was later? now i'm confused. I saw the third inning, when he couldn't throw a strike. i didn't see if he tried to 'show up' the umpire.
the black background is way better than white - every other blog has a white background.
He didn't try to show up the umpire... I guess my post wasn't at all clear. I just mentioned that because it's why the pitcher doesn't get mad like I would like him to. About Ollie P, He was throwing strikes or near-strikes early, like in the second inning when he walked three but got out of it. Three walks is a lot, but he wasn't melting down yet... but not getting those calls contributed to his later meltdown in the third.
ReplyDeletehaha yeah that's one thing i realized about pro sports - i really wish players were more undisciplined and prone to 'tilt'.
ReplyDeleteas much of an ass as randy johnson was, at least he showed up the ump from time to time - even getting himself tossed in a meaningful pennant race for doing it.