Matt Downs is the latest MLBer to get all riled up at umpire officiating, when he took a called "strike" to push the count to 3-2, instead of a walk that would have loaded the bases:
“It changes the game completely when it goes from 3-1 walk to 3-2 and then I strike out. I get tired of umpires going back to the hotel and thinking they did a good job on the night and I have to go back to the hotel on a failure night after I feel like I walked 3-1 instead of punching out 3-2. Some kind of action has to be taken on just a bonehead call like that. I said I think that ball is in, and he said if I didn’t swing next time, it would be 3-2 strikeout. He told me it was a strike all the way, it was a great pitch. After looking at the film, I realized that it was not."
I was well asleep by the time this happened, so I didn't see it. And since Gameday is being a tarted-up nancyboy, I can't tell. What did you see?
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
