How bad was the ump on Wednesday night?

[absintheofmalaise]

There was a lot of complaining in the game thread, on the broadcast and on the field during the game on Wednesday about how Mike Estabrook was calling balls and strikes. iayork and myself thought it was worth the time to look at to see just how bad he was.

"If you were watching the game Wednesday night between the two Sox on NESN or MLBN, you would have heard color commentator Dennis Eckersley in rare form complaining about the strike zone of home plate ump Mike Estabrook."

 

[The Price Is Wrong]

OK fine, so he wasn't bad at all. But how about the Shaw AB in the 9th (8th?) last night?

We benefitted from it, of course, but I don't think I've ever seen a 4-pitch walk where 3 of them were strikes. And usually on a 2-0 (or especially 3-0) count, the ump's zone expands a little bit to give the pitcher the benefit of the doubt. Was just bizarre.

 

[Boggs26]

OK fine, so he wasn't bad at all. But how about the Shaw AB in the 9th (8th?) last night?

We benefitted from it, of course, but I don't think I've ever seen a 4-pitch walk where 3 of them were strikes. And usually on a 2-0 (or especially 3-0) count, the ump's zone expands a little bit to give the pitcher the benefit of the doubt. Was just bizarre.

Wow, that ball 1 was a brutal call. The rest are fairly borderline (though 3 and 4 are normally strikes) but the first one is one of the worst calls I've seen assuming that placement is accurate.

 

[mauidano]

Great article gentlemen as usual! So yeah, it doesn't seem as bad Eck made it out to be. Taking into consideration Eck can be quite demonstrative as we know, there are always in every game a few missed here and there. For example Papi has a pretty good eye and when he stops and turns and says something he's usually right. We are swayed by what we see from the angle we have, the broadcasters and player reactions. We love to jump on the umps but more often than not they get it right. Sure, it becomes more glaring in certain situations obviously. It's a tough gig to begin with http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/paul-emmels-head-cracked-open-by-bat-1782537180 and the human element is a part of the game. We accept that but just look for consistency even in the inconsistency.