Just a small sample size.

I guess it's time for an obligatory spreadsheet joke.

A rabbi, a nun and a spreadsheet walk into a bar...

At least he knows he's got to do better. Bad luck or not so far, he's been killing the team this series with his out-making. It's been extremely frustrating to watch.

Perhaps he should stop sending self-aggrandizing messages to Gammo's cell phone until he manages to get a ####### hit or two.

"A rabbi, a nun and a spreadsheet walk into a bar..."

And all three immediately suffer painful head wounds?

The average nun could bat .000/.188/.000.

A rabbi would have hurt the team less, because he would have taken Friday night's game off.

When you have a rabbi with three balls, the spreadsheet advises that you walk him to face the nun.

When you have a rabbi with three balls, the spreadsheet advises that you walk him to face the nun.

When you have a rabbi with three balls, you have a man's man of a rabbi.

A rabbi with three balls would have made a great pawnbroker.

"A rabbi with three balls would have made a great pawnbroker."

And who's the patron saint of pawnbrokers? Jolly old St. Nick!

Toys made by elves, my ass.

When you have a rabbi with three balls, the spreadsheet advises that you walk him to face the nun.

This deserved more credit, I think.


BTW, as long as we're talking about the game and series, what are the opinions on the umpiring last night? The way people were shrieking in chatter, I expected a link to a news story about it this morning. I'm neutral (even if rooting for the Sox), but thoughts in the cold light of morning after a night's sleep?

I was at the game, and the umpiring seemed completely unexceptional. The strike zone was a little fuzzy, but overall seemed pretty fair. There weren't any interesting plays I can remember - Ellsbury and Hunter were obviously out at second, um, what else?

I will say that before the series I said that this was probably the two best teams in baseball facing off, and I think the games so far back me up on that. Each game has been quite close, and other than a couple mental errors, quite well-played. (In some ways Game 3 was the least close, as the Angels should have scored far more runs than they did, and the Sox got 75% of their runs on a bloop that should have been caught)

Oh, and I don't really get being all pissy about Pedroia. Yeah, he hasn't produced, but he's been making very good contact at a pretty normal Pedroian rate. As with the playoffs last year, he'll get his hits.

Were you there for all 12 innings, MCoA?

The only really egregrious strike call was the called 3rd on Ells in (IIRC) the 8th. He ####### a little about a pitch which was a bit low (but arguably a strike), immediately followed by one 5 inches outside which rung him up. Otherwise the zone very rarely strayed beyond the black.

Were you there for all 12 innings, MCoA?

Of course. I was raised right.

I thought the strike zone was just a little fluid, nothing too egregious, but the zone wasn't consistent all night. That being said, neither team particularly benefited from the calls, just made the game a bit unpredictable.

The outside strike 3 on Ellsbury was clearly punishment for his ######## about strike 2. Which is wrong, technically. But Ellsbury went way beyond the bounds of what is considered acceptable in terms of showing displeasure with a strike call while at the plate. If anybody ever earned that kind of treatment, it was Ellsbury last night.

BTW, as long as we're talking about the game and series, what are the opinions on the umpiring last night? The way people were shrieking in chatter, I expected a link to a news story about it this morning. I'm neutral (even if rooting for the Sox), but thoughts in the cold light of morning after a night's sleep?

This is what I wrote about it on my blog after last night's game:

The umpiring in this series has been atrocious. I say that objectively, as it's been awful for both teams. Ed Rapuano has had a horrible series, blowing check swings in games 1 and 3, tonight to the Angels brief benefit, and Wednesday to their detriment. He blew the call on the pickoff at second in game two. Kerwin Danley's strike zone tonight was just awful. I'm pretty sure he had no idea where it was. And the Angels caught a huge break when Danley called an inside fastball to Napoli a ball. That same pitch was strike three to left handed hitting Jacoby Ellsbury just minutes before. Napoli followed with a single, and scored the winning run.

I’ve got to get on [expletive] base.

Isn't "[expletive] base" home plate?

A rabbi, a nun and a spreadsheet walk into a bar...

What is this, some kind of joke?

This thread seems as good as any to ask a question. When Paplebon (I think) was pitching, the camera showed the Angel's pitching coach (I think) with a stop watch. He looked a bit perturbed. Anyone know what that was about? I was hoping Buck would tell us, but he didn't. Was he timing Pablebon's time to the plate?

In the regular season I think people who want the plate umpire to be replaced with an electric eye are heartless zombies, and then in the playoffs I suddenly agree with them. Bill Hall struck out Friday when strike 2 was about a foot inside and then strike 3 was about a foot outside. Shortly thereafter a guy had a 3-1 count, got a ball about a foot outside for strike 2, and then the next pitch was in exactly the same place but was ball 4.

beyond the bounds of what is considered acceptable in terms of showing displeasure with a strike call while at the plate.

No he didn't. He said "Ah ####" " or "No ####### way" to himself, turning away from the ump to recompose himself.

What's beyond acceptable is turning to the ump and ######## right at him.

Anyone know what that was about?

I have no idea. I wondered about that too.

No he didn't. He said "Ah ####" " or "No ####### way" to himself, turning away from the ump to recompose himself.

He jumped a foot in the air. It's one thing to grouse, where only the ump can hear you, but if you act in a way that fans 400 in the bleachers and those at home can see your displeasure, you're kind of asking for a wider zone on the next pitch. It shouldn't be that way, but it's not exactly shocking it happened.

This thread seems as good as any to ask a question. When Paplebon (I think) was pitching, the camera showed the Angel's pitching coach (I think) with a stop watch. He looked a bit perturbed. Anyone know what that was about? I was hoping Buck would tell us, but he didn't. Was he timing Pablebon's time to the plate?

I saw that too.

maybe he was timing Papelbon's motion to for purposes of stealing bases, although I dont even remember if he was pitching from the stretch at the time. I dont know why he was showing it to the TV cameras though.

I thought that it seemed the pitching coach was just being camera friendly and showing the camera what Papelbon's time to the plate was. It sounded to me like he was saying "2.3 seconds to home" or something, and I thought the watch read 2.299 or something. I think it was harmless, but certainly seemed to come out of nowhere.

I don't see what he could have been upset about. But then again, is there much point to the stopwatch with nobody on base, as I think was the case at the time?

He blew the call on the pickoff at second in game two.

While I agree with everything else, I have to take issue with this one. Replays showed pretty clearly that Coco slid back, behind the glove. He should have been out, but Kendrick(?) caught the ball and waited for Coco to slide into his glove on the ground, rather than trying to make a move towards the base, where he would have tagged the leg.

Yeah, the home plate ump was quite awful, though not biased towards one team or another.

And we're taking a different tack on Pedroia if the rocket he hit in the 11th goes somewhere other than right at Figgins and scores the winning run.

But then again, is there much point to the stopwatch with nobody on base, as I think was the case at the time?

I thought most relievers pitched the same stride and motion regardless of the game situation, for consistency in their pitches. Which is why most of them pitch from the stretch regardless.

And we're taking a different tack on Pedroia if the rocket he hit in the 11th goes somewhere other than right at Figgins and scores the winning run.


That's the rub, though, isn't it? He's hitting the ball hard but has done nothing but make outs in this series. Bad luck or no, he's been crap so far.

Now, if he continues to hit the ball the same way I'd expect some hits to finally fall, but the upshot of it is that he's 0 for 13 and has been the Sox' worst hitter in this series. He needs to start getting on base like, tonight.

And the home plate ump sucked horribly last night, for both teams. The strike 3 call to Ellsbury was completely inexcusable. And if it was payback for Ellsbury's grousing on strike 2, that's completely unprofessional behavior on Danley's part. The game is not an opportunity for the umpire to engage in petty revenge. Get the ####### calls right.

i'll admit i didn't watch all of every inning of every game, but it seemed like all i saw all weekend was angels swinging at first pitches and popping up, and running themselves out of innings. is this the way they play all the time? it's nerve racking, esp. cuz i'm rooting for a freeway series. or, as my girlfriend thought i was saying, a 'three-way' series!

He jumped a foot in the air. It's one thing to grouse, where only the ump can hear you, but if you act in a way that fans 400 in the bleachers and those at home can see your displeasure

But he didn't do it in the ump's face so you could interpret it as being mad at himself or something. The only thing that should piss an ump off is if the hitter turns around and ####### at him directly.

I don't know about that phredbird, the Angels have been working a lot of deep counts, especially last night. Seems like every atbat goes to 3-2. Actually for both teams, that's how you get 5 hour+ games. Angels have run themselves out of some innings though.

On the Hunter play last night, getting to 2nd with no out is a worthwhile gamble if you have a decent shot at it, and even though the ball took a fortuitous bounce and got to Bay quickly, I thought Hunter had a decent shot at it, given his normal running speed.

Then I saw how slowly Hunter was running coming around first, clearly not 100%. It's as if he forgot he wsan't running well, his mind was at 2nd but his legs couldn't get him there. Given his current speed, Hunter should have turned back as soon as he saw the ball bounce right to Bay. When he came up short on the slide, I sort of expected him to wait for Pedroia to motion for him to come a little closer, at which point Hunter would flip him off, Willie Mays Hayes style.

He jumped a foot in the air. It's one thing to grouse, where only the ump can hear you, but if you act in a way that fans 400 in the bleachers and those at home can see your displeasure

He better be careful. You can hurt your knee doing that.

But he didn't do it in the ump's face so you could interpret it as being mad at himself or something. The only thing that should piss an ump off is if the hitter turns around and ####### at him directly.

Kevin,

The ump knew why he did it. The guys in the TV booth knew why he did it. And you knew why he did it. No one was fooled.

Sure, you'd like the umpire to quickly forget it and call that final pitch correctly. But that's not the way it works all the time.

The ump knew why he did it.

So what? Ellsbury was pissed and should be allowed to vent a little without being confrontational.

Pedroia is the poor man's A-ROD...he's not as good in the regular season and even worse in the postseason. What an overrated joke this guy is.

Pedroia is the poor man's A-ROD...he's not as good in the regular season and even worse in the postseason. What an overrated joke this guy is.

Must be no Cubs fans around to prod, huh Freddy.

Ellsbury was pissed and should be allowed to vent a little without being confrontational.

Sure...after the game.

I'm quoting the quote in #41, which I assume is kevin, but I can't tell.

Ellsbury was pissed and should be allowed to vent a little without being confrontational.

Guys usually do this by walking a little further from the box and not really saying anything. As I said above, that third strike was a ball, and it was called a ball to Napoli. Whether Danley called it a strike because of Ellsbury's childish behavior or because Danley just sucks, I don't know. And if Danley did it in retaliation, that's stupid. But Ellsbury was a little out of line.

Pedroia is the poor man's A-ROD...he's not as good in the regular season and even worse in the postseason. What an overrated joke this guy is.

Yes. Certainly any player not as good as A-Rod is an overrated joke. :/

What an overrated joke this guy is.

Careful, you're projecting again...

As for the Ellsbury bithcing part. He shouldn't have. But the umps still get paid to be profesional, not to stroke their own dicks...

I don't really care, they're writing themselves an express ticket out of baseball. And I for one, will welcome our new robotic overlords.

just ignore FCD, Ells. He only posts to get a rise out of people. And he's terrible at it.

or because Danley just sucks

My guess would be this.

I don't know about that phredbird, the Angels have been working a lot of deep counts, especially last night.

agreed, i watched a lot of last night's game. i guess because all of a sudden i'm rooting for the angels everything seems more desperate. but am i wrong to suggest they can be a tad over-aggressive in general?

re dobbs, maybe someone could stake a fellow american to a meal or give him enough money to go panning for gold with the old guy from the oso negro. he and curtin ain't so smart, hanging around tampico pushing dimes.

if Danley did it in retaliation, that's stupid.

No, it's unethical, and he should never be allowed to umpire again.

But Ellsbury was a little out of line.

Did not see the play in question, but these are professional athletes in intense competition with everything at stake right now. Professional referees MUST understand and allow a release (that does not physically harm anyone else).

agreed, i watched a lot of last night's game. i guess because all of a sudden i'm rooting for the angels everything seems more desperate. but am i wrong to suggest they can be a tad over-aggressive in general?

They can certainly be aggressive. Like Howie's at bats in games 1-2, but then most of those are better described as pathetic. When Howie's going bad, not only does he chase the slider outside and in the dirt, but he misses the fastballs he gets right down the middle. Not a good combination. Last night he was much better, laying off the impossible pitches just enough to get the borderline pitches, and hit them hard somewhere.