Braves got duked by the umpire

[coachx]

Any one see the 9th inning last night ? The umpire widened the outer half of the plate by 8 inches.

Texiar's was called out on a pitch 8 inches outside the strike zone. He fouled off a couple of good strikes but had 3 "called strikes" on pitches that were clearly out side the zone.

The 1st pitch to Chipper (with a runner on base) was also well out side but called as a strike. This definately changed Chipper's approach.

When an umpire consistently makes calls this bad it kills the game.

The ump was either paid off or had a bucket of mud in his eye.

I predict one thing. Bobby Cox will get thrown out tonight. He would have been thrown out last night but there was no time to argue since it ended the game. The 1st time a call does not go our way Bobby is going to let the umpires have it.

On the post game show the Braves reportedly did somthing unheard of. When the press asked them why they were so upset they brought in a TV and replayed the last at bat with Texiar to show how far outside the called strikes were. MLB would probably fine the Braves for this. Don't know why you get fined for holding a professional accountable for their profession ? They should fine the home plate umpire. He should not get a pay check for the sorry job done last night.

One thing is for sure. I have seen alot of baseball. My uncle even played for the Reds, who coincidentally beat us last night, in their hey day in the 70's. Neither he nor I have ever seen a called strike 3 to end a game as far off the plate as the pitch last night to Texiar....(the pitch was even to a perenial allstar / clean up hitter, who normally get some respect too)...Makes me sick.

[TroyMcClure]

Didn't see it. I was watching "Top Chef". Glad I didn't. If what you say is true about the tv in the pc, then Bobby must have been more p!ssed than I have ever seen him. Which is saying something. I've written off the division, but if we can just get a little pitching, this team is scrappy! We just need to get in. With poor pitching and games like last night though, it's going to be tough.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Funny how fans see things. That same "wide" strike zone was being called against the Reds as well. Granted, Tex's strike 3 call was a "just a bit outside", but he should've connected on the "good" pitches he got.

Two things are for sure:

1) The Braves shouldn't be losing to the Reds under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

2) The Braves left like 10 - 11 people on base for that game. They had plenty of chances to blow that game wide open, but failed. The Reds only left 3 on base.

Blame the ump if you want, but you need to blame that team.

[coachx]

Oh, how easy it is to play the devil's advocate. It comes as a natural response most of the time. I am not ready to brush it off and dismiss this so quickly. I'm sure Bobby Cox and John S. are sending quite a letter to MLB about this.

This is what my "fans eyes" told me. The Casto kid pitched 2 great innings for us. He got a couple of ,called strike 3, strike outs. The difference is they were legit strikes.

I agree the umpire was giving both sides the outside strike calls throughout the game.

However, my "fan eyes" told me that 3 inch strike zone extension turned into a 8 inch extension for Texiar in the 9th. I also saw several Braves questioning his strike zone in the 9th.

1. In the 9th, Diaz took an outside pitch that was called a strike by mistake on his 1st pitch. Diaz of course said somehting to the umpire. It too was far outsidethe zone. Diaz never had a prayer of making contact with that, 1st pitch, called strike.

2. Chippers 1st pitch, de ja vu, strike one on an out side pitch.

3.Texiar's 1st pitch, de ja vu, strike one on an out side pitch.

That is three 1st pitch balls called as strikes in the 9th inning of a 2 run game. Ask any pitcher what the most important pitch to a hitter is. They will all give the same responce. Get a head of the hitter early in the count with a lot of 1st pitch strikes. The umpiring performance was simply not acceptbale. All of our hitters in the 9th started their at bats in the hole when they should have started as "hitter's counts." No matter how you look at it, that umpire had a huge effect on the 9th inning of this game.

I called my uncle after the game who lives in Athens, Ohio, and played for the Reds. I had to get his take. He is not a Braves fan in the least. He played in the Red's organization in the 70's highlighted with a short, brief trip to the "big show.". Of course the Reds are his team. His Dad, my Great Unlce, was an American League umpire from the 60's to early 90's. He umpired allstar games, ALCS, and a couple of World Series. So you can imagine this topic comes up all the time and his opinion is worth more then mine. He was in total agreement that umpire screwed us. He was actually dissapointed. He does not want the Reds to get hot at the end of the season and cause the GM to not make changes. He really wants to flip Jr. & Dunn for some young talent and rebuild the right way. So he was dissapointed by the 2 wins in a row. However, since even an X-Reds player saw it this way I thought it was a general consensus the umpire straight up had an off game.

Sure there are oppurtunities through out any game to score runs and that one at bat or one inning did not cost us the game. However, I find it hard to argue that the main at bat and most important inning in question, 1 on base, 2 outs in the ninth, with the tieing run up to bat, was not THE MOST CRUCIAL AT BAT AND TIME OF THE GAME.

I am blaming the umpire for his horrendous calls. Sure the Braves are ultimately too blame....But,as we have seen in the NBA, a referee CAN come very close to controling who wins games. Like the game in the Western Conference Playoffs where A. Stoudamire got 4 foul calls in 4 minutes and Tim Duncan was allowed to bump and grind vs. 6'8'' replacements. Sure it is the ultimately the Suns own fault they lost that game but the referee was obviously paid off and made it almost impossible for the Suns to win that game. That was a crooked referee my friend..... I got that same feeling watching the baseball umpire last night.

Something just was not right. How easy it is to leave people on base with the strike zone that was being called.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

By the way, I'm a Reds fan. I do agree with your uncle that either Griff or Adam should be moved to bring in some young prospects. But the Reds problem is that the pitching coaches can't develop these guys once they get to the big leagues.

Take Homer Bailey for instance. He's the hot shot prospect in our organization. He's just 21, so why bring him up when the season was already over by Memorial Day. Let him stay in AAA Louisville, dominate there, and bring him up for Spring Training in 2008, so he can start the season fresh.

Instead, they bring him up in June, let him start 6 games, and sent him back to Louisville because he was struggling big time with his control. They had no business bringing him up in the first place. That's why we're a losing organization right now. They don't develop players. And when they do luck out and develop somebody, he's gone in 2 years because they don't want to pay him.

I don't think Griff and Dunn will be dealt though. We're probably better off keeping them.

Speaking of Dunn . . .

It's a HIGH DRIVE to right center field . . this baby is LOOONG GOOOOOONNNNEEEE! A WALK-OFF HOME RUN FOR ADAM DUNN, AND THE REDS WIN 9 - 7!!

(( doing Tomahawk Chop that ya'll stole from Florida St. ))

[coachx]

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I don't think Griff and Dunn will be dealt though. We're probably better off keeping them.

Speaking of Dunn . . .

It's a HIGH DRIVE to right center field . . this baby is LOOONG GOOOOOONNNNEEEE! A WALK-OFF HOME RUN FOR ADAM DUNN, AND THE REDS WIN 9 - 7!!

(( doing Tomahawk Chop that ya'll stole from Florida St. ))

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Man, rub it in. I stayed up till the 13th inning to see that 2 run blast too.

Through the game I was thinking.... Jr. is 37. So there is not much left there long term and injury are alwayse a concern with him. If the Reds could get a good young starter for him it would be worth consideration.

Then I was thinking of Dunn. He is average at best defensivly. He consistently leads the league in strikeouts. He rarely makes contact and a .270 average would be considered high for him. He just doesn't seem to be a 4 or 5 hitter for winning team.....................Then there is a drive deep to right field..... This ball game is over !!!!

Maybe the Reds should keep them both ?

[DrReality]

Braves go duked by the Reds and their own lack of pitching more so than the umps.

[AHF]

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Then I was thinking of Dunn. He is average at best defensivly. He consistently leads the league in strikeouts. He rarely makes contact and a .270 average would be considered high for him. He just doesn't seem to be a 4 or 5 hitter for winning team.....................Then there is a drive deep to right field..... This ball game is over !!!!

Maybe the Reds should keep them both ?

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If you take a little more sophisticated look at Dunn, he starts looking better, though. His avg is very subpar but his OBP is excellent and his OPS is outstanding. Offensively, he is definitely someone who can be a stud for a winning team, IMO.