Comments on: Yanks end 5-2 homestand with a frustrating loss

By: Fan Confidence Poll: July 13th, 2009 | River Avenue Blues

Fan Confidence Poll: July 13th, 2009 | River Avenue Blues — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:45:37 +0000

[...] week started with a frustrating loss in the series finale against the Blue Jays. Hard to complain about winning three of four against [...]

By: John

John — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:55:17 +0000

Baseball rules change overtime, sometimes becoming more clear, other times less (like the strikezone shifting downward over the years…its basically accepted but the rules still define it higher than its generally called). I’m not as familiar with the history of the baserunning rules, but apparently runners used to be called out in the same way a forceout was called: ball beats the runner to the plate and he’s out…whatever the case WAS it no longer IS that way…very clearly, the rules state you must tag a runner stealing a base for that runner to be out. Foster seems to either be unfamiliar with the rules or think he’s allowed to change them as he sees fit.

I’m glad this call is getting so much attention. Baseball officiating is among the worst in sports (second, maybe, to the NBA). I think Umps should be accountable for their calls and have each performance of theirs evaluated. The umps that call better games (ie make a higher percentage of calls correctly) should work more often than umps who make too many mistakes. These guys should not determine the outcome of a game with bad calls. I also think once an ump starts consistently scoring low (as to indicate they constantly make bad calls)they should be fined. Give them incentive to try harder and make calls the correctly. Scoring criteria for umps can come down to the relative ease of making the call (was it very close and hard for the naked eye to determine, or an obvious play), whether or not they got the call right and how impactful the incorrect was on the game. I know umps are evaluated constantly and scored in a similar way, but I feel not enough is done to keep them in line.

By: Michael W.

Michael W. — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:24:12 +0000

You don’t really understand baseball that well, huh?

By: MG

MG — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:14:58 +0000

I just found this site tonight and what a refresing change of pace to the other sites that alternate between complaining about every run given up and want to trade the entire team after each loss. I’ll try to participate in a positive way and add something of value to the site.

By: Michael W.

Michael W. — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:14:20 +0000

The throw beating a runner has nothing to do with a safe/out argument. If a runner touches the base before he’s tagged, he’s safe, regardless of how long the fielder had the ball beforehand.

Before his CS this afternoon, Jeter had a 90% stolen base success rate. Using your own numbers, an attempt by Jeter would have 90% chance of the Yankees expected runs to go to 1.32 and a ten percent chance of going to 0.22 runs. Calculate that out and a stolen base attempt factoring in the Matrix’s run expectancy numbers and the baserunner’s success rate (in this case, Derek Jeter) says that if Derek Jeter is on second with none out, if he attempts to steal third the Yankees would score 1.15 runs in that inning, according to this Matrix.

The Matrix fails to take the human element into account and you don’t either. While getting caught cost the Yankees 0.81 runs according to this matrix, the math says with Jeter, it’s worth the risk.

So mathematically, Jeter’s stolen base attempt was worth the risk in this case. I doubt those numbers and calculations are going through Jeter’s head, but that’s what they are.

So blatantly wrong isn’t too far off.

By: k42

k42 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:02:17 +0000

I agree with Jared on this one. Jeter was asked straight away in the postgame whether he regretted going, even considering the fact that getting to third in that situation would not make a significant difference, and his answer was “No, because I was safe.” I hate to sound all Joe Morgan about this one, but Jeter doesn’t make very many baserunning mistakes, and this was certainly not one of them. I’m not going to second guess a player who rarely (really rarely) gets thrown out for safely stealing a bag. The umpire had other ideas, that’s not Jeter’s fault, and it would be a non-issue if the ump, not Jeter, had done what he was supposed to do.

I’m not that much of a Jeter fan either, but he’s the one player on the team I don’t second guess when it comes to seeing things on the field and taking advantage of them.

By: 2bayankfan

2bayankfan — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:53:16 +0000

Today’s loss!!!
I not going to say I’m ok with losing, but this year’s Yankee team doesn’t give up. In today’s game that was the 4th afternoon game in a row they game it their all. Even though Hinske who had a pretty good start to his Yankee career, swung at ball 4 twice in the 9th when we were down by only one run. This team seems to find a way to be in every game no matter how big the lead or who’s on the mound like Halladay yesterday, I think that if they keep winning series (3 out of 4 from the Bluejays) they will find themselves back in a place where they belong, The Playoffs.

P.S. The blown calls by the umps didn’t’ help the Yanks cause.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:46:31 +0000

For every stolen base attempt the cost outweighs the benefit – that’s why a stolen base success rate of <75% is bad. This case was slightly worse, but that doesn’t mean it was necessarily the wrong move.

By: Dayman, fighter of the Nightman

Dayman, fighter of the Nightman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:45:04 +0000

What did Hirschbeck mean “It used to be that if the throw beat you you were out”?

By: donttradecano

donttradecano — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:40:06 +0000

Heres the ump thing will end:

Marty Foster will say he never said that. MLB will take Marty Fosters word.