The fake strike call

Don't think I've ever seen that one before. On a 3-1 count to Lilly (never should have been in that situation) with the bases loaded, Volquez threw what looked like a strike on the outside corner. The umpire stood up and moved to the right like he was going to call a strike. Then at the last minute (with Lilly a few steps down the line) decided not to. That was about as bad as it gets right there. Not that the pitch was right down the middle, but he was clearly going to call a strike.

Again, Volquez can't allow the count to get to 3-1 against the freakin' pitcher with the bases loaded, but that doesn't excuse terrible umpiring. Missing calls is one thing. Faking like you are going to call a strike is very odd at best.

The opposite happened last night. The umpire doing the Yankees-Red Sox game has a very delayed strike call. Manny took a very good pitch on a 3-2 count (I thought it was a strike) and started down to first. The ump punched him out, but Manny didn't realize it until he was halfway to first. He was not very pleased.

You're right, he shouldn't have been in that situation. He threw a previous pitch down the middle for ball 2. Did the same in the next AB that was called "low." Unreal job behind the plate in that inning.

He threw two perfect strikes in that atbat to Lilly, but since he's a young pitcher the ump decided to screw him. MLB needs to switch to questec. These homeplate umpires continue to get worse each year. Squeezing young pitchers like they do is flat out ridiculous and unfair.

Both pitchers are getting squeezed badly today.

gameday used to have a box it displayed(I suppose representing the strike zone) ... but it took it out last year during the season. Hmmm.

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Originally Posted by redsfan30

Both pitchers are getting squeezed badly today.

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A batter should not swing at anything close to a corner.

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Originally Posted by redsfan30

Both pitchers are getting squeezed badly today.

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Yep. This ump is ridiculous.

Not to turn this into an impromtu game thread, but Mike Fontenot looks at first glance a bit like Mickey Morandini.

Ron Kulpa is by far the worst umpire I have seen in a long time. What an awful, awful strikezone today.

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Originally Posted by OnBaseMachine

Yep. This ump is ridiculous.

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It looks like he keeps changing the strike zone and even the Cubs announcers said something about it.

It's sometimes called "a mobile strike zone."

Looking at gameday there's pitches that look to be center of the plate mid-thigh called as balls.

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Originally Posted by RedsFan75

Looking at gameday there's pitches that look to be center of the plate mid-thigh called as balls.

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it safe to say he's squeezing them and unless you are a power hitter you ought to be willing to take a couple of strikes.

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Originally Posted by BCubb2003

It's sometimes called "a mobile strike zone."

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Lee was not happy with the mobile strike zone in his last at bat.