Random early season points

1. The Dodgers who were outraged at Astros cheating ,now apparently have their own cheating scandal. So which is worse, banging on trash cans,or doctoring baseballs?


2. The Mets win a game with the bases loaded, and their hitter (Conforto) leaning in to a called strike to get HBP. Rules do not allow that on a strike. Post game the umpire admitted he blew the call, but said it’s not reviewable. But the umps should have reversed the call without a video replay. Technically leaning into pitch to get hit is cheating! By the way my favorite Chase Utley was a master at this!

3. Apparently someone is monitoring umps accuracy on balls and strikes. In one game Angel Hernandez had more then 20 mistakes. Get those robots out of low A!

1. I wanted to say banging on trash cans was worse, but stealing signs isn't even technically illegal, it's the video method in which they did it that is against the rules...so I will have to say doctoring balls, which by any read is illegal. Can't say I'm rooting for either team though! I'm hoping to be at Yankee Stadium the first game the 'stros come to visit. That's not going to be a fun night for them, be it with 10k fans or 50k fans. I'm sure they'll all cry about it and then Correa will pimp a homer in an 8-1 game like he's Joe Carter. yeah...I'm bitter

2. Per the Mets broadcast, who vehemently disagreed with the call to their credit, a ball/strike is a judgment call of the home plate ump, so it's not only not reviewable, but can't be overruled by the other umps (like various other plays). It's insane for a game to end on that play, or for us to even have to worry about that kind of thing at any point, which leads me to:

3. The umps must have a stronger union than the MLBPA, because there's no reason for them to exist. The Conforto play is a perfect example. Both of those teams will be fighting for wild card positioning, so that game might matter! That's just one strike, let alone 20...look at the splits of the entire league after an 0-1 count or 1-0 count; it's literally hundreds of points of OPS. And the Yankee fan in me again would be thrilled to stop seeing Gary Sanchez steal strikes FROM his pitchers by riding high fastballs out of the zone. But hey, at least he's consistent at the plate, and at least I'm still not bitter!

Here's the Conforto HBP for anyone who hasn't even seen it.

And I think those are Mets announcers saying the call was BS!

Got to give the Mets announcers credit, they got it right. Also after the game the ump admitted he screwed up. I’m a Phillies fan but I respect how all of them handled it.

All three points were on morning sports talk radio this AM. Just thought it was all interesting.

the ump thought it hit him

that's all there is to it

he didn't lean in

he flinched late

free pass



what the hell is everyone yelling about

Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling were great on that whole play, Gary Cohen was wishy-washy about it, the SNY studio homers were defending Conforto

Posted by bagchucker on 4/9/2021 4:11:00 PM (view original):
the ump thought it hit him

that's all there is to it

he didn't lean in

he flinched late

free pass



what the hell is everyone yelling about

no effort to avoid or get out of the way, he leaned into it

Mets fan since 1967

i'm sorry but you're wrong

watch it again

he's a little guy

short stumpy alligator arms

it was high and inside

he's thinking it over

changes his mind late

it misses

completely

Go Beavers!

I’m no Dodgers fan, but unless something came out I didn’t see (other than the rosenthal piece), mlb takes balls from every single game and examines them. This to me is nothing more than manfred trying to ruin Bauer’s positive image. Bauer is constantly calling out mlb for their outdated marketing and rules that prevent players from reaching fans and I’m sure manfred would love nothing more than to give him some bad press.

Conforto was just trying to do his best Nimmo impression

"3. The umps must have a stronger union than the MLBPA, because there's no reason for them to exist."

Wait ... what? The umps don't need to exist? We don't need umpires in baseball? Are we just going to let the teams/coaches call the game themselves or maybe pull a couple lucky fans from the stands like they do in t-ball?

Of course we need umps in baseball, and not robots either. That's absolutely absurd. How exactly would a robot make a judgment call on the Conforto play? Or on a balk? Or batter's interference? Or a dozen of other potential judgment calls that can swing a game, a series and a season?

Human error is part of the game. Errors on the part of the hitters. Errors on the part of the pitchers. Errors on the part of the fielders. Errors on the part of coaches. And yes ... errors on the part of umpires. It has always been a part of the game ... and should continue to be. It's just one more potential obstacle a good team should be able to overcome.

Posted by bagchucker on 4/9/2021 5:44:00 PM (view original):
i'm sorry but you're wrong

watch it again

you're wrong, dude. It was called strike by the umpire before he signaled that it hit Conforto. Conforto stuck his elbow further into the strike zone to get hit. I'm not even sure it even hit him.