I hope you're all over the 'balk' call now...

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Oct 24, 2008 2:16 PM EDT

Home plate umpire Kerwin Delaney (Danley?) is about as a good of ump as Tim Donaghy was an NBA ref.

I can 100% understand Ray's fans getting upset over the so called balk that was missed in game 1. That being said, what was the deal with Rocco Baldelli's check swing strikeout - err, i mean- walk? Delaney CLEARLY called it strike three then proceeded to award him 1st base! BUSH LEAGUE...

While I'm on the subject... Jimmy Rollins was CLEARLY hit by that pitch (even the Rays loving Buck and McCarver agreed). That considerably changes the face of the game, right? 2 on no out as opposed to 1 on 1 out...

To re-iterate the headline... I now hope you guys are way past the blown 'balk' call.

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.

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We were over the balk call after game one.

Most of us understand our team should play well enough where the umpires don’t decide it.

At the same time the blown strike calls on Utley is still bitter to me because I’m so in favor of robots calling balls/strikes.

by R.J. Anderson on Oct 24, 2008 2:32 PM EDT reply actions

robots

i can see that RJ but last night the strike zone was all over the place too… moyer would have had a field day with that ump.

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Oct 24, 2008 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Delaney CLEARLY raised his hand to clear Ruiz's head, so he could point to the 1st base ump for a swing confirmation

I mean if we’re into this CLEARLY bitching about petty ump mistakes, that ball CLEARLY didn’t hit Rollins at all and his jersey was actually moved out of the way by the rippling of the wind spinning off the ball.

Just to reiterate. CLEARLY stop your bitching.

by kericr on Oct 24, 2008 2:34 PM EDT reply actions

come on...

dude, come on… the ump essentially called him out, then awarded him a base, and then on the j-roll call, the replay showed the ump wasn’t even looking at the ball! even your best buds buck and mccarver tore the ump apart after BOTH of the calls…
we should have won that game regardless of the calls, we left way too many men on base…

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Oct 24, 2008 2:37 PM EDT reply actions

Your team lost because they could not get men in from scoring position.

THE. END.

by kericr on Oct 24, 2008 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions

you're right

that’s correct, but i’m talkin about the umps not getting calls right… we did what had to do, split in st petes… now we come back to philly (i’ll be at game 5) to finish gettin the job done

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Oct 24, 2008 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions

The strike/ball thing is not an issue. The missed HBP is an issue

1. The homeplate umpire made motions even when he called a ball. Sitting in the stands it was pretty tough to tell what he was calling a strike and what he was calling a ball. He shouldn’t make any motions when calling a ball.

That being said the goal is to get the call right. Asking for help on a check swing is what they should do. The 1st base umpire has a far better chance of getting the call right than the home plate umpire. I understand being upset as a Phillie fan over it, but in the end the goal is always to get the call right. Asking for help is the best way to achieve that goal.

2. Rollins got hit and should have been awarded first. They missed that one.

by matthan on Oct 24, 2008 2:50 PM EDT reply actions

Courtesy of Jeff @ LL

by R.J. Anderson on Oct 24, 2008 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

That ball is CLEARLY low and inside, just like the umpire called it

And Fox Trax showed it CLEARLY going underneath the ground through his ankles and they were there!

by kericr on Oct 24, 2008 3:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Why is your avatar a picture of a terrified strawberry?

J.P. Howell kindly requests that you please Bach the fuck up.

by esoteric on Oct 24, 2008 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Rays loving Buck and McCarver

Lmao, that’s the Tim McCarver that played for the Phillies right? Man he must love the Rays.

by Top Gun Numba 1 on Oct 24, 2008 2:57 PM EDT reply actions

one nut wonder

john kruk also played here and he’s been deepthroating the rays the minute they beat the bosox (thank god – at least now it’s an actualy baseball world series, not a soap opera one)

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Oct 24, 2008 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Uhhhh He picked the phils in 5 you retard

Brad Ziegler had a scoreless inning streak. Brad Ziegler had not met BJ Upton.

by P Brady on Oct 24, 2008 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions

I have been wrong about one prop bet.

The Rays and the Phils have been mentioned more than the Sox and the Dodgers thusfar. I assumed the opposite.

by Top Gun Numba 1 on Oct 24, 2008 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions

yes yes, umps miss calls
kind of like when they missed shane victorino being thrown out at 2nd by scott kazmir

suck it up, its baseball, calls are missed, if your team was good they over come bad calls and still win the game, but you can always tell a bad team, they complain and yell about how that call, called right, would have won the game

a rollins walk or baldelli strikeout didnt take away the rays win, we were scoring the way we needed to, live with it

by mhunt300 on Oct 24, 2008 3:36 PM EDT reply actions

so then explain game 1

you got took in your toilet of a stadium in game 1 of the WS with home field advantage…
live with it

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Oct 24, 2008 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions

and...

and you all complained and bitched and moaned about that balk citing that was the reason you lost game 1…
live with it…
yesterday i came on here and essentially predicted all the calls would go your way in one of the remaining games, i just didn’t think they’d make it so obvious.

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Oct 24, 2008 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions

No we didn't.

Nobody blamed the balk call for our guys not hitting.

http://www.draysbay.com/2008/10/23/641211/upton-pena-longoria-0-12-0

by R.J. Anderson on Oct 24, 2008 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions

All calls?

Were the umps 1-for-28 in the last two games with runners in scoring position? Were the umps batting leadoff at a rate of 0-for-10 over the last two games? Bottom line, regardless of a couple of people complaining in the heat of the moment, the headline at this blog said that the middle of our order didn’t produce in game one. Before collectively grouping everyone together, how about being more accurate with your complaint? Secondly, just as Cole Hamels shut down the Rays in game one, Shields did the same thing in game 2.

How can you possibly continue to harp about fans complaining about game 1 if you continue to harp your complaints about game 2? That is extremely hypocritical.

Bottom line good teams find ways to win. It’s back to a 5 game series. No matter who wins, it will not be who got more calls or who didn’t.

by raysfaninminnesota on Oct 25, 2008 1:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Is this a super-troll?

I mean, the very first response to your post by R.J. was that we were over the non-balk before game 2 even started. The umpiring has been bad. No reason to bitch about it more.

by staplemaniac on Oct 24, 2008 5:37 PM EDT reply actions

ok

well i’ve been nothing but civil on this site up until response TWO where i was told that j-roll wasn’t hit (yea right, watch the replay), and the ump DIDNT call strike three to baldelli? then i was told to ‘stop bitching’ – okay dude, i’m just defending my position, i wrote this thread in response to all the nonsense i kept hearing the balk, just showing the equality in shitty ump’ing – not bitching.

by PHIGHTINPHILS on Oct 24, 2008 5:53 PM EDT up reply actions

Point out on this site where people have been bitching about the balk non-stop.

by R.J. Anderson on Oct 24, 2008 6:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Here's the facts

I think even Rays fans expected to go to Phily with a 1-1 split. The Rays have struggled against tough lefties all season and Hamels is one of the top 3 lefties in the NL. But the Rays main strength is their depth, namely their pitching depth. Outside of Hamels, the Rays have a pitching advantage in every other game. Regardless of umpiring, this should be a great series and I still think the Rays win in 6.

by raysfaninminnesota on Oct 24, 2008 6:09 PM EDT reply actions

Ubset Phillies dude

Like someone said earlier, the only complain you can have is about the hbp. First, ones hand motion does not matter when calling balls and strikes since the ump says the call. If you were to have watched sportscenter when they showed the play and had your volume on you could hear the ump say ball. The only problem is that he awarded first base and then checked with the ump on first, but either way it was a walk. Regardless if he swung or not calls like that are going to go both ways and it is very hard to tell.

The HBP was a blown call and that just equals the balk. If you want to come and complain that the ump sucks no reason too because everyone already knows that.

And like RJ has been clearly stating, none of us have bitched about the blown balk call. The only place where you probably would see stuff like that is the in GDT when it first happened. All of us here understand it was our own fault for losing game 1 with not hitting well enough.

We are fine with the series being 1-1 since I think most of us thought it would be that way anyways. We could have easily one game 1 which would have been nice, but we have no problem where we are at.

by KazforPresident on Oct 24, 2008 7:26 PM EDT reply actions