I've been watching Major League Baseball for 60 years, and I've never seen as obviously bad a call by a home plate umpire, on a ball or strike, as I saw tonight. Home plate umpire Marty Foster totally blew a call on Tampa Rays batter, Ben Zobrist, calling the pitch a strike, which was at least 6 inches or more outside. The pitch was also very low going across Zobrist's feet, replay showed. What made it all the more dramatic and intolerable,was it was with 2 out in the 9th inning, with the Rays down by just one run (5 to 4), and a fast runner (Sean Rodriguez) on second base in scoring position, and the Ray's top hitter (Evan Longoria) coming up to bat next (who was 3 for 3 in the game). Yikes! Not only were the sportstalkers of the Rays home station reeling about the call, but so were the guys on the MLB channel too. Well, I know someone is going to jump on me for this, but I just can't help but wonder if George W. Bush (one of the owners of the Rangers) might have had something to do with this. Bush won 2 elections on cheating (well known), and that has been his MO for a long time. In baseball, umpires just don't make calls THIS BAD. It just doesn't happen. Especially on a game-ending, game -deciding pitch. Pheeeeeeeeeww!!! http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/e.../raysrangers-game-ends-on-dubious-strike-call
In the good old days of baseball, the umpires called the strike zone precisely as it is written in the rule book. Today they call it on an unfair and irregular basis designed to prolong the game and benefit the bookmakers. Therefore, there is no doubt that an owner like Bush can have an influence over how the calling went. Don't know for sure if it happened here but it can happen.
