May 16, 2018

Eddings Accusation

Brandon Belt made a pretty serious charge against umpire Doug Eddings:

Belt stepped to the plate with a runner on second base and two outs in the top of the ninth inning at Great American Ball Park. Facing closer Raisel Iglesias, Belt worked the count full before plate umpire Doug Eddings called a third strike on a fastball just off the plate to end the game.

Afterward, Belt said there was no question he got cheated on the call and insinuated that Eddings made it to get a matinee that lasted 2 hours, 41 minutes over with.

Also:

Belt mentioned multiple times that Eddings has said he was trying to get through a game quickly. Asked whether he believes the longtime umpire was joking, Belt added: “I dunno, but if you say it enough, you start to believe it.”

I can see in a blow out that umps might call a wider strike zone to get done quicker. With the game on the line, call the zone by the book. You can see how the pitched was graphed here.

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