Apparently, not so much. Toronto 12, Oakland 0.
Besides, what choke? They got beaten by a great pitcher, that’s not a choke job.
Yeah, Jim Palmer was really pissed.
Now, admittedly, Palmer played two decades for the Orioles, and makes no secret of rooting for the Birds, but he’s generally a very calm and measured “color guy” who doesn’t act like too much of a homer behind the microphone.
It’s not often you hear him call umpiring decisions—especially strike calls that go in favor of the pitcher—“ridiculous,” but that’s the term he used in commenting on that pitch. He also noted that it was not the first dodgy strike call since Rivera took the mound.
Can ESPN slobber any more over Joba Chamberlain probably making a start on Monday night on ESPN? As far as I know, Chamberlain has **only ** walked on water. He hasn’t yet raised the dead nor cast out demons!
The A’s need to seriously put some hurt on the Rangers this weekend. Especially on Saturday night since I’ll be there.
Funny coming from Palmer who use to also benefit from the *Hall of Famer to be * strike zone as have dozens of other pitchers in my lifetime. Especially that certain 3 in Atlanta in the 90s.
We all know certain pitchers benefit from very generous strike calls. The same is true for some batters over the years against lesser or young pitchers.
I really do find it funny that Palmer would get indignant over it as he was always getting calls that would make opposing teams scream or wince.
Don’t expect this Yankee fan to argue that Rivera does not get a generous strike zone from some Umps. He does and I appreciate it. Just don’t think this is a Yankee issue, you know it really is not.
By most accounts Joba, walking only on grass, will make his start on Tuesday, so ESPN will hopefully be wrong again. He will be limited to 75 pitches, so if he gives the Yanks 5 all will be happy.
Why is that funny? You seem to be implying that it makes him some sort of hypocrite.
Palmer would no doubt accept that he got some helpful calls as a pitcher, but as a commentator his responsibility is to call the game for the fans, not for the pitcher. Note that i never blamed Mariano Rivera for the bad call, nor did i expect him to walk up to the umpire and say, “You know, that ball was actually 4 inches outside.” His job is to pitch as well as he can, and to live with the calls the umpire makes; the umpires job is not to call strikes on pitches that are miles outside the zone.
Yep, and in my opinion the fact that it happens for more than one player still doesn’t make it right. The umpire’s call should have nothing to do with who’s standing on the mound or in the batter’s box; it should be based on where the ball goes.
Well, like i said above, as a pitcher it’s not his job to second-guess the umpires; as a commentator it is his job to do precisely that when they make a bad call. There’s nothing at all inconsistent or surprising about his behavior, IMO.
Well, i never said it was, although the Yankees’ ability to afford Hall-of-Fame hitters and pitchers means that they probably benefit from the “Future Hall of Famer” call at least as much as anyone else
That pitch was a little bit beyond the pale, though. I mean, I’ve watched a lot of ballgames and that’s one of the three or four worst strike calls I’ve ever seen. And two of the top five were by Eric Gregg (God rest his soul) in that NLCS game in 1997.
Most umps seem to call a reasonably fair strike zone; great pitchers get more calls because they hit the corners more often, not because they get all that many way-outside strikes.
I think it’s actually better now than it used to be; they got rid of a lot of shitty umpires, and effected a mass attitude adjustment, with the Great Retirement Acceptance of 1999.
By the way, since you’re reading, just what the hell is wrong with Robinson Cano? Is he just hitting in bad luck or something?
I’m not a Yankee-watcher, but that’s gotta be part of it. His line-drive percentage is down just a tick from last year, and his GB/FB ratio is pretty much the same. What’s different is that his BABIP has just plummeted (from .329 to .225), and his HR/FB rate is down almost 40%. Both of those things are subject to a to a lot of variance, and should rebound pretty strongly.
Or, maybe he’s just part of the Great American League Steroid Purge.
I saw a call just as bad the other night against the Yanks and just chalked it up to a bad call. Jason G was at the plate. Umps still make bad calls, I did not see the Rivera pitch live, but it a was obviously a bad call.
As to Cano, he got off to a horrible start but has been warming up in the last few weeks. I think he will have a really hot month at some point and still end up as around a .300 for the year.
I was at Wrigley today for one of the greatest games I have ever seen:
(wind was blowing strongly out the whole game)
Roxx 403 110 000 - 9
Cubs 000 103 600 - 10
Go Cubs Go!!!
I listened to that game on the radio (XM) driving home. I could not believe it. You would not believe how the WGN announcers were jumping out of their seats just describing it.
Sounds like fun.
I’m off to the A’s/Rangers game tonight. Go A’s!
The Padres are no longer the worst team in baseball! They’ve moved up to 4th worst. 
Tigers shut out for 9th time this year. Only 3 all last year. Sometimes as you watch ,you think they are just not going to score. No hope.Just watch the wreck.
Manny! Manny! Finally, now we can get on with the rest of the season! I’m still worried about the Red Sox relief pitching but this was nice.
Jay Bruce, baby! It’s about time the friggin’ Reds brought his ass up. Thankfully it appears that Dusty “Black Moses” Baker has finally given up on the Corey Patterson Project and brought up someone whom can play.
At 21 this kid’s line is this through 5 games:
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
5 19 8 11 3 0 1 4 17 ** 5 ** 1 2 0 **.680 ** .895 .579
What I meant to add was:
Jay Bruce, baby! It’s about time the friggin’ Reds brought his ass up. Thankfully it appears that Dusty “Black Moses” Baker has finally given up on the Corey Patterson Project and brought up someone whom can play.
At 21 this kid’s line is this through 5 games:
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
5 19 8 11 3 0 1 4 17 5 1 2 0 680 .895 .579
So a 21 year old kid with the knock in AAA on him being too many strikeouts gets called up and collects five walks in 19 AB’s? 11 hits, including a walkoff homer against ATL tonight in extras? Only one strikeout? Avg is .579?
:dubious:
We’ve been calling for this guy to be up and Patterson to begone for a month, but Dusty kept holding on to his Patterson infatuation. Insufferable.
The Reds are poised to start gaining ground in the Central, provided of course if the Cubbies politely oblige with the obligatory meltdown. They are white-hot right now, though.
In other news, Griffey The Useless Salary Monger hit a homerun to gain 599. It was his first homer in forever. I wish the 600 HR thing would just get out of the way for him, I think he’s caught up in it, as he is sucking monkey balls right now (well, not tonight).
Man I love me some Reds but judging by the participants in this thread, I am the only one and there’s some AL-lovin’ going on.
Anti-DH geeks unite!
Royals win! Our long national nightmare losing streak is finally over! (At least for a while.)
Strange, and a little sad, to see the stands in Camden Yards filled so completely with red shirts and pink hats with the B emblem. The cheers for Manny’s 500th, and the signs urging him to do it, were as intense as he’d get at home.
I know Baltimore has fans of its own, because once in a while a faint “Let’s Go O’s” cheer could be heard, but it’s typical these day. It is not only easier, but possibly cheaper even including travel costs, for Boston fans to get tickets there or in St. Pete than at Fenway. Part of Boston’s competitive advantage is that so much more of its schedule is effectively at home.
Here is the June Thread.