re: Strike Zone

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Odd how no one complained about the umps the first 3 games in Omaha. It was the same umps. All of sudden we play one close game and then get our asses whipped in another and our fans start talking about the umps.

Stop with the excuses. You must have a liberal strike zone in college with aluminum bats. You also have an inconsistent strike zone from some because these guys aren't professionals.

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When the umps were inconsistent in the first 3, I bitched about it or lightly laughed it off (when we got a beneficial call). But feel free to watch our 3 games and tell me that it was the same as the bullshite we had to put up with yesterday. And when you do, I will laugh at how ridiculous you are.

Slight inconsistency is one thing. This was constant inconsistency. Just like the ump from the first game, it seemed you could throw the same pitch 4 times and get a 2-2 count. Only with the douche we had back there yesterday, it would have been a strikeout for Texas and a 3-1 count for LSU, if not a walk.


I love the way most in this thread will acknowledged we got the shaft on the calls all game, but then try to spin it to "I'm not crying" with the "well that's not why we lost" crap. Yeah, we could have possibly done more, but we would have had to try a hell of a lot harder than Texas to do the same thing. 0-8 with RISP? Sounds like our fault, but stephen said it well:

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it makes a helluva difference in batting in whether the first pitch is a a strike or a ball. And if a ball is called a strike, then the batter has to chase bad pitches.

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When you're up there and a pitch at your ankles is called a strike, what can you do? When a pitch you couldn't reach if you tried is a called strike, how do you adjust? Now, you're likely in the hole because of bullshite calls, and you have a double-sized strike zone to defend against. The batter is at a HUGE disadvantage, just as the pitcher is getting a HUGE advantage in the situation. By that point, the pitcher can throw junk all over the place and no matter how bad the pitch is, the batter has to give thought to at least fouling it off.

It has a big effect on the game and you are kidding yourself if you don't believe it.

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Yeah, we could have possibly done more, but we would have had to try a hell of a lot harder than Texas to do the same thing.

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So, as far as you're concerned, for some unknown reason, the ump consciously called the game different for LSU? I'm hearing this from a minute few, but with little explanation as to why the umps would all of the sudden decide to do this. Money, daughter goes to Texas, likes the color orange better...?

From the way people talk, the blame is being put on our batters and the ump ignored, which is one of the problems these days.

Yeah, batters can adjust, but are you seriously thinking "Damn it LeMahieu, he's calling that pitch at your ankles a strike, so hit it you tall bastard!" Good luck with that.

Heard something from a coworker this morning that explains how I felt watching that ump behind the plate. "It was like I was watching the NBA finals and they were forcing the next game to happen. It was that blatant." While I am doing all I can to not feel that it was blatantly to make Texas win, it's hard for me to see how anyone could believe the game wasn't tilted in Texas' favor from the start. It was just like the NBA, yeah, the team getting shafted could win if they play perfect and beyond, but the odds are big time against them and we couldn't climb the hill yesterday.

I still feel USM and ASU (2nd game) were shafted against Texas, so those conspiracy theories do come to mind. Hopefully, we've run through their two ump for that game, and now we'll get a good, consistent one for game 3.

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So, as far as you're concerned, for some unknown reason, the ump consciously called the game different for LSU? I'm hearing this from a minute few, but with little explanation as to why the umps would all of the sudden decide to do this. Money, daughter goes to Texas, likes the color orange better...?

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It could be some of those last things, but I don't know anything about the ump for sure. Hell, I haven't been able to find what umps are calling what games yet.

But I think it was blatantly obvious all game Jungmann had a wider strike zone than any LSU pitcher did. Whether it's the jersey color messing with his eyes or some other reason, it was obvious to anyone watching without having it set in their mind that it's impossible for an ump to swing a game.

Jungmann was on and it didn't cost us the game but he was given a lot of discretion on the outside of the plate. It made it almost impossible for us to have 2-0 counts.

It was called consistent both ways, the umpires were not the reason we lost. WE DIDN'T HIT THE BALL!

On another note....I believe that the ump gave LSU pitchers some pitches towards the end of the game. Same thing with Monday. But it was WAY to the end. Last night it was too late by then.

As I posted elsewhere, yeah, the umps sucked but two things: (1) as someone else mentioned, if you are hitting your spots, you're more likely to get calls & Texas hit their spots more than LSU's pitchers (2) just looking at the poor outs ( Ks, popups, etc ), it was a rare at bat when either pitcher didn't leave one over a good portion of the plate; Texas hitters spanked those, our hitters either watched them or missed. When a pitcher leaves one over, you have to make him pay ( looking at you Dean! ).

I think the strike zone has a great deal to do with LSU leaving the bat on their shoulders. The batters see pitches made by the LSU staff which are called balls, and, therefore, they are not going to swing at a pitch in the same area when they get to bat. The problem is, the ump calls that same pitch a strike to the LSU hitter. LSU was confused and frustrated at the plate all night, in part due to the performance of the Texas pitcher, but also due to the inconsistent strike zone.

BTW this is the second game in a row for this to happen.

Later in the game, it got a bit better but by that time LSU was in the mode of swinging at bad pitches because they had been called strikes previously. One at bat (I think Dean) late in the game the ump called a very low strike. The next pitch was in the same location and Dean had to swing at it to avoid the strikeout. The result was a weak ground ball out.

Hopefully, the strike zone will be consistent tonight.

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I hate to do this, but the comments above are pretty on point. For example look at Schimp's first two at bats. On his first he gets a called strike on a pitch that was a good 6 to 8 inches OUTSIDE. The next ptich he gets rung up on a pitch that was at best on the black INSIDE and probably just off. Then in his second at bat, after D.J.'s triple, he takes a borderline pitch for a strike and then gets a pitch that is tailing a good 6 to 8 inches off the plate outside. Normally, Ryan takes that, but how can you after the first AB? So he swings and gets it off the very end of the bat and can't get it past the second baseman. That at bat, and the resulting out, was flat out a product of the umpire giving Jungmann a couple inches off the plate on both sides.

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Exactly.

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As I posted elsewhere, yeah, the umps sucked but two things: (1) as someone else mentioned, if you are hitting your spots, you're more likely to get calls & Texas hit their spots more than LSU's pitchers (2) just looking at the poor outs ( Ks, popups, etc ), it was a rare at bat when either pitcher didn't leave one over a good portion of the plate; Texas hitters spanked those, our hitters either watched them or missed. When a pitcher leaves one over, you have to make him pay ( looking at you Dean! ).

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Thing is, the ump sucked in a way that benefited Texas completely. Jungmann's balls were called strikes, LSU's pitchers strikes were called balls. While we would all like the perfect ump with the definition of a strike zone as his, I do not think it's unreasonable to want, for the CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES, umpires that can stick to a strike zone, no matter what it is. We have not gotten that yet.

In response to your post:
(1) Ross walked the first batter on 4 pitches, two were borderline strikes and as the game went on, those were two strikes Texas got nearly every time. It's impossible to establish "hitting your spots" when you hit the spots early and they result in a walk. It's the first inning, but it was not called the same for both teams.

(2) The Ks where the bats were on their shoulders were inexcusable with the shitty strikezone we were getting, but many of the ones I saw came right after a pitch that was 6 inches off the plate gave them the 2nd strike. If they're leaning out for that pitch and one comes inside, they're going to miss the pitch anyway. Groundouts were mostly caused by having to fight off balls that would have been called strikes.

We had our share of gifts though. Jungmann was far from perfect with all of his pitches, but we never made him pay. Whether it was because our hitters were pissed at getting shafted on previous calls, or nerves, or I don't know what, we let that bastard get away with many pitches that either hung or went right down the middle. We have to make them pay for that like we have all year.

That will be the difference in today's game.

For anyone interested, if they follow the typical rotation, today's ump should be Steve Manders. He was behind the plate for LSU/UVA (don't think he was too bad then) and UT/ASU part 2 (did not like him in the bottom of the 9th, but overall he did well there too).

Not that it matters all that much, Joe Burleson was the ump for LSU/ARK part 1 and seemed to call the game fine, but sucked major arse yesterday.