Faking Out the Third Base Umpire
With Barry Bonds up in the first inning Tuesday night, Kerry Wood went up 0-2 in the count. Twice he threw a breaking ball that Bonds checked his swing on. The second time, with the count 2-2, WGN showed the replay and Bonds clearly failed to check his swing. Yet the 3rd base umpire didn’t ring him up either time. The umpire got it wrong, at least on the second swing, but I partially blame Damian Miller. Catchers will often act like a hitter went around, immediately asking for an appeal, even if the hitter clearly checked his swing. But on both pitches to Bonds, Miller actually got ready to throw the ball back to the mound, and then, almost as an afterthought, asked the 3rd base umpire to rule. Both rulings went against the Cubs. The count thus went to 3-2, Wood had to throw a fastball down the middle, and Bonds promptly roped it to center for a hit.
It is certainly questionable how much effect on an umpire a catcher has acting like a hitter swung. But it seems to me that a catcher will have some effect when he acts like the hitter didn’t swing, which is what Miller did.
I thought the whole thing strange.
That said, I do think Miller does a much better job of framing pitches than Joe Girardi ever did. Girardi caught pitches with his palm up, which makes the pitch appear low, way too much for my taste.
In any case, a nice 4-2 win. Wood pitched out of self-created jams. The Cubs played good defense. And put up just enough offense, including a welcome home run from Moises Alou, whose power has been largely absent thus far. One reason the offense was successful enough was that the Cubs made Kirk Reuter work, even though Reuter was often getting a generous outside corner call.