Monday, May. 18, 2009

About that missing box score...

By Eric Degerman, sportstricities.com

This season, the Seattle Mariners remain frustrating, but at least they are watchable.

That's according my wife, Traci, which is good news for me because on occasion she'll join me on the couch and watch an inning or two some evenings.

It's interesting to learn what catches her attention. Earlier this month, it was the STEEE-rike call of home plate umpire Jim Joyce that prompted her to say, "Geez, that guy's loud."

Well, Joyce is gaining more notice lately. Actually, it's notoriety.

The Cincinnati Reds lost a 16-inning game in San Diego on Saturday night/Sunday morning. It ended after the Herald went to press Sunday, so my sports brethren published the box score in Monday's edition. Dayton (Ohio) Daily News columnist Chick Ludwig, whose paper covers the Reds, blames the late box score on Joyce, claiming the bellowing ump squeezed the strike zone on Cincy reliever David Weathers in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Joyce is "the worst balls-and-strikes umpire I've ever seen," Ludwig wrote.

It's ironic because Joyce is a native of Ohio.

And Ludwig linked to a chart posted on the fan blog U.S.S. Mariner that seems to indicate Joyce missed more than one pitch by Seattle right-hander Shawn Kelley in the eighth inning of the May 1 game Traci and I watched.

That was the game when the M's won in the bottom of the ninth, thanks to Jose Lopez's remarkable at bat. He fouled off nine straight pitches with two strikes and the bases loaded before singling to win the game.