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That Was Less Than Pleasant
2007-04-07 02:27
by Ryan Armbrust

I'll keep this short, since I've never been one to dwell on the reasons for a loss for too long.

There were two things I distinctly didn't care for in last night's game.

One, the weird strikezone:

The pitch on the left is a called strike that hit the corner of the plate. Good pitch. The pitch on the right is a called strike that missed my about a foot and a half outside. What the hell?

The second thing that I didn't care for in the least was Jay Witasick's continued inability to do his job any better than that lady down at the DMV who gave my aunt's blind friend a driver's license.

That is not where you want to miss on a hanging slider to Vlad Guerrero with two runners on base. Here's a doctored image of where you want to miss with Vlad:

That should be just outside his strike zone...

Comments
2007-04-07 04:27:34
1.   Jim Dean
Brilliant post. Even fewer words could have pushed you into the genius category.

The perfect merging of blogs and sports analysis. More please...

2007-04-07 10:12:36
2.   Eric Enders
Exactly. It's brilliant, but there are simply too many words. Just cut a few, and it'll be perfect. ;)
2007-04-07 15:39:46
3.   Ryan Armbrust
1 & 2, I'm sorry if I'm misinterpreting, but why the sarcasm? As I said, I'm not one to dwell on a loss that was largely caused by one missed pitch. I don't need to develop an ulcer this early in the season.
2007-04-07 17:40:10
4.   toni
Awesome! The picture of where TO miss with Vlad is A W E S O M E!!

LOL!

I have no idea what Geren was thinking, Vlad vs Witasick had that outcome written all over it. Anyone but Witasick is my motto, honestly he shouldn't get into a close game for the rest of the year. I don't care how much he's making.

2007-04-07 19:02:40
5.   MrIncognito
Our bullpen is a little shaky these days. Kiko has been rocked, Gaudin is in the rotation. It's either Duke or Witasick against righty's, and Duke threw 2 innings the previous night.

It's still early enough in the season that Geren is figuring out what he's going to get from people.

2007-04-08 07:28:15
6.   Daniel Zappala
Nice post ... but I'm not convinced you can tell whether either of the first two pitches is a strike. The angle at which the pictures are taken is not directly in line with the pitcher and home plate, it is off to the side, so the view is distorted.
2007-04-09 08:00:25
7.   Ken Arneson
2 Ryan was probably still in diapers when Amadeus came out, so he probably didn't get the reference.
2007-04-09 12:03:58
8.   Ryan Armbrust
7 Ah, I get it now. I have seen Amadeus once, about ten years ago. And yes, it came out in the year of my birth -- also the last year of Rickey's first stint with Oakland.

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