Why the Phillies beat the Brewers

• roz

  +1

  Great article.  I totally agree with the paragraph referencing the poor quality calls by the men in blue.  I couldn't do any better than they do, but I do enjoy blaming them everytime my favorite team loses.  I can't wait to see the Phillies in the World Series..their bull pen deserves a lot of the credit.  Thanks for your time...roz

  http://www.baseballstoreonline.com

  Posted 10/8/2008 [reply] [flag]

• crashburnalley

  +1

  Not that I get a sick pleasure from contradicting Mr. Brattain, but I looked at the normalized strike zone charts from all of the NLDS games and Runge's strike zone is no more or less accurate than any other. Check it out:

  Game One

  Game Two

  Game Three

  Game Four 

  Game Three, of course, is the Runge game.

  It's just a testament to human peception and how easily it is influenced by our biases and faulty senses. Everyone knows Moyer is somewhat reliant on a lax strike zone, so when he doesn't get those calls, you notice it more than you would compared to another pitcher who doesn't rely on the umpire too much, like Cole Hamels.

  If you took Runge's balls-and-strikes-calling and switched it entirely with Dana DeMuth's, you couldn't point out the differences.

  The fact is, Moyer wasn't sharp in Game 3 and he could only go four innings and the Phillies lost. On the list of reasons why they lost, the umpire's calls are somewhere between the lack of sunspots on the sun and one of the Brewers fans sneezing an hour before gametime. :) 

  Posted 10/9/2008 [reply] [flag]

  • crashburnalley

    +1

    Also, I'd like to point out that the link I provided to the Counsell catch is wrong. Everything about MLB.com's video player sucks, so I offer no apologies. =)

    Posted 10/9/2008 [reply] [flag]

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Links (1)

Is The Hardball Times Sick of Me Yet?
Published 10/9/2008 by Bill Baer at crashburnalley.com
... . Fortunately, the Phillies did a decent job of not making me look like an idiot, so Brattain and I teamed up again for the NLCS. First, you want to know why the Phillies beat the Brewers, right? Right? Come on. The Gruesome Twosome analyze ex post facto the NLDS . And the meat of the matter: ...