I agree. It seems that there are more odd calls than ever before but it could also be that we get to see all the questionable plays now.

Fans should be able to vote on how to score controversial plays. Just text E for error or H for hit to the number you see on the jumbotron. Text charges plus a ticektmaster surcharge and MLB licensing fee apply.

Fans should be able to vote on how to score controversial plays. Just text E for error or H for hit to the number you see on the jumbotron. Text charges plus a ticektmaster surcharge and MLB licensing fee apply.

Dammit Halofan. You do realize there may be some exec reading your post and thinking, "That's a great idea."

Palladino, eh, Repoz? I'm actually semi-acquainted with this guy. You gonna post something from Matt Buckler at the JI next?

I think Brian nails it - it's not that there are more odd calls, it's that we now see most of them, and we see many of them from about five different angles.

If we would stop making the distinction between "hit" and "error" in the stats - by eliminating unearned runs, and by including RBOE as part of OBP - this issue would go away.

-- MWE

The only scoring issue that bugs me is a pop-up like Ellbury's that plated three runs being called a hit because it didn't clank off somebody's glove. The only debate should be whether Kendrick or Hunter gets the error. Maybe a "team error" should be introduced for plays which clearly should have been made but in which there is blame to spread. Some of the balls which hit the ground unmolested are due to the sun, and that sucks for the fielder, but there are also lots of balls that are just played so terribly that the ball hits the ground without catching leather, and those are always ruled hits and it's stupid.

The only scoring issue that bugs me is a pop-up like Ellbury's that plated three runs being called a hit because it didn't clank off somebody's glove. The only debate should be whether Kendrick or Hunter gets the error. Maybe a "team error" should be introduced for plays which clearly should have been made but in which there is blame to spread. Some of the balls which hit the ground unmolested are due to the sun, and that sucks for the fielder, but there are also lots of balls that are just played so terribly that the ball hits the ground without catching leather, and those are always ruled hits and it's stupid..

Dick Young championed this cause, unsuccessfully, for years. One of the few things he wrote I agreed with.

Crawford nearly made a great play on Youk's liner, and the idea that he could have caught it without diving is beyond ludicrous. Further, it was a very difficult play, and definitely shouldn't have been an error. A single and an error, maybe, but definitely a hit.

He just missed it, and maybe Crawford should have pulled up and let it drop for a hit, but given how close he was to making the play - and I thought he had it as he closed in - it's pretty hard to criticize.

Fans should be able to vote on how to score controversial plays. Just text E for error or H for hit to the number you see on the jumbotron. Text charges plus a ticektmaster surcharge and MLB licensing fee apply.

It's more complicated with something like the Crawford play tho:

1. Two-base error?
2. Hit + an error which allowed the runners to move up an extra base or two?
3. Double?

You could make an argument for #2 for the play in question. It clearly required extraordinary effort just to get the glove on the ball. But if he had played it conservatively he would have held the runners to just one advanced base.

Joe Palladino was quicker than Carl Crawford and would have caught that ball easily...on three bounces.

I think official scorers often take the coward's way out on close calls and award the hit because it makes two people happy instead of making two people angry. I don't want to go all "Get off my lawn!" here, but I'm disgusted by the ballslessness of official scoring these days.

Which raises an interesting question....When I became a certified umpire in Rhode Island, I had to attend class and actually pass a test, both written and oral, to be certified. Do scorers have to do the same or similar to hold that job? I would hope so, but then again, this IS MLB we're talking about.

The secret is to be a fat, slug outfielder. Kinda use that lard to stay in one place. And don't go CHASING those balls. Wait til they stop, and then pick em' up CLEANLY.

1.0000 fielding percentage.

Wait til they stop, and then pick em' up CLEANLY.

Just like catching a knuckleball...

I'm inclined to agree with #8 and #9 and thought so at the time. The ball deserved a hit and the advancement occurred when the ball bounced away off the edge of the mitt. If it bounces and stays in front of him, Youk doesn't get to second.

And a lot of the criticism is results-based. J.D. Drew made the same kind of catch the next inning; if he'd missed the ball by a few inches like Crawford and it bounced to the ball, he'd be hammered.

If we would stop making the distinction between "hit" and "error" in the stats - by eliminating unearned runs, and by including RBOE as part of OBP - this issue would go away.

+1

If we would stop making the distinction between "hit" and "error" in the stats - by eliminating unearned runs, and by including RBOE as part of OBP - this issue would go away.

Mike,

Are you advocating getting rid of hits and errors altogether, or just how they're used in the stat world? If it's the latter, I can support it. But I don't want a baseball world where there's absolutely no distinction between a hit and error.

Are you advocating getting rid of hits and errors altogether, or just how they're used in the stat world?

If we would stop making the distinction between "hit" and "error" in the stats

:)

If we would stop making the distinction between "hit" and "error" in the stats

I noticed what he wrote Crashburn. I wanted it clarified by him, since I'm not sure what he meant by "in the stats."

Others here have advocated getting rid of the error distinction altogether, which I think would be a huge mistake.

Well, if he's including RBOE in OBP, he's not advocating erasing it entirely.

Fielding errors are tough to judge sometimes... throwing errors are not. So, maybe we keep TE and try to improve FE somehow.

He just missed it, and maybe Crawford should have pulled up and let it drop for a hit, but given how close he was to making the play - and I thought he had it as he closed in - it's pretty hard to criticize.

Wait, that was ruled an error? Seriously? Geez.

And OBP that is suppose to measure reaching on base percentage but doesn't include something that reaches on base, huh? You want to penalize someone for reaching on error, do it on AVG, but it kind of should be there in OBP. Discussed a while back, but the only reason for its disclusion is that's how it's always been done. Right?

Do scorers have to do the same or similar to hold that job? I would hope so, but then again, this IS MLB we're talking about.

Larry knows, but he can't tell you.