Somewhere where the Peanut Shells Roam

With all the statistics kept for major league baseball, has anyone bothered keeping the stat for when an umpire "squeezes" a pitcher on a 2-strike count and then the next pitch is clobbered? At this precise moment is when the broadcaster asks, 'Where did that miss?' or 'Was that an umpire's balk?' and then the next pitch changes everything in the game because the ball is bouncing around the warning track somewhere where the peanut shells roam.

I have said it before and dammit I'll say it again, the game of baseball is in the eyes of the home plate umpire. How he determines what is and is not a strike is how the game flows. Forget all the 'this takes long or that takes long' it is ALL on the person calling balls and strikes.

We have seen so far that the Giants have a good hitting lineup but the game REQUIRES that you get 27 outs. You need to have the ability to catch the ball as well as hit it where 'they ain't.' Now, throw in an inconsistent ump who doesn't know a strike from a ball and well, you have chaos.

(I don't quite think this is what Mel Brooks had in mind when he partnered in with Buck Henry for the television sitcom "Get Smart" which had Maxwell Smart and his crew constantly battling with chaos. Although, they spelled it with a "K" (KAOS). "K"... if only the umpire would have...)


Kevin J. Marquez