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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Ejections: Ron Kulpa (1, 2)

HP Umpire Ron Kulpa ejected Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp and Manager Don Mattingly for arguing strike calls in the bottom of the 4th inning of the Marlins-Dodgers game. With one out and one on, Kemp took a 0-0 slider and a 0-1 fastball from Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco for two called strike. Kemp subsequently grounded into an inning ending double play. Replays indicate the 0-0 pitch was thigh high, but off the outside of the plate and the 0-1 pitch was located belt high, but was off the inside of the plate, the call was incorrect. After challenge, the call is now correct.** A post-inning exemption was applied.* For a post-at bat ejection of an argument over balls and strikes, the effect of the called pitches shall be judged holistically under UEFL Rule 6.e.iii.d. At the time of the ejection, the Dodgers led, 4-0. The Dodgers ultimately won the contest, 8-0.

These are Ron Kulpa (46)'s first and second ejection of 2011.
Ron Kulpa now has 8 points in the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (0 Previous + 2 MLB + 2 Correct Call + 2 MLB + 2 Correct Call = 8).
Ron Kulpa is owned as a Primary Umpire by Tswo7, who is now tied for 9th in the UEFL with 8 points.
Ron Kulpa is owned as a Secondary Umpire by DanNJ316, who is now tied for 9th place in the UEFL with 8 points.
*Post-inning Exemption is applied, under UEFL Rule 6.e.iii.b.
**Quality of Correctness was challenged and overturned ("Incorrect" ==> "Correct").

This is the 57th and 58th ejection of 2011.
This is the 24th player ejection of 2011.
This is the 32nd manager ejection of 2011.
Prior to his ejection, Kemp was 1-3 in the contest.
This is Don Mattingly's second ejection of 2011.
This is Matt Kemp's second career ejection.

Wrap: Marlins at Dodgers 5/29/11 Wrap
Video: Kulpa Ejects Kemp, Mattingly

Pitch f/x courtesy Brooks Baseball
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19 comments:

  1. tmacMay 29, 2011 at 4:25 PM

    The bases were loaded when Kemp came to the plate with one out.. he grounds into a double play... Several interesting things about this EJ... The pitches are both very close and Kulpa usuallly is pitcher friendly and VERY consistant. Kemp is the centerfielder there is NO reason for him to be walking 40-50 feet from Kulpa who is giving Kemp space. Why isn't Kemp going to his position... well b/c he wants to argue balls and strikes. And I'm guessing Derryl Cousins is letting Jim Joyce handle CC duties. Joyce... Not Cousins peels Mattingly off Kulpa

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  2. AnonymousMay 29, 2011 at 5:17 PM

    Those pitches look good to me. Swing. The. Bat.

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  3. DamienMay 29, 2011 at 5:28 PM

    Challenge. I don't think the calls had a realistic effect on the at-bat.

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  4. AnonymousMay 29, 2011 at 5:46 PM

    Ron Kulpa has a terrible attitude. He needs to check his ego at the door and stop trying to be the tough guy. It's an umpire's job to defuse a situation, not add fuel to it. He always seems to go after players and managers during arguments, just like Joe West used to do 30 years ago before he began maturing.

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  5. thexfactor264May 29, 2011 at 6:04 PM

    @Damien

    In an 0-2 count, the batter will swing at anything relatively close to "protect the plate". In any count with less than 2 strikes, Kemp probably doesn't swing at that pitch. But when he needs to swing at pitches close to the plate to prevent strike 3, he swings at the bad pitch to try to keep the at bat alive. I think the two missed calls have a realistic effect on this at bat.

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  6. AnonymousMay 29, 2011 at 6:44 PM

    Nice to see Joyce stepping in here...

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  7. AnonymousMay 29, 2011 at 9:44 PM

    This seems nit-picky (the incorrect ruling), both pitches per the chart above were an inch, give or take, out of the zone. Although I guess it's technically an incorrect call.

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  8. DanMay 29, 2011 at 10:37 PM

    I challenge the incorrect ruling. Pitches #1 and #2 were within the one inch range of home plate that is listed in 6.b.ii.b of the UEFL rulebook.

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  9. LindsayMay 29, 2011 at 10:42 PM

    This ruling has been challenged and is under review.

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  10. AnonymousMay 30, 2011 at 5:02 AM

    Seems like the manager always gets tossed when Kulpa kicks out a player. I like his style with the managers (Usually they say something like "you can exercise more restraint") and Kulpa gives it right back to em'
    Good job Ron Kulpa

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  11. AnonymousMay 30, 2011 at 7:53 AM

    Anyone know anything about this?
    http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/122814428.html

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  12. LindsayMay 30, 2011 at 12:08 PM

    This ruling has been challenged.

    After review, the Quality of Correctness has been overturned. The call is now correct.

    After review, including examination of the real-time play, replays, and alternate angles, the decision of overturning the original Quality of Correctness was made. In using pitch f/x to determine QoC, parameters to be judged include horizontal location, vertical location (coordinates of pitch), normalized zone variability or quotient (amount of vertical "stretch" or "shrink" applied to vertical parameters so that the strike zone ranges from 1.5 to 3.5 vertical feet, movement of pitch (known as pfx, and specifically pfx_x and pfx_z), and type of pitch. In regards to pitches which only depend on the horizontal constraints of the strike zone (as is the case here), we specifically consider horizontal location, px. In this plate appearance (Nolasco against Kemp), we see pitch (1) with a horizontal location of 0.895 ft; pitch (2) has a location of -0.946 ft. Considering the working strike zone is 22.880 inches (17" plate + 2*2.944")*, we see that 11.440 inches correspond to 0.953 feet on either side of the plate. Since both 0.895 ft and -0.946 ft have an absolute value less than the working strike zone value of 0.953 feet, we must conclude that the call was correct.

    *To calculate the working diameter of the strike zone, we use the formula of plate diameter + 2 times ball diameter (one for each side of the plate). The plate is 17" in diameter as defined by OBRule 1.05. The ball is a sphere with a maximum circumference of 9.25 inches as defined by OBRule 1.09. Circumference = pi * diameter; therefore, diameter = circumference / pi; diameter = 9.25 / 3.14159... = 2.944". Adding these figures together yields a working strike zone of 22.880 inches.

    Overturned.

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  13. tmacMay 30, 2011 at 3:07 PM

    @ gil

    huh? lol

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  14. Jeremy DircksMay 30, 2011 at 3:36 PM

    Tmac,

    Gil will be able to explain this in more detail than I will, but...

    Rather than simply looking at the chart on borderline pitches (on the horizontal plane), we are going to look at the raw data. The +0.895 and -0.946 feet are the horizontal locations off the center of the plate. The horizontal length of the working strike zone is 17 inches wide (the plate) + the diameter of a baseball on each side of the plate= 22.880 inches or +/- 11.440 inches from the center of the plate, which is 0.953 feet. Any ball with a horizontal location +/-.953 feet from the center of the plate is within the static, horizontal plane of the strike zone. Since we use pitch f/x for our balls and strike judgement, it makes sense to use the raw data to get a more exact reading on it, rather than trying to just look at the graph and what tick it corresponds to. Obviously we will not do this for the non-static, vertical plane of the strike zone, as we use numerous factors for that.

    So in short if the horizontal location of the called strike is anywhere between -.953 feet and +.953 feet, it is a strike (so long as it is within the vertical bounds of the strike zone.

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  15. AnonymousMay 30, 2011 at 9:12 PM

    I measured the length of that box that shows on the graph, and my ruler lines up with each edge of the box on 9/10 of a foot, or 10.8 inches from 0, that would mean that the box is 21.6 inches in length. My measurements could be off a little bit, but I would think that if they are, it is that the box is already 22 inches, and accounts for the diameter of the ball.

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  16. LindsayMay 30, 2011 at 10:44 PM

    @Anonymous, the integrated strike zone 'box' is approximately 21-22 inches wide, the working strike zone by my calculation above is 22.880 inches, which is graphically expressed by a range of -11.440 inches to +11.440 inches. Converted to feet, this reads (-0.953, +0.953). Pitch f/x admittedly has a margin of error of approximately one inch. Further, pitch f/x plots a pitch as it passes the front edge of home plate; there is no accounting for the depth of the strike zone (hence margin of error of at least one inch... an exact value cannot be calculated). Therefore, when looking at the raw data, we will consider any horizontal px absolute value less than 0.900 to be a strike; any px absolute value between 0.901 and 0.999 to be borderline and be eligible for ball OR strike visual consideration; and any px absolute value greater than 1.000 to be a ball.

    The following numerical range shall be established as UEFL precedent and incorporated into the UEFL Rulesbook

    Abs 0.000-0.900 = Strike
    Abs 0.901-1.000 = Borderline
    Abs 1.000+ = Ball

    @tmac, we're going to be using raw numerical data to calculate Quality of Correctness regarding called strikes/balls. It's much more 'concrete.' Note that values between 0.901 and 1.000, numerically, will still be considered borderline, as their visual counterparts are. Numerical px values will not be displayed in write-ups, unless that call is challenged.

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  17. AnonymousMay 31, 2011 at 5:22 AM

    I think???? last years square for inside and outside was located on the +1 on the right side and the -1 on the left side using the ruler. This year it seems they have slimmed the box down one notch on both sides but without the old ones I am probably just barking up a tree.

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  18. LindsayMay 31, 2011 at 1:22 PM

    @Anonymous, you are correct. The plots used to feature a zone (-1.000,1.000). I believe the alteration was made to provide a more "precise" zone (and it is more mathematically and graphically precise... it just doesn't account for margin of error). See Todd Tichenor (1) for a (-1,1) zone.

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  19. AnonymousOctober 22, 2011 at 8:08 PM

    Now the guy blew an easy call at first possibly directly affecting the outcome of game 3 of the World Series.

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