Saturday, October 27, 2012

Discussions: 2012 World Series

As the 2012 World Series gets underway, we open the umpire forum to discussion. Notes include home plate umpire performance according to pitch f/x and UEFL Rules 6-2-b-a (horizontal bound, "Kulpa Rule") and 6-2-b-b (vertical strike zone, "Miller Rule"). Plays include significant plays, if such plays occur. Listed below are home plate umpire probables for each game given MLB World Series rotational assignments.

The following games are final and include Pitch f/x-related umpiring statistics
- 10/24/12, DET@SF, Gm 1: HP Umpire Gerry Davis: pfx (96/100 Balls, 37/44 Strikes = 133/144 = 92.4%)
- 10/25/12, DET@SF, Gm 2: HP Umpire Dan Iassogna: pfx (92/98 Balls, 37/42 Strikes = 129/140 = 92.1%)
- 10/27/12, SF@DET, Gm 3: HP Umpire Fieldin Culbreth: pfx (107/111 Balls, 50/59 S = 157/170 = 92.4%)
- 10/28/12, SF@DET, Gm 4: HP Umpire Brian O'Nora: pfx (98/101 Balls, 41/44 Strikes = 139/145 = 95.8%)

Notes & Plays (Video) — Green shade indicates a QOC of Correct / Red shade indicates a QOC of Incorrect / Blue shade indicates a QOC of Irrecusable or Inconclusive/Insufficient Evidence to Determine Probable QOC
WS Game 1: Peralta's throw to Prince barely beats Scutaro to first base (1B Umpire: Dan Iassogna)
WS Game 1: Delmon Young's chopper in front of home plate ruled fair, double play (HP Umpire: Gerry Davis)
WS Game 2: Blanco-Scutaro-Posey relay retires Fielder on close play at home (HP Umpire: Dan Iassogna)
WS Game 2: Marco Scutaro slides head-first into first base, called out (1B Umpire: Fieldin Culbreth)
WS Game 2: Infante picked off and thrown out trying to steal second (2B Umpire: Brian O'Nora)
WS Game 2: Blanco bunt enthusiastically ruled fair upon settling near foul line (HP Umpire: Dan Iassogna)
WS Game 2: Pagan steals second base ahead of Laird's bullet throw (2B Umpire: Brian O'Nora)
WS Game 3: Belt stretches to keep foot on base to complete double play (1B Umpire: Brian O'Nora)
WS Game 3: Blanco slides headfirst into first as Fielder dives to catch throw (1B Umpire: Brian O'Nora)
WS Game 4: Berry out after deflection off Cain; another slide into 1st (1B Umpire: Brian Gorman)
WS Game 4: Crawford beats throw to first for an infield single (1B Umpire: Brian Gorman)

Abbreviations: WS/World Series = Detroit Tigers @ San Francisco Giants (on FOX). Gm = Game #.
*Indicates if necessary

50 comments :

Anonymous said...

Great call at first base by Iassogna, ball beat runner by about 2 frames.

Anonymous said...

yes great call at first...gotta admit- i had him safe on my first look.

Anonymous said...

Davis had a decidedly much better night than did Barry Manilow, erm, Tim McCarver.

Anonymous said...

Nice game for Davis. Terrible playing. Not running on the tapper at the plate causing a double play. Hit the ball, run and look later. Inexcusable. Worse than Little League. Giving up 3 home runs to the same person in one game, pitiful.

Anonymous said...

Am I the only person that saw the ball hit by Young hit BEHIND the plate? That would make it a foul ball, dead ball, and his at bat continues. It clearly did not hit in front of the plate like Tim Carver kept saying. I'm surprised they didn't show more replays, at different angles.

Anonymous said...

It does not matter where the ball hits... It is where the ball is touched. The ball can hit the ground behind home plate but still become fair. It was ruled by Davis that the ball was over fair territory when the ball was touched by Posey!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for making it clear for me!

Anonymous said...

not true! A foul ball is a foul ball!

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:56.

Just because a ball first hits behind the plate, does not immediately make it a foul ball. If it is touched on or over fair territory, it becomes a fair ball at that time.

Anonymous said...

IF the batted ball bounced and then came up & touched Young, in fair or foul territory, (before Posey caught the ball and tagged him) then the ruling would be a foul ball or interference if he was out of the box. Either way, the result is a strike and no out or one out (batter) and runner returns to 1B. Both of these are still better than a double play & inning over?

Anonymous said...

The baseball didn't touch Young.

Anonymous said...

How about that throw to home from the left fielder. Straight into the ground like cricket. Just awful.

Jared said...

Dan Iassogna with the best call of the World Series so far. 3B Coach Gene Lamont should have never sent Prince Fielder from first-to-home with zero outs on the double by Delmon Young. Great call moving towards first from third base line extended.

Anonymous said...

Quite foolish of Scutaro to go into a head-first slide on a routine ground ball. Great call by Cubby, but if you're a batter running to first, no reason to slide if it's not a tag you're evading or some similar circumstance.

Russ said...

And a great call by Fieldin Culbreth calling Marco Scutaro out at first. Are the players ever going to learn head first sliding slows you down?

Russ said...

And now O'Nora nails a call at second. The first 1.5 games of this series has seen some really excellent calls .

Anonymous said...

Man I haven't seen so much green ("correct calls") in a while. Who will the fans blame now?

Anonymous said...

they're quick to pick on the missed calls- but no praise for the excellent ones...was there a definitive angle for the slide into 1? i thot it was pretty close even on replay...

Anonymous said...

Definitive angle is on the video linked above. The replay shown from the 1st base dugout side clearly shows ball in back of pocket of Fielder's glove and Scutaro's hand not yet to the base.

UmpsRule said...

@ Anon 6:22

Actually, the FOX announcing crew has been complimentary of the umpires. I don't post here much anymore, but I was coming here just to point out how nice it is to hear the umpires get some credit.

Anonymous said...

My friends and I decided to play the Cowboy drinking game, take a drink every time they show Joe West grazing out in left field grass. Thanks to all the replays of the play at the plate and relay throws from the corner out there, game was called early on account of alcohol poisoning.

UmpsRule said...

You should have waited until you were sober before commenting here.

Anonymous said...

LOL, Iassogna with the dramatic fair ball call on the bunt that settled on the line.

Anonymous said...

Is it just me or do the annoucers just seem like they want a bad call so they can talk about how they should get reply? For now they are complimentry but there hasnt been that bad of call yet. It just seems like every replay they pause for a bit and then say he got the call right. But doesnt sound like they want them to get the call right. Sorry for my bad english in this post but I really dont care.

Anonymous said...

@umpsrule

Why dont you comment as much as you used to anymore?

SJR said...

We all know that O'Nora called the runner safe at 2nd so he could get a free taco next Tuesday along with the rest of America. I'm kidding.

UmpsRule said...

It's just not a very pleasant board sometimes. I guess I got tired of the vitriolic comments and the language used.

Lindsay said...

@UmpsRule, Make sure you cast your vote during this year's Rules Summit where we will again vote on Posting Guidelines/Moderation (proposal 8 failed in 2011, receiving only 39% support)!

Cricket said...

@Gil

Where can we offer proposals to be placed on the ballot?


And after the mediocrity of posting this season, I am somewhat regretful of my vote against Prop 8 last off-season. I am still pretty anti-censorship, but I think some regulations need to be adopted for next season.

Lindsay said...

We'll start up the Summit discussion thread after the UEFL Awards (it's a week-long discussion followed by the vote, which remains open for another week). As always, feel free to e-mail me if you have a pressing idea or just post here and I'll add it to the docket.

The Plumber said...

Danny Lasagna!!

SJR said...

The anon who likes to make the claim that poor play is in full force this postseason is probably having a field day so far with game 3. In other news, Tim McCarver promoted Brian O'Nora from first base umpire to first base coach. Congratulations, Brian. Mr. Culbrith looks good though thus far.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad Joe Buck decided to say O'nora got that tag at first base wrong based on a still frame shot from a completely irrelevant camera angle

SJR said...

Does that mean Joe Buck gets a red shaded box? =x

Anonymous said...

I love the Cubby punch out...raises the leg the way Frank Pulli used to do.

Anonymous said...

A little surprised to see so many callable pitches during Game 3 with Cubby, considering how little offense there was on both sides. Nice to see him match up with Davis' solid Game 1 performance, though with Detroit's offensive struggles, we might not get to see Gorman and Joe West behind the dish this year.

Anonymous said...

Another 2 errors and another runner sliding into first when time studies show you get there sooner if you run straight through the bag. Maybe a slide if a tag play is involved. Atrocious playing again.

Anonymous said...

You shouldn't list O'Nora's call as anything but correct. If replay doesn't back up changing the call, then it's right.

Anonymous said...

Wow, and Gorman is absolutely NAILS on what may be the closest whacker of the year @ 1st base. From the first angle they showed the ball is actually behind Fielder's glove and runners foot is still not quite on the bag. From another angle the runners foot is on the bag by the time the ball hits the back of the glove. Just a spectacular call.

SJR said...

And yet another player thrown out on a headfirst slide into first base.

Anonymous said...

"Heeeeee" and Brian O'Nora has the last word on this 2012 season

SJR said...

Not much of a World Series unless you're a Giants fan, but the umpires all did a hell of a job.

Russ said...

Another great performance by O'Nora. Overall an outstandingly umpired series.

tmac said...

i have to give Randy Marsh credit where credit is due... The selection of the 2012 postseason umpires was outstanding. The umpiring overall was excellent. They should be very proud!!

As for O'nora WOW!! 1st stick in the WS and after a couple opening inning jitters NAILZ!! Did he miss but one pitch after the 3rd inning?

I'd like to publicly thank everyone for another great season. This site continues to grow!!

I guess our next big discussion will be the retirees and new hires for 2013 or perhaps the annual post season awards!! Good luck and happy offseason!

Lindsay said...

By pitch f/x standards, O'Nora missed one pitch after inning 3 + an additional borderline.

Stay tuned for postseason awards; the first award (Worst Umpire of the Year) will be given in about three hours, followed by the second (Most Improved) at noon on Monday and so forth. The week-long Rules Summit discussion will follow the Awards; thereafter, the Rules Summit polls will open and close seven days following.

Keep in mind, if you are interested in signing up for the Technical Foul Fantasy League (TFFL), registration remains open until October 30 at 6:00 AM PT (when NBA generally releases daily referee assignments/schedules).

Anonymous said...

tmac--does that mean all the supervisors should be able to breath easier knowing they have a job next year, unless they personally want to retire.
Or, will a couple of debatable calls from the DS and LCS mean another blood letting like in 2009 from the early rounds in which they brought in Gerry Davis and Joe West to work the WS to bring in stability after some debateable DS LCS calls, and afterwards, 3 supervisors (Springstead, Garcia, McKean), were let go because of early round problems.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what is the rap on O'Nora. Why has he been flying under the radar for so many years and just getting his 1st WS.
What was wrong with him under the old brass Torre and Solomon and supervisors(Springstead, Garcia, McKean, Pulli, etc.) till 2009 and the new supervisors since 2009 to recognized this guy.
What the heck is the hang-up on all the new top brass, Torre and Woodfork and then umpires turned supervisors (Marsh, Reliford, Froemming ,etc. and then area observers in overlooking him for years and years. What could he have possibly been doing that was so wrong and gosh awful all those years???? There just has to be something wrong for all those people to have a burr up their backside and feel and judge that O'Nora did not deserve, based on ability, a WS until this year.
What has been going on all these years. Please enlighten me as to why he has been in the doghouse all these years, or received unfavorable ratings, undeserving of a WS. He has been working MLB games since 1992 and 120 or more games since 1996. How many years does it take to discover a guy???

Anonymous said...

Nice plate job by O'Nora. Nice game. No errors, 2 double plays, 3 home runs, a caught stealing, a sacrifice bunt, which is a lost art, that moved a runner up and led to the winning run on a base hit in an extra inning game. 25 strikeouts divided up with 12 on one team and 13 on the other, so the pitchers were on their game also. Guys hustling down the line to try and get on base although there was another uncalled for slide into first base. Finally a decent game.

Anonymous said...

Since MLB seems to like keeping their best crews from year to year, I'd be willing to bet Hallion's crew for 2013 would remain with him, O'Nora, Marquez, and Fairchild. Not only were they one of the few crews to remain the same from beginning to end, they were probably the highest ranking crew all year (all members made the postseason.) Made good calls and stayed in control. Gotta admit I wouldn't have had Fairchild for the fewest ejections on that crew. Hallion is proving to be a good choice for crew chief

tmac said...

Well MLB wants cookie cutter umpires.... MILB wants cookie cutter robot umpires and O'nora has a lot of quirky mechanics.. As one friends told me his stance is different his body is different his mechanics are different and his calls are awesome..... Unfortunately getting the calls right and handling people isn't always the top priority!! This is a very complicated issue! And one that can't be hashed out here in a few sentences but that is the best brief i can give ya!!

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