Robot Ump Time
It was nice to get an easy one, right? That unfolded exactly as I thought….
Here was my “wake up in the middle of the night” thought for the day: Who wouldn’t want robot umpires? It should and would be uniformly accepted by everyone in the game….
Why the umps would want it: They have to be sick to shit of these catchers framing every single ball into the strike zone. It’s a near impossible job anyway. Pitches coming in from all possible crazy angles, you have to make a split second decision on every one….seems to me a big fatty like Cowboy Joe would rather collect his paycheck for 1/10th the headache. He could still sit back there and call plays at the plate, fair/foul, close pop fly catches, etc….
Why the pitchers would want it: No more worrying about Kruk’s precious personal ump strike zones. Just one uniformed, unbiased zone.
Why the hitters would want it: Brandon Belt has the best eye the world has ever seen. You don’t think he wants to share it with an equally brilliant robot eye? Shit, he’d probably fall in love and leave his large wife for one. “Sorry baby, I’m leaving you for a strike zone that will always be the same size as the day I married her….” lqtm.
Anyway, who am I missing? The fans? The game will go faster and that’s apparently what fans want according to mlb.
Counter argument?
Lulz. I don’t like to comment on the sloth like appearance of a player’s wife but that line about Belt had me spitting out my coffee. Nice to see the club put up a crooked number but it’s what they should do against the Padres. Williamson playing in Sac like he’s pissed off for greatness.
yup. Twinner woulda really given it to me for that dig, eh?
Twin was the first person I thought about when reading the lead. Then I thought Bumgarner would like to get in on that swap too.
Being mostly a baseball purist, I never thought I’d be down with robot umps, but based on what I’ve seen the first couple of weeks, I’m open to giving it a shot. Assuming the box is accurate, and the proponents swear it is (of course), it would be nice to eliminate the uncertainty of the moving strike zone. The guy last night missed several obvious strikes, not to mention having a wide zone.
Offense might suffer, at least at first, because the true low and high strikes are so rarely called. I like to see it at least used on a trial basis in ST or something. I don’t have much hope of it happening, though. The umpires union and players union would shit bricks.
I will bet the players union will want it…
not in favor of it, but it would be funny to watch Belt walk away from plate shaking his head at the bot and telling him he missed it.
Book I read as a kid had story of famous ump Bill Klem. He called strikes on a hitter who told him he missed it and Klem conceded he might but said, “If I had your bat I wouldn’t have.”
No counter argument here. It just seems that in the past 5-10 years, the strike zone has become an amorphous blob rather than a rectangle that should be fairly easy to determine. They haven’t called a high strike since the 70s, but Greg Maddox’s strike zone was 5′ wide.
It’s like giving fouls in the NBA to established vets and not rookies. It’s bullshit. Call the game how it should be called. not based on popularity or talent.
Interesting the Pads fell flat getting 1 hit all night vs. Stratton and Gomer, at home, while the Sherps flew halfway across country to DC and LeMaheiu hit 2 bombs as they beat Nats and Gio Gonzo 5-1
Giants OB and slugging are still 1th and 12th in league.
If you look at XBHs per AB, 2 leaders would be Posey 5/40 and Longo 4/44. Other less than notables:
AJ 1 in 31
Cutch 3 in 50
Pence 1 in 41
Craw 2 in 40
Blanco 2/19 batting .368.
Hey Pence did have 2 hits last night–one bloop that drove in runs and the dribbler he beat out on the replay before his baserunning adventure at 3b. Is that all there is?
Giants pitching ERA as team 3.05 and still have given up fewest bombs in NL, only 5 in 12 games.
If Blanco and Gorkys continue to be shining hitting stars of this squad, it’s trouble time…
The technology’s just too good now. Step aside, blue. (And I seriously doubt the contemporary neo-liberal mlb gives a shit about the umpires’ union.)
Oh it is coming…two more seasons? Umps wont have to take anymore head or groin shots. They can sit off to the side way back and be way safe .
Exactly! Other than Tom Glavine, how can anyone be opposed to a consistently defined strike zone?
If it means making a preventable mistake, the human element is way overrated.
The home plate umpire holds a small device, makes the call.
They should also raise the strike zone an inch or so, if that would make it easier to put balls in play.
I’ve been a supporter of the electronic strike zone for years. Bring it on. I want reputation or human error or whether or not he “hit the catcher’s glove” to have anything to do with whether a pitch is a ball or strike.
Some housecleaning from last night:
No, I was not the guy who ran on the field! That must have happened after I left and am I a little bummed as I like a good fan-on-field incident every now and then. I’m old enough to remember when they DID show those guys on TV.
Pads issues? For starters, their whole starting outfield is hurt right now–including Myers who owns the Giants.
They are going to score runs, but pitching is still a big issue. They were hoping getting Mitchell out of NY and giving him regular work would help him turn the corner, but the early returns have not been good obviously. They basically got him for agreeing to take on Headley’s contract. They sent Blash in return in a lame attempt to make the trade look like something other than a total salary dump. Of course, the Yankees waived him soon after. Reporting down here says Pads were confident they could flip Headley, but ended up getting stuck with him.
Looks like I will be back at Petco tomorrow.
PetCo looks like a great park, if you have an opinion about it share the pros and cons as compared to AT&T
Yeah, I saw their lineup yesterday and though, who are these guys? I’ve never heard of any of these OFers.
Haven’t been inside the park, but the location is about as good as it gets. Gaslamp district is very cool, and it’s on the water as well.
The one knock I have on Petco is that I think it is a very plain looking stadium. It totally blends in with surrounding buildings and doesn’t stand out at all. Aesthetically speaking, I think ATT is a much nicer looking ballpark. Other than that, I think its great. Lots of food and nightlife all around the park. Light rail system that takes you right to the park. Not that hard to find free parking in the area and easy to get on the freeway after a game. Now that they have adjusted the fences a bit, a pretty fair park for pitchers and hitters—-which as most of you know is my biggest complaint about ATT. Petco also has some great standing areas with a rail where you can put your food and drink. You can buy the cheapest ticket in the park and go to one of those rails and get a great view of the action. I used to do that when Lincecum pitched down here and you could really appreciate what great stuff he had. Also a very kid friendly park. No longer has the giant sand box behind right center, but still has the grassy picnic area beyond the right field fence. My kids loved hanging out there when they were younger and then I could occasionally go to one of those rails to get a good view of the game.
Your Brandon Belt paragraph had me LMAO. Love it!
I’ve been down with robo umps for a long time. With women in hot pants and gear behind the plate calling the balls and strikes relayed from robo ump by radio and earbuds. The variance of strike zone from up to ump is just stupid. If you allow reversal of the out call at first, why allow a strike call of a pitch 6″ wide?…
I still don’t understand the Belt bashing that goes on here, he is not Hall material but how many ball players are. The WS teams, Bum, Posey, Timmy are the only three that have shots at the MLB HOF.
Love Timmy, but he has zero chance for the HOF. Bum needs a few more good years of pitching for consideration. He’s relatively young where it’s possible, but not likely. Only Posey has a real good shot at the HOF.
Yeah the lack of longevity will kill any chance Lincecum has for the HOF. If he could have just stayed healthy and continued to pitch even with mediocre numbers I think he would have gotten in with the 2 CY’s and 3 WS rings.
As morbid as it may sound, if Lincecum had passed away post 2014 or so, he would have been a first ballot HOF’er. Similar to what will happen to Roy Halladay.
And 2 no-hitters . . .
Shit I forgot about the 2 no-no’s. If he had decided to pull a Barry Sanders and just walk away after 2014, I think you can make a damn good argument that his body of work, albeit fairly short, was HOF worthy.
The last four years have really sullied his legacy.
Tim may not make the hall, but the Giants better fucking retire his number. He single handedly dragged the team out of the Post-Barry hangover that beset the organization.
The problem with Belt, as noted here a few times, is his stubbornness to adjust to the situation. When there’s runners on 2nd and 3rd with no, or one out, he shouldn’t be using his aggravatingly discerning eye to take a borderline 3-1 pitch for that precious walk. He should be trying to hit a fly ball or putting the bat to the ball to get runs in. He always ends up with decent numbers, and like I’ve said, if there were mashers around him, his numbers would be glorious, if not perfectly acceptable.
I mean really. The team is so into these promotions, patting themselves on the back, and all this freel-good shit that they should retire Will Clark’s number as well.
Despite last season’s putrid results, the worth of the franchise increased by 8% to $2.85 billion. Apparently, we overtook the Red Sox for 4th place. Only the Cubs ($2.9 B), Dodgers ($3 B) and Yankees ($4 B) rank ahead of us.
Not certain how we increased, as it certainly wasn’t people going through the turnstiles that did the trick. Per the Forbes article, it does say that we were one of 4 cities “. . . with very strong brands that transcend their markets.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2018/04/11/baseball-team-values-2018/#1c6f6d783fc0
When visiting SF last summer and catching a midweek game in August, I was shocked at how many people filled the dugout store inside the park two hours before the game. This was a last pace team. . The park really has become a popular SF tourist stop, a must see destination.
I would go as far as to say it’s not far behind Wrigley and Fenway in that regards.
Agree Joe. When I have gone into the Dugout Store at every game that I have attended – whether it is before, during, or after the game – it is packed with bodies, usually with a line outside the door. Seriously. The only respite from the crowds occur when the team is on the road or an off day, as the Dugout store remains open like any other retail shop. Although I have purchased swag there, the best place are Sports Authority or better yet, Big Five, which usually sell merchandise at a discount.
When Chi and I visited Fenway during the East Coast Flapalooza, I wasn’t impressed with Fenway Park as a baseball stadium. We walked the entire stadium (inside and outside) and don’t get me wrong – it does have an excellent vibe to it. Additionally, the fans were very nice to us. However, the seating is cramped (we also were in the back row, so we had people literally standing up over us. Fortunately, again – they were all nice); sight lines were just okay; and, the food wasn’t anything special. Essentially, were talking about a very, very old stadium (1913?), which has been updated. Still, it’s sort of like putting a silver saddle on a jack ass.
That being said, the city of Boston was awesome. The historical sites we visited all were interesting. Chi and I must have walked at least 7-8 miles on the day we toured the city.
I still have hopes that you, Linh and the baby eventually settle in the South Bronx…
Speaking of SF institutions, did I hear correctly that Lefty O’Douls is going to re-open in Fisherman’s freaking Wharf? Sad very sad.
Timmeh is on the top 5 list of all time SF Giants for most SF fans, I have no doubt. He was like a meteorite, ripping through the sky for a fairly short time, incendiary and lighting up the sky. I don’t get why some fans rip him now. Obviously his physical capabilities have quickly diminished. It’s not like he let himself go like Panda. Stuff happens. He was always a great teammate, the media loved the guy, for good reason. I choose to remember the great things he did for this organization the short time he was here. Like Chuck said, he led SF out of the post Bonds doldrums to its first WS trophy. 55 deserves to be retired when he’s done with his attempted comebacks…
Great post, Tom. Couldn’t agree more. There are not many things as electric as the City around the ballpark on days Timmy was starting. Those were badass days…
Atlanta at 8-5 is interesting so far. They went through a total tear-down rebuild the last few years, and may be a year ahead of schedule.
The Mets are 10-1. I saw a fun fact on the MLB Network: there have been 23 teams in MLB history who started at 10-1, and only 3 of them ended up winning the World Series.
Didn’t the Giants start the ’03 season with a record like 18-1 or something? It was Felipe’s first season, and fans got past Dusty Baker pretty quickly. Then a collapse in the playoffs.
From Wikipedia:
“The Giants lost to the Florida Marlins in the NLDS.
Game 1 – Florida 0, San Francisco 2
Game 2 – Florida 9, San Francisco 5
Game 3 – Florida 4, San Francisco 3
Game 4 – Florida 7, San Francisco 6
This was the last playoff series that the Giants lost before winning 10 straight, a streak that ended in the 2016 division series against the Chicago Cubs.”
Sydney Ponson and Jerome Williams were the starting pitchers for the Giants in two of the games (LOL.)
And Nathan did not pitch well in the series. I had forgotten that. No doubt a factor in the Giants being willing to trade him away.
And the Cruz error, of course, after he had played Gold Glove caliber defense all season.
Schmidt with the complete game 3-hit shut-out in Game 1.
Cool 1908 Polo Grounds photo.
It looks like some of the overflow crowd is being allowed to sit on the field.
KInda funny SD mentioned Headley. My godson transplant who lives down there now didn’t care for him when he was first there, doubt he’s much impressed now.
Pads floating same LU out there as last night except for Renfroe, who hit 26 bombs last season but is currently batting .171. Other than Pirela and Galvis (good pick up imo) the others aren’t doing much. Hosmer seems like a good fit, tho apparently Pads were only bidding against themselves for his services.
Always liked Tyson Ross, see what happens.
The nerve of Belt to play baseball…
A Belt bunt! That should be worth some opprobrium.
Pence swings like an old pinball flipper after the ball’s already gone down the drain…
Love some pinball….
Loved seeing Belt lay down the bunt! Anytime a team puts on that shift, he should lay down that bunt.
Seems like Blach pitches more than Iron Joe McGinnity…
LMAO…best thread in a long fucking time, Flav. Cowboy Joe, Belt’s wife…I was literally crying.
good thing Belt can at least bunt
All this horseshit about honoring or valuing the veteran player goes out the window after watching these jokers. I never seen so many dudes wave at so many breaking balls in the dirt in all my life.
Short sample size, sure, but KNBR before the game tonight said Giants:
1. Score first, they are 5-0.
2. Don’t score first, they are 1-6.
What was it Krukow said, Longoria is “coming out of it?” Coming out of what, hibernation? He looks to me like a guy who doesn’t have a clue as to how to successfully hit major league pitching. How many years with this guy?
I just saw Chi’s ditto post on mine earlier about retiring Timmy’s number when it’s time.
That got me thinking, of the 5 SF Giants in the HOF, I only know immediately the numbers for 3 of ’em.
Mays 24, Stretch 44, Marichal 27. I do not remember the number for Cepeda, and certainly don’t for Perry.
Bonds, sure 25.
Will no doubt 22.
Timmy immediately in mind the 55.
If you have to scratch your head about what number the dude wore, it doesn’t deserve retiring…
Baby Bull wore 30. 55 should definitely be retired when Timmy hangs ‘em up…
I always kick myself at the ballpark when I look up at the retired numbers and have to strain to remember Terry, Ott, Hubbell and Irvin.
Looks like the FO is working toward retiring 25, and I like that promise. Will Clark and Tim were both so important to resurgence of the franchise, at separate times. I’d like to see both numbers retired, but I think Lincecum is more deserving.
The yankees have retired more than twenty numbers, I think, including several non HOFers. wtf not. The bs HOF votes shouldn’t determine a team’s own honors.
So Belt has walked, bunted for a single, and hit a ground ball for an IF single. All he needs is a sac fly for the lowliest cycle, the Beltonian cycle.
Miller mentioned when Cutch lined out to SS that there was a batting average associated with that specific exit velocity, I think it was 104 mph, and it was something like .620. I didn’t know they had that. You only hear the velocity, not what a given velo means you’ll usually hit.
Giants hitting .109 with 2 out and RISP (dead fucking last at 30th). Padres 2nd out of all 30 clubs at .364. That shit has got to change….
What the hell was that Belt.
There’s Belt and that great glove work, again….
Figures.
What the hell Blach? Almost walk the pitcher!!!
that was decent play by Belt (clean grab, quick strike to the plate)
Blach has lost the strike zone
did Krukow go through his “everything was fine until they got him into the stretch” speech yet?
Not yet.
Man, tough crowd these days on the Flap about Belt. If I was a Martian visiting planet earth and trying to learn about baseball and the Giants, I would likely have to surmise that Belt is our biggest problem…..
starting tonight’s game his OPS was 3rd on the team and I guess that’s risen a bit. His error was unusual. Still, my son stood in line near him at a good burrito joint last summer while the Giants were playing a day game. My son kept getting game updates on his phone. Belt waited for the line to move, blissfully unperturbed. My son was outraged. Your team is playing, man! I argue that concussion syndrome must’ve been to blame, but my son’s view probably does influence me a bit.
Huh? Belt was standing in line waiting to order a burrito while a game was being played? I don’t understand…. but hey, if a little concussion now and then would help me be more blissfully patient, I might order one up….
he was on the DL
Got it.
My comment was certainly tongue-in-cheek. I truly like Belt, overall, and that play was so not typical of his fielding and throwing.
Padres with no problems whatsoever getting hits with RISP.
McCutchen completely boned his angle on that one, Kruk. He would’ve had a chance.
Like last year’s team, this year’s team can be flat out boring sometimes. Just lifeless.
Yeah LJ . . . The route sucked, albeit, the wind is blowing quite a bit and it may have carried.
I’ve mentioned robo-umps off-and-on the past couple of years. I would definitely be down with a test drive in ST. The human umps are so fucking bad sometimes it is damned near unbearable.
nice hustle from blanco to get rally started.
uh oh thought that was a chance at big inning. instead the Kc and GIDP.
oh my dear sweet gawd, was that SO looking the final segment of the Beltonian cycle? RISP . . . .
Belt once again right and wrong…
That will be on Belt’s gravestone..
There was a good article today about Belt being criticized by K & K . . . Deja Vu
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2018/4/12/17232942/giants-shut-out-padres-chris-stratton-allows-one-hit
the guy makes a good point. HBP is the fourth segment of the lowly Belt cycle. Maybe he’ll get another AB tonight.
Dyson sucks, apparently
Ditto
Gaylord Perry wore #36..
Perry’s a total HOF in my book.
Marichal&Perry was quite a combo till the Giants fucked that up by trading Perry for Six-Pack Sam “Sudden” McDowell another of their long list of dumbshit trades under Horace Stoneham ownership.”.Jeez a name like Horace should only be in charge of cleaning horse shit out of stables..”
Agree. I don’t know why Perry gets no love here. Without Marichal and Perry in the in the mid to late 60s, we wouldn’t have competed against the rest of the NL.
Cutch’s two walk-offs have kind of masked that he hasn’t done jackshit in just about all his other ABs with runners on base.
Yes. Holding my fire on him ONLY because of that. Also, he’s been inconsistent in the field. Anyone else think he had a chance for that bomb other than me? I think he took a fucked up route and consequently was late getting to the wall.
Blade I was thinking the same thing on his route.Just seem to nonchalant and atleast make a jump at it like you care.
Yeah, Cutch gets some slack exactly because of those 2 walkoffs, which leads me to believe there will be more, and I’ll take that. He probably also needs some time to get used to that outfield. It’s Wrongoria that’s troublesome. How can someone appear to just completely forget how to play baseball? Combined with Pence *being done*, those are 2 key positions that can’t continue to be *lost* out there….
Damm that was a sweet play by Panik , glove only out!
My funniest memory of glove work was when pitcher Terry Muholland fielded a comebacker and the ball got stuck in his webbing so he just threw the whole glove to the 1st basemen for the out, as the whole dugout was busting a gut..
I think that happened at Shea, and Brenly might have been the first baseman.
Pence should begin making plans to become a full time barista at his Texas coffee shop.
Yep…
Here we go, a nice tidy little 4-run 9th-inning rally… 🙂
Hunter Pence now throws a baseball like Tom Cruise in Top Gun throwing away Goose’s dog tags, totally gay..
lulz . . . laughing, but you’re right.
Belt probably not too sad over that Panik DP.
now that is cold. 😉
They’re selling grasshoppers at Seattle Mariners games. How’s the song go? “Buy me some peanuts and some grasshoppers.”
http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/22946221/at-seattle-mariners-games-grasshoppers-favorite-snack
Giants need to pull up some bats from Sac. Get some energy at the plate. Last night the Pads handed most of the runs to the Giants. Tonight, phhtttt…
Today was Pence’s birthday.
it’s also Friday the 13th
I listened to a track with that title today at work, Monk and sonny rollins. As story goes, rest of the group was at recording session on that day and the above two were in a cab on the way there that got in an accident and wound up late.
Alex Pavlovic
@PavlovicNBCS
This Sam Dyson thing is becoming a serious thing, and it’s worth noting that Cueto, Samardzija and Smith will all join the pitching staff in the next three weeks.
D-Backs 8, Dodgers 7
Since we mentioned him before, I recall what Twin used to say about GIDPs, that it’s gonna happen to guys who hit the ball hard on the ground. However, disappointing end to disappointing game…and not near enough balls hit hard by Giants tonite. I guess so far that’s the hardest thing to watch, so few guys raking.
Instead it’s a steady diet of Ks and 2 hoppers, with occasional warning track power.