So would umpire Joe West, who went on a rant before yesterday's game:
"They're the two clubs that don't try to pick up the pace," said West, chief of the umpiring crew that worked the three-game series in Boston. He was the home plate umpire Sunday. "They're two of the best teams in baseball. Why are they playing the slowest?
"It's pathetic and embarrassing. They take too long to play."
I agree, but wonder whether an umpire should be commenting on something like this. Sure, he's placing blame on both teams, but what happens when he makes a controversial call in a game between the Yankees and Tigers, or Red Sox and Rangers? Could his views on the Red Sox and Yankees slant him toward the other teams? Or in a game between the Red Sox and Yankees, might he be more inclined to call a runner for either team out on a close play in an attempt to speed up the game?
The umpire speaks the truth, but often being an independent arbitrator means losing some of your rights to free speech.
(Christine just wonders whether umpires dread getting assigned to a Red Sox-Yankees series because of the extra hours involved.)
Ironically, the rant came before the teams played a 10-inning game in 3 hours, 21 minutes thanks to John Lackey, whose quick style has already won over Kevin Youkilis and is sure to win over sleep-deprived fans.
Phillies: They attempted a rally today, but couldn't push across the tying run in the 9th inning, dropping their first game of the year 6-5 to the Nationals. Kyle Kendrick got knocked around, but new acquisition Nelson Figueroa took the loss. Christine isn't happy that a Mets reject is on the team and curious how I remembered that the No. 44 he wears used to belong to Vicente Padilla.
{Maybe Carlos Ruiz should have played instead of Brian Schneider. The Phillies are still undefeated when Chooch is the catcher.}
No comments:
Post a Comment