Runge's horrid umpiring talk of Astros/D-backs' game - Examiner.com

[Umpire-Empire Reporter]

Examiner.com

Runge's horrid umpiring talk of Astros/D-backs' game

Examiner.com

MLB umpire Brian Runge may have called it both ways Tuesday night as home-plate umpire for the Astros/D-backs' game at Minute Maid Park, yet he had one of ...

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[Umpire in Chief]

Lets do the math here:

1.

Personally, I'm not one to vent when it comes to referees, umpires or officials who work little league, high-school, collegiant and professional sporting events.

+

2.

home-plate umpire Brian Runge executed one of the worst jobs I have ever seen in all my years of watching Major League Baseball

+

3.

Obviously, both starting pitchers, Roy Oswalt and Ian Kennedy, didn't mind

+

4. Bringing up an event 2 years ago at Shea...

+

5. Home team loses. Now 8 in a row.

=

Stephen Goff is an ignorant douchebag. Somebody call the Whaaaambulance.

BTW Mr. Goff, collegiant is not a word and you want to complain about an umpire not being able to do his job. Look in the mirror and learn how to f:censored:ing spell you moron!

[JaxRolo]

Amazing that the Fans had a much better view of the strike zone from the stands.

I would love to see a video of some of these pitches.

[tjthresh]

Is this one of those things video can be found on?

Why is it that since we are all umpires here, another umpire can't blow it out their ?

Some of us act like they've never watched a ball game and got pissed at the upmires. This guy just happens to have a fourm to vent to the world.

I would like my 2 minutes back for reading that weak article.

[Umpire in Chief]

Oh, if a MLB umpire has a bad outing that's fine and we can discuss it. I'm not implying that we can't because it can give us a good learning opportunity. But each day I get between 150-250 RSS news feeds to filter through and this is the only ass clown to write about it. If Brian had been off his game there would have been dozens of articles.

[tjthresh]

Oh, if a MLB umpire has a bad outing that's fine and we can discuss it. I'm not implying that we can't because it can give us a good learning opportunity. But each day I get between 150-250 RSS news feeds to filter through and this is the only ass clown to write about it. If Brian had been off his game there would have been dozens of articles.

I see. I suppose you are right. That article did suck though.

[poppyfor3]

Utter nonsense. Find me one major league hitter who doesn't know where today's strike zone is. I bet no one has ever heard a coach tell his batters, " Better be swinging,guys, that xxx-xxxx ump got a big zone today."

[Guest]

All I have to say is look at the guy's haircut (the author, not Runge)

Does he look like someone who knows anything about sports?

Go solve another calculus question or something.

[Umpire in Chief]

The wonderful author corrected his spelling and deleted my comment.

Obviously, he has some pretty thin skin.

All I said was something like, "Before you start complaining about an umpire not being able to do his job look in the mirror Mr. Smarty Pants. Collegiant is not a word."

[kwiggie]

All I have to say is look at the guy's haircut (the author, not Runge)

Does he look like someone who knows anything about sports?.

He looks like Doogie Howser, Runge looks like the type of guy I have a beer or 10 with after a weekend of working the field.

[kwiggie]

Sorry to re-post but after reading the article again and getting pi$$ed at this particular little gem of a quote:

"You have to possess some of the thickest skin on Earth in order to be successful at the job." article

I have to wonder if he ever gave a thought to the fact that articles like his may, I don't know... exasperate the need for thick skin on our part, at all levels!!! We have to eat enough crow and now that a MLB professional is not good enough what chance does "Joe part-timer" have , but remember he is a "friend" of the man in blue folks as he is not one to complain...most the time.

Hey Doogie, how do you spell "TOOL?"

[dumbdumb]

Well, since Pitch f/x is all the rage and apparently an evaluation tool, everyone can go to brooksbasebal.net and pull up all the pitches Juan Gutierrez threw to both Berkman and Pence in the 8th inning. The 3rd pitch to Pence which was a called strike was on the outer edge of the plate and just nicked the square of the strike zone. All the other called strikes to both Berkman and Pence were completely within the square.

Upon further review, pitch f/x shows Runge didn't miss a pitch against either batter all day. However, it does show Pence swinging at pitches out of the strike zone during the day.

The above information does not count if you don't believe in pitch f/x and any faults that have been found in their system of technology. Even though it might be in use by MLB, it could easily have faults that both MLB and MLBU know about. But, since f/x is the system used (at least it looks like this is the system used) and the article is about the 8th inning concerning Berkman and Pence, the above stats were brought up to refute the writer's claims in the article. One would think the writer would do some proper research using the technology now available, before popping off about the strike zone. He could have mentioned this f/x technology and the fact he disagreed with its conclusions on the pitches in question if he so desired.

For the whole day (and I do not count as good as I once did) there were 259 pitches thrown. 138 pitches had to be ruled on by Runge. The others were fouled off, swung at and missed, or put into play. Runge erred on 10 pitches according to pitch f/x, which means 93% of the pitches were called correctly. Of the 8 pitches missed on Houston pitchers, 4 strikes were called a ball, and 4 balls were called a strike. Of the 2 pitches missed on Arizona pitchers, 2 strikes were called a ball.

Edited May 7, 2010 by dumbdumb

[Big Red]

I would love to see a video of some of these pitches.

Is this one of those things video can be found on?

The wonderful author corrected his spelling and deleted my comment.

Obviously, he has some pretty thin skin.

Jax/All,

First off, I watched this game...all of it. As far as the strike zone, I personally thought it was generous, but far from outrageous or even anything that would warrant this article. Most importantly, even as the author hints at, Brian was consistent. Matter of fact, I really never gave a thought to his strike zone, other than the announcers' comments a couple of times....I just thought it was a decent game (more on that later about the Astros' bats) where 2 pitchers had their stuff.

Somebody touched on it here...the Astros are quickly becoming the Lastros again and everybody in Houston...players, coaches, fans, media...is getting frustrated/angry and venting....at anyone/anything!

Second, to touch on Warren's comment...yes, this guy is an ass-clown. I've read some of his other items and I firmly believe he is trying desperately to make a name for himself and move on to bigger things/companies by being controversial & trying to win over the population of Houston as he has written a few other "gems" such as this, and as in this one, he will contradict himself ("I'm not one to complain, BUT...!") and will try to find some polarizing, yet in the grand scheme of things, not altogether important issue to get people behind him and talk about him.

I also watched the highlights of this game on Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter...not one word about this.

I found a few videos from MLB.com to give ya'll an idea...

First one here has Oswalt battling Kennedy on 12 pitches...nothing significant except that of all the Astros batter, their pitcher had the most effective at-bat of all of them!

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7839391

This second one has a sequence of pitches from Kennedy, including the strike 3 call in question on Berkman, @ the 0:45 mark. Hard to tell from the angle of the camera, but looks like it caught the corner to me. You'll hear the announcers obviously question the call, but in the final video of Oswalt, they have no problem praising the strikeouts by Oswalt.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7839395

And here is the final one w/ a sequence of pitches from Oswalt...notice the announcers praise of THESE strike-outs!

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7839397

I'll finish w/ one other point that was obvious if you watched the game, and one you get a glimpse of in the sequence of pitches from Kennedy...

As I mentioned earlier, Houston is frustrated at their losses and I think it's showing in their at-bats as they were trying to make something happen...they were swinging at horsesh_t pitches the ENTIRE game. It wasn't like they were getting crossed up on a good, nasty curve or slider...they were trying to make something happen and looked like a bunch of rookies up there. All that power in the line-up and not one run. As I mentioned, of all their hitters, the pitcher (first video) was the only one I saw who had a really good at-bat, ending w/ a well-hit single!

Regardless of Brian's strike zone, the Astros' batters sure did their part to make Kennedy look good, and this goober author is just trying to preen the already ruffled feathers of the Astros faithful w/ his li'l poopy-pants rant! :rock

[jnazz]

He deleted my comments from the site too

[jjb]

Freedom of the Press is apparently a one-way street.