Bad strike calls on Joey Votto

[Vottomatic]

The first at-bat had 2 atrocious strike calls on Joey.

Just pathetic umpiring. I honestly believe the umpiring has gotten worse in this league. Joey bit his lip (mostly) and walked away. But they were not even questionable horrible calls.

Carpenter, so far, getting ridiculous calls. And honestly, I don't think Carpenter has it today. So the ump is going to help him survive, obviously.

I think the umps have a united conspiracy against Votto. I really do at this point. Probably the worst strike calls I've seen all year have gone against Joey. And he has an excellent eye. He should get the Keith Hernandez-benefit of the doubt when he is up at the plate because Joey knows what a strike is............unfortunately, the umps don't anymore.

[Krawhitham]

and he did not get tossed

[mckbearcat48]

and he did not get tossed

So a step in the right direction. Strike 3 was up, but probably too close to take with two strikes.

[757690]

No conspiracy against Votto, just the standard "respect" for Cardinal pitching. Braves pitchers used to get the same calls in the 90's. It's been happening all season for the Cardinals against all opponents, and was really evident this series.

It's almost as bad as the bias they get from their "official scorer." Anything close is an error on their fielders, and anything close is a hit for their hitters. It really is a crime.

These two factors probably have as much to do with why the Cards have so many pitchers with low ERA's, as their actual talent.

[foxfire123]

Umps were making horrid calls all weekend--look at the Chapman inning. 3 of those "balls" called on Jay were strikes if you look at Gameday and GameCast.

[Jr's Boy]

Yeah I noticed Chapman's strike zone shrunk like a wet sponge.

[RedsLvr]

In the first game I thought it was terrible behind the plate..