May 12, 2010

G35: Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 2

Blue Jays - 000 010 200 - 3  6  0
Red Sox - 000 000 002 - 2 6 0
See that red square on the left? That was the pitch that home plate umpire Dale Scott called David Ortiz out on in the bottom of the ninth inning. It should have been Ball 4.

Here is Gameday (pitch 7):
The blown call changed the dynamics of the inning tremendously. With one out and the Red Sox down by three runs, facing Kevin Gregg, Kevin Youkilis singled and J.D. Drew doubled Yook in to make it 3-1. Ortiz was the potential tying run, but instead of having men at first and second and one out, Boston had the one runner at second and two outs.

[Also, a called Strike 2 to Drew on the pitch before his double was almost as bad. That also should have been Ball 4. As SoSHer radsoxfan put it, "This ump is approaching NBA level referee incompetence out there." (Read)

It makes you wonder, especially when you can see how much Scott favoured the Toronto pitchers all afternoon, on both sides of the plate, in this graphic. Jays pitchers got 18 calls on pitches outside the strike zone to Boston's 2. Is Scott BFF with Joe West?]

How much did the obviously wrong call hurt? In nearly 30 years of data found here, home teams down by 2 in the bottom of the 9th, with 1st/2nd and 1 out -- the situation Boston should have had if Scott had made the right call -- came back and won 17.1% of the games (101 of 509). In the situation the Red Sox were put in -- down by 2, man on 2nd, 2 outs -- only 4.2% of teams rallied to win (34 of 810).

Over at FanGraphs, Drew's double increased Boston's chances of winning from 5.5% to 13.7%. The strikeout of Ortiz dropped the odds back down to 5.5%.

Adrian Beltre followed Flo to the plate and checked his swing on a 1-1 pitch. Scott said Beltre swung and refused Beltre's request to check with the first base umpire. It seemed obvious to me that Scott was ignoring Beltre because of Ortiz's complaints about the farcical called strike 3. If so, Scott was punishing one team for being angry at his own mistake, which seriously hurt their chances in the game. He seemingly decided to put his own emotions ahead of doing his job.

Terry Francona, who had come out to guide Tiz back to the dugout, was out again -- the second time in four pitches -- and this time, after he was ejected, he gave Scott an earful. Beltre lined Gregg's next pitch into center for a single and Drew scored to make it 3-2. But Darnell McDonald popped up to the second baseman down the right field line to end the game.

Did Ortiz see a replay of the pitch/call?
I don't have to. Thank God I wasn't hitting righthanded because that would have hit me in the ribs.
Wakefield (7-5-3-1-5, 102) allowed a run in the fifth on doubles by Lyle Overbay and Travis Snider. Snider hit a two-run homer in the seventh.

Boston could do very little with Marcum (7-2-0-1-6, 103). The Sox had 1st/3rd with one out in the second, but Beltre and Jeremy Hermida could not deliver. That was their only scoring threat until the ninth.
Example
Shaun Marcum / Tim Wakefield
Scutaro, SS
Pedroia, 2B
Martinez, C
Youkilis, 1B
Drew, RF
Ortiz, DH
Beltre, 3B
Hermida, LF
Van Every, CF
Wakefield makes his 5th start of the year and his first since April 25. He has made three recent relief appearances: 6 runs and 7 hits (including 3 HR) in 6.1 innings. He last pitched on Sunday night, throwing 10 pitches in an inning against the Yankees.

Other than an April 27 start against the Red Sox at Skydome, Marcum (7-4-1-3-5, 103) has not faced Boston since August 2008.

The Rays play the Angels at 7 PM and the Yankees have a day-night doubleheader (1 & 7 PM) in Detroit.

112 comments:

gojohn said...

That's right a day game...leaving tonight for the Bruins!

allan said...

More Stones! All Down The Line from Ladies and Gentlemen (cleaned up and released later this year!!!) can be seen here! ... Rock and Roll? This is Exhibit A.

allan said...

PA, EB:
The tarp is off the field at Fenway Park and it's looks like the game will start on time.
UPDATE, 12:33 p.m.: There are a few drops falling as I stand here on Yawkey Way. But we should be OK.

Lewis, LF
Hill, 2B
Ruiz, DH
Wells, CF
Overbay, 1B
Gonzalez, SS
Bautista, 3B
Snider, RF
Molina, C

Amy said...

Another game I will miss most of...damn, having a job can be a hassle at times! Not that I am complaining really. But soon enough I will be done with grading exams and have more time for baseball.

I will watch a bit on the computer to motivate me to grade a few more exams.

Patrick said...

5.5 GB!!! That's it!!

There are teams that overcome that in September.

F the doubters.

allan said...

a win puts us in 3rd.

allan said...

Game 1
MFY: 00
DET: 0

allan said...

if all goes well today, the standings will be:

FKR --
MFY 1.5 GB
BOS 4.5 GB
TOR 5.0 GB

laura k said...

Hooray for day games. I'm listening on the radio while I make gazpacho.

I'm with Patrick: F the doubters. Amy, give all the doubters Fs.

Amy said...

OTT

allan said...

but all the doubters have given up and are not following the sox any more this year, so they will not see that.

wake: 1-2-3

Amy said...

Too bad we have anonymous grading. I'd give all the Yankee fans lower grades! (Just kidding, just kidding.)

Check out my new FB profile photo when you get a chance.

Amy said...

How many pitches did Wake throw? That was one fast half inning. By the time CBSSports online showed it, it was over!

allan said...

10.

allan said...

marcum works fast too

Amy said...

Yikes, a whole inning in less than ten minutes.

Why do they say flied out instead of flew out in baseball?

allan said...

and 10 for marcum.

a win will also give us a 8-2 record for the LAA-NY-TOR homestand!

allan said...

dunno.

allan said...

that K was #1998 career K for wake.

Amy said...

Another OTT!

Amy said...

Not quite as efficient this time. 15 pitches.

Patrick said...

These Tim Cahill commercials are really insufferable.

I usually just turn down the sound but these demand to be muted.

Amy said...

One more half inning for me, and then I have a meeting and other stuff the rest of the afternoon. :(

allan said...

okay, some runs to send amy off pls

allan said...

YYOOK

Amy said...

"Greek" God of walks.

Patrick said...

The second OTT is the FFS

allan said...

OB must be in heaven.

Amy said...

FFS??

allan said...

L has the Jays radio on in the kitchen, so I have that quietly slipping thru. PBP guy is good, nice voice.

allan said...

i admit i have forgotten what FFS is ... sigh

allan said...

FLO

Amy said...

Papi seems to be finding his swing!

Patrick said...

I used to the FFS was for fucks sake, but no, four five six.

allan said...

bogar now gun shy?

Patrick said...

That was a pretty catch, even if it was sucky for us.

Amy said...

Oh, well, guess I have to leave with no score. GO SOX! Enjoy the game.

And I will have to remember FFS = 4 5 6.

Patrick said...

Hopefully we see SEN

allan said...

jats pbp guy insults wake's 72 mph fb - "i'm sure that strikes fear into a lot of hitters."

next pitch is a fb -- and mcdonald strikes out swinging!!

eff you!

K #1999

Patrick said...

Fangraphs pointed out last year that Wake's fastball had the best results of any fastball in baseball.

Of course, he uses it as a secondary pitch, but it's super effective.

allan said...

NYY/DET 0-0 after 4

Patrick said...

V-Mart won't let slide. We've seen this before.

Patrick said...

llew ho

allan said...

Wells - 2,000th K for Wakefield.

allan said...

and red sox K #1,890

allan said...

jays radio call says drew almost falls down on swinging strike two - tv is behind the radio, so i wait to see it. drew doesn't do anything different. a pure lie.

Patrick said...

.198

That's the average batting average of the next three hitters.

Patrick said...

Tigers up 1-0!!!

laura k said...

Gazpacho has been conquered.

I agree those anti Tim Cahill ads are insufferable.

Patrick said...

2-0 Detroit!

Patrick said...

I didn't know the Jays had a Molia!

allan said...

he could not have hit that with a bat twice as long.

Amy said...

Checking back in for a few before the next meeting. How is Tim doing?

allan said...

good but two doubles in the 5th gave tor a 1-0 lead. mfy losing 2-0 after 6.

Patrick said...

Tim's been rolling. Two hits last inning hurt, but that's been it.

Amy said...

Sounds good. We can certainly get back that run and more.

laura k said...

Wake's doing great.

Amy said...

All right, no harm done!

allan said...

MFY: 000 000 0
DET: 000 002

Amy said...

OK, off to the next meeting. Hope Wake gets some run support soon!

allan said...

mdc up

laura k said...

crap

Patrick said...

Argh!

allan said...

poop

allan said...

rsvp

allan said...

we need a snakey dong

allan said...

i think alan ashby (jays radio color guy) just called wells "v-dub"

(vomit emoticon)

allan said...

yanks down 2-0, man on second, 1 out in top 9th

allan said...

nyy ei game off the air = det win!

Patrick said...

Here we go...runsssssssssssssssss

allan said...

downs coming in for jays.

time to score: hermida, jve, scutaro...

allan said...

Yep, NYY lose 2-0.

allan said...

YES!

allan said...

calling dr. dong

Patrick said...

EPIC AT BAT

Patrick said...

Fak!!!!

Joe Gravellese said...

Uhm, I just woke up from a nap. Heh. Hopefully Sox offense does the same

allan said...

i am fighting to stay awake myself

allan said...

why schoeneweis? we want to keep it at 3.

Joe Gravellese said...

L - I have my first NYC question as I explore possibly doin' this. Check your inbox in ~15

laura k said...

I fell asleep during the 7th! Joe, I look forward to seeing the q, I'll answer it tomorrow.

I hope my info is up to date enough. It's been 5 years since I lived there.

laura k said...

RSVP

Joe Gravellese said...

c'mon boys

laura k said...

Yes!! Here we go!

Drewble

Patrick said...

ON FIRE!!!!

Overcoming a horrible strike zone.

Joe Gravellese said...

IN PLAY, RUN(S)?!

Joe Gravellese said...

oh man, come on papi!

Zenslinger said...

Fiery RBI.

Do we dare hope?

Joe Gravellese said...

MFer

Joe Gravellese said...

good call? bad call? i'm listening to gameday audio.

Patrick said...

Fucking ridiculous

Joe Gravellese said...

DOB doesn't like the call but that makes me think it was good

Joe Gravellese said...

Get it to Darnell

Joe Gravellese said...

YES BASE HIT

Zenslinger said...

Wha' happened?

Joe Gravellese said...

COME ON D MAC

Patrick said...

I got the 'live look in' from MLB just at these two at bats, and it's been enough to show me that the announcers are legit in their beef.

Joe Gravellese said...

FUCK

Patrick said...

FAk!

matthew said...

Home plate ump fucked the Sox in the bottom of the 9th.

Benjamin said...

Darnell had a hell of an April, eh.

Kathryn said...

I was able to fire up the iPhone at work for Papi's at bat and Beltre's at bat. Those calls were absolutely ludicrous. Was it like that all day?

Joe Gravellese said...

At least the Yankees lost. Switching to Nats-Mets audio as a way to procrastinate! Go Nationals!

Benjamin said...

Just a bit outside.

allan said...

even the jays radio guys were amazed at the shitty calls.

Benjamin said...

Wow, check out how much further Toronto pitchers' strikezone extended off the plate than Sox pitchers', on both sides of the plate.

laura k said...

I see everyone else was still able to thread. After Drew's hit, we weren't sure whether our internet connection went down or if Blogger was screwing up.

Clean water. See you all Friday.

allan said...

Peter Abraham, in the Globe game blog: "Ortiz was called out looking by Dale Scott on a pitch that was well out of the strike zone. He argued vehemently and was not ejected, which usually is a sign the umpire knows he messed up."

Pedroia, after the game: "[The umpires] must have had a flight. I'm actually going to check on that. If they had a flight, we’re going to make sure it was delayed. Because I can do that. I have that kind of pull."

Michael Holloway said...

Wow, I didn't know there was technology out there that could show such excellent breakdowns of a game. Thanks for posting those.

A machine behind the plate soon?

Sorry for your loss and that all fans didn't get to see a fair come back chance. I like Pedroia's quote about delaying airplanes. That's a masters degree in cynical.

Michael Holloway

allan said...

the brooks stuff is amazing.

it would be nice to have both teams on the field playing by the same rules.

bring on the robot umps.

Zenslinger said...

RS, are you the "alert reader" who sent the FanGraphs stuff to Abraham for Extra Bases?

allan said...

Nope. One SoSHer (Jnai) is also part of the Brooks team (I think) and people were telling him to do it, but he really did not want to toot his own horn. I assume someone else there did. Or any other random person who uses the site.

**

Keith Law's chat today at ESPN.com:

Q: Did you watch Dale Scott make a mockery of the strike zone yesterday at Fenway Park? It was a joke -- i don't understand how MLB can let umps get away with being that bad.

Klaw: There's no accountability for umps. What is MLB going to do? Have they ever disciplined an ump for, say, raging incompetence? It's not a priority for them and they have no process in place to handle bad umps.