So last night's ump was pretty good.
had a solid established zone, pretty much stayed with it all night - EXCEPT for the top of the 9th inning - the zone noticeably shrunk (at least that's what my eyes told me on pitch trax). Harper's walk would not have been a walk at any other time during the game.
Do you think that Umpires and MLB have a wink-wink/nod-nod to not end a playoff game on a punch out or something? Or I wonder if umps are just sphinxtering at that point and don't want to be the reason a game ends?
But then you go back to the world series a couple of years ago and it ends with a Miggy punchout - so who the hell knows.
Anyway of all the umps in our series, last night was definitely the best.
Fangraphs proposes taking the check swing call away from the HP ump:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/lets-take-check-swings-away-from-home-plate-umpires/Also, earlier in the season, I'll have to see if I can find it, either Fangraphs or BaseballProspectus studied strike zones and found that on 0-2, the strike zone is really small (the ump doesn't want to ring you up) and on 3-0, the strike zone gets really big (the ump doesn't want to give away a walk). Which supports your claim that the umps are "doing" something - whether or not it is on purpose is different.
