May 8, 2018

Disagreeing With Jerry Remy: If An Umpire Is Consistently Wrong, That Is Not A Good Thing

Home plate umpire Gary Cedarstrom did not call Tuesday's Red Sox/Yankees game in accordance with the major league baseball rule book - which, as I understand it, is the main criteria of his job.

He regularly called pitches that were outside of the strike zone "strikes". I noted six of them, all against the Red Sox.

2nd Inning, Rafael Devers, Pitch #1:

3rd Inning, Andrew Benintendi, Pitch #2:

5th Inning, Benintendi, Pitch #1:

6th Inning, J.D. Martinez, Pitch #2:

7th Inning, Jackie Bradley, Pitch #3:

7th Inning, Benintendi, Pitch #4:

All of Cedarstrom's calls against left-handed batters:

(Note: The red boxes on the left - outside of the strike zone - are strike calls awarded to Yankee pitchers against Red Sox batters.)

In the seventh inning, after the blown call on the 1-1 pitch to Bradley, I heard NESN's Jerry Remy say this:
I'll tell you what. At least Cedarstrom has been consistent out there tonight.
I find this extremely strange. Remy (and countless others) believe being wrong is okay for an umpire as long as he is always wrong.

I disagree. I think if an umpire is always wrong, it means he is a terrible umpire.

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