Most infuriating moments at the hand of the umps or scorers...

[clancyphile]

As the season approaches, what are some of the more... infuriating moments you never got over on the field because of the umps or scorers?

 

For me, some were:

That time Doug Davis had Lance Berkman cold with a pickoff... and got called for a balk.

CC Sabathia missing out on the no-hitter

Tossing Counsell after Baumgardner plunked Braun

[Ennder]

Armando Galarraga's perfect game blown by a horrible call by the umpire.

 

There were multiple awful strike/ball calls last year in the Dodgers series that cost us a trip to the World Series, I'd have to go back and rewatch it to point out the most painful one, but that umpiring was terrible. Same kind of officiating that has Duke still in the tournament right now and the same reason Duke beat the Badgers in the finals as they swallowed the whistle over and over as Duke just pummeled the Badgers players.

[adambr2]

The Galarraga one was awful no matter who you are a fan of.

 

I don't get why people get worked up about the Sabathia no no-no.

 

It was a really borderline subjective scoring call that could have gone either way without the foresight of knowing it would be the only hit of the game. It was called a hit. It was subjective. Not egregiously bad. That's it.

[totmachen]

While not infuriating, the mass ejection game with Barking Bob Davidson always comes up in my head when bad umping is mentioned.

 

[owbc]

The blown infield fly call in the 2012 NL wild card game. Given the magnitude of the game, nothing else comes close to that in recent decades.

[SomewhereInTime]

That was probably a ridiculous amount of ejections, but none of those actually looked like bad calls.

[trwi7]

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

That was probably a ridiculous amount of ejections, but none of those actually looked like bad calls.

 

Yeah, Counsell's slide was about as blatant interference as you're going to see.

[Baldkin]

That was probably a ridiculous amount of ejections, but none of those actually looked like bad calls.

 

Yeah, Counsell's slide was about as blatant interference as you're going to see.

 

But that was circa 2010, when interference wasn't on the rule books.

[MrTPlush]

That was probably a ridiculous amount of ejections, but none of those actually looked like bad calls.

 

Yeah, Counsell's slide was about as blatant interference as you're going to see.

 

But that was circa 2010, when interference wasn't on the rule books.

 

Yah, that just flat out wasn't called back then. It was ridiculous it got called.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

That was probably a ridiculous amount of ejections, but none of those actually looked like bad calls.

 

Yeah, Counsell's slide was about as blatant interference as you're going to see.

 

But that was circa 2010, when interference wasn't on the rule books.

 

They might have actually called him for being out of the base line. I think the result would have been the same either way.

[And That]

While not infuriating, the mass ejection game with Barking Bob Davidson always comes up in my head when bad umping is mentioned.

 

The most infuriating thing about this is being reminded of Ken Macha.

[Underachiever]

On the other hand, I think we can all agree that Denkinger in 85 was the greatest one ever. Because Cardinals.

[HiAndTight]

Armando Galarraga's perfect game blown by a horrible call by the umpire.

 

There were multiple awful strike/ball calls last year in the Dodgers series that cost us a trip to the World Series, I'd have to go back and rewatch it to point out the most painful one, but that umpiring was terrible. Same kind of officiating that has Duke still in the tournament right now and the same reason Duke beat the Badgers in the finals as they swallowed the whistle over and over as Duke just pummeled the Badgers players.

 

 

My anger over the Galarraga game subsided when you saw how emotional Jim Joyce got over that call. It was awful, but they make mistakes.

 

I can't recall being angry at the refs in the NCAA Title game. I just remember it being a great game and knowing this was probably our shot. I'm not in any way disagreeing, that just doesn't stand out.

 

 

 

But if we're going other sports, how about the officiating crew that did the Rams-Saints game? It's nice for the Packers as there's a chance we end up with a TE ahead of NE because we get to pick at 30 instead of 32, which I absolutely believe we'd be at had they not allowed the most brazen and obvious defensive PI to go uncalled, but to ALSO miss the shot to the head by a defenseless reciever. BOTH of those calls are painfully obvious. The PI in real time doesn't look AS BAD as it does when you get all the other angles...but the blow to the head? C'mon. I don't want to see refs bailing out teams on offense by calling a PI when there's a little handfighting or a jersey tug, but wow.

 

And the thing is it's not like Nickel-Robey even KINDA denied it. He just flat out said he was waiting for the flag and then was so happy when there wasn't one. You seldom see a team get a call that absurd and then openly admit it.

 

Even the obnoxious Seahawks claimed they caught that TD pass that MD Jennings picked off.

[HiAndTight]

That was probably a ridiculous amount of ejections, but none of those actually looked like bad calls.

 

No, nothing jumps out as looking bad, but the Ump just looks like he's trying to find someone to toss. And then when he goes over to the fan and gives him the signal with his thumb...get over yoursrelf dude. Just say to the security people working you want him gone. You don't need to motion it.

[Ennder]

The blown infield fly call in the 2012 NL wild card game. Given the magnitude of the game, nothing else comes close to that in recent decades.

 

That was the proper call. Doesn't matter where the ball is hit, if the ball should have easily been caught by an infielder it is an infield fly.

[clancyphile]

The blown infield fly call in the 2012 NL wild card game. Given the magnitude of the game, nothing else comes close to that in recent decades.

 

That was the proper call. Doesn't matter where the ball is hit, if the ball should have easily been caught by an infielder it is an infield fly.

 

That and the balk rule are always so damn confusing...

 

What did Sharpie do on that Berkman play to get called for a balk? Does anyone even remember? All I recall was it was a filthy move... (granted, Capuano was a pickoff machine, but Sharpie's balk when he picked off Berkman just stuck...).

[owbc]

The blown infield fly call in the 2012 NL wild card game. Given the magnitude of the game, nothing else comes close to that in recent decades.

 

That was the proper call. Doesn't matter where the ball is hit, if the ball should have easily been caught by an infielder it is an infield fly.

 

It's a stupid rule. They should just ban double plays on popups.

[SomewhereInTime]

That was probably a ridiculous amount of ejections, but none of those actually looked like bad calls.

 

Yeah, Counsell's slide was about as blatant interference as you're going to see.

 

But that was circa 2010, when interference wasn't on the rule books.

 

It was in the rule books. You still had to be able to touch the base on a slide.

[SomewhereInTime]

The blown infield fly call in the 2012 NL wild card game. Given the magnitude of the game, nothing else comes close to that in recent decades.

 

That was the proper call. Doesn't matter where the ball is hit, if the ball should have easily been caught by an infielder it is an infield fly.

 

You are one of the few that I agree with when this play is brought up.

[young guns]

So I didn't remember the pop up play. I went and watched it and checked the comments for a post of the rule. I would argue part that makes it not an infield fly is the part where it says it's the umpires judgement and should be ruled immediately. On one of the replays you can see the left field umpire, who I'm assuming makes the call, and he doesn't left his arm to, I'm assuming, signal the fly rule until just before the ball hits the ground.

 

So to me, letter of the rule, since he wasn't sure right away if the infielder could get there, and was holding judgement till the play developes further, that makes it a bad call.

[FVBrewerFan]

There were about 79 games LaRussa should have been thrown out of the game, but wasn't. Boo!

[DuWayne Steurer]

So I didn't remember the pop up play. I went and watched it and checked the comments for a post of the rule. I would argue part that makes it not an infield fly is the part where it says it's the umpires judgement and should be ruled immediately. On one of the replays you can see the left field umpire, who I'm assuming makes the call, and he doesn't left his arm to, I'm assuming, signal the fly rule until just before the ball hits the ground.

 

So to me, letter of the rule, since he wasn't sure right away if the infielder could get there, and was holding judgement till the play developes further, that makes it a bad call.

 

 

I watched it as well, and Holbrook doesn't make the call until the SS peels off, and either stumbles or loses sight of the ball. That is absolutely a horrible call at that point. If Holbrook makes the call as the SS is backing up and tracking the ball, fine. I would have agreed with the call, even if the shortstop fell down after the call was made. It doesn't matter that it's 75 feet out into the outfield grass, but he makes the call as/after the SS stumbles/loses track of the ball, which doesn't at all jive with the notion that infield fly should be called when an infielder should easily be able to secure the ball. At that point, it wasn't at all clear that the ball would be caught by anyone (which, as it turns out, it wasn't).

[dlk9s]