Good thing Roy Oswalt didn't have a perfect game going into the 9th yesterday!
When Astros starting pitcher Roy Oswalt got tossed by plate umpire Bill Hohn yesterday in the third inning of his game against the Washington Nationals for expressing his frustration over the strike zone, it not only strongly effected the outcome of the contest, but it reawakened all the key arguments over what baseball should do about it:
(1) Make the umpires go to school on what the strike zone is so that calls are made more uniformly. That’s been tried and I’m sure that many umpires would tell you that they still do get together and try to make sure they are all coming from the same page on balls and strikes. Oh yeah? Go see a few games and watch how these guys variously call the strike zone. Either a lot of people are lying or the strike zone is so subject to variable perception that getting all the umps to call it even close to the same way is either highly improbable or probably impossible.
(2) Leave things as they are and let pitchers and batters adjust to the variations in the strike zone as they occur from umpire to umpire. That’s probably what will happen here, but the Oswalt ejection highlights an ongoing problem. Oswalt was ejected for ostensibly baiting umpire Hohn for not calling strikes on the outside corners of the plate. Oswalt says he was just venting his frustration – and what’s wrong with that? If we are going to cut the slack of imperfect human nature and allow umpires to vary the strike zone, can’t we at least allow pitchers to stomp around the mound and mumble to themselves when their equally human frustration spills over? Why do the umpires have to take those actions personally? Are umpires the center of the universe? Are umpires the reason we buy tickets to go see ballgame? I don’t think so.
As things stand, it’s now up to the umpire to diagnose the intent of the pitcher as he moves around and mumbles. If the umpire chooses to take the pitcher’s actions personally, he then has the power to throw the whole game out of whack by dispatching a club’s ace at any junction in the game or point of time in the season.
What if Oswalt had been tossed in that last game at St. Louis in the 2005 NLCS playoffs? What if Roy Halladay of the Phillies had been ejected with one out to go in his perfect game effort last week? Neither happened, but they could have happened under the current rules.
For now, the umpire has the power to change the history of baseball in any game he chooses by acting on a perceived offense and ejecting a key player. If the cause was protested and found to be poorly administered later, it might help baseball rid itself of a poor official – but that wouldn’t bring back the pennant or a perfect game that may have been lost by the original act of ejection.
So, what’s the alternative?
(3) Laser Tech or Looser Rules on Player Frustration Acts. I really have no idea where we are on the use of laser technology for calling balls and strikes, but if we are anywhere close, I’m all in favor of baseball looking into it. I don’t think it serves the best interests of the game when any club’s ace, especially, is dispatched as Oswalt was yesterday, but neither do I think we are talking about a change that only protects aces in big games. We need a change that protects all pitchers in all games.
More practically, we may have to get a clearer definition of what are acceptable acts of frustration by a pitcher when he is struggling on the mound over the strike zone or for any other reason. Common sense by the umpire points the way here. If a pitcher stomps around and kicks dirt and mumbles something the umpire cannot hear, let him do it. If a pitcher points his finger at the umpire and calls him something like a “Blind SOB” – by all means – throw him out of the game.
Just please, Mr. Umpire, stay away from initiating conversations with the upset pitcher that begin with you walking toward the mound, asking, “What’s that you said?” If you do that, it just tells us fans that you have already decided to toss the pitcher because you can’t handle anything that may be taken as criticism of your umpiring abilities.
Mr. Umpire, as a fan, I don’t go to the ballgame to watch you umpire. I don’t even go to the ballgame to learn your name and, chances are, if you are doing your job well, I never will know your name.
Do you get my drift here this morning, Mr. Bill Hohn?
The Pecan Park Eagle 
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