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Saturday, September 24, 2011

Ejections: Dan Bellino (5)

HP Umpire Dan Bellino ejected Rockies third baseman Ty Wiggington for arguing a strike three call in the top of the 11th inning of the Rockies-Astros game. With two out and two on, Wiggington took a 3-2 curveball from Astros pitcher Fernando Rodriguez for a called third strike. Replays indicate the pitch was located belt high and several inches off the inner edge of home plate, the call was incorrect.*^ At the time of the ejection, the contest was tied, 2-2. The Rockies ultimately won the contest, 4-2, in 13 innings.

This is Dan Bellino (93)'s fifth ejection of 2011.
Dan Bellino now has 14 points in the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (16 Previous + 2 MLB + -4 Incorrect Call) = 14.
Dan Bellino is owned as a Secondary Umpire by sachmet, who is now tied for 5th place in the UEFL with 28 points.
*This pitch's px value of -1.074 falls into the "ball" category under UEFL Rule 6.b.ii.a., the Kulpa Rule.
^Quality of Correctness was challenged and summarily confirmed ("Incorrect" ==> "Incorrect").

This is the 195th ejection of 2011.
This is the 87th player ejection of 2011.
Prior to his ejection, Wiggington was 0-5 in the contest.
This contest was the 200,000th game played in Major League Baseball History

Wrap: Rockies at Astros, 9/24/11 Wrap
Video: Rockies-Astros Condensed Game, Pitch & Ejection at 14:25

Pitch f/x courtesy Brooks Baseball

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15 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 24, 2011 at 10:41 PM

    Challenge

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 24, 2011 at 10:43 PM

    This has to be challenged and correct under the Kulpa rule. This pitch was coming back to the plate and if Bellino doesn't call that a strike he he going to have to throw out the catcher since he balled two identical previous pitches in that at bat that were more inside.

    Gil... Do what you do and investigate. I believe you will make the change.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jeremy DircksSeptember 24, 2011 at 11:48 PM

    This ruling has been challenged and is under review.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2011 at 12:12 AM

    Read the description, which says it is incoorrect over the Kulpa rule. This has a px value -1.7 which is well past the 1.0 cut-off for the Kulpa rule. This was not a strike and not a good ejection by Bellino. He has shown during three of his ejections to have way too short of a fuse. After the called strike three, All Wigginton does is scream "where?" right after he says that he gets tossed almost immediately. Now, he did throw his helmet but that's cause he thought it was ball four and started towards first. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO EQUIPMENT FINES? To me that is not arguing balls and strikes, that's asking where a pitch is. Bellino needs to look the other way.

    We also saw him with a short fuse dring the Mike Gonzalez and Ryan Sweeney this year and Adrian Beltre last year. In case you don't remember. Bellino threw out Gonzalez during the fifteenth inning of the game because he hit Chris Dickerson in the head. The Orioles were OUT OF RELIEVERS, there is no way in the fifteenth inning of a game with no relievers you are purposely throwing at him. People and the MLB seem to love Bellino, but sometimes he needs to maybe show more restraint. This was a very poor ejection. For reference of the previous mentioned ejections, I posted those videos.

    http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=17528969

    http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=11388855

    http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=14944711

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2011 at 1:48 AM

    Question, because pitch #1 should have been called a strike (it's touching the strike zone), wouldn't Wiggington have struck out on pitch #5 if the first pitch was called correctly?

    So isn't the outcome of the at bat correct according to pitch location, using Pitch #1, #2 & #5?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jeremy DircksSeptember 25, 2011 at 1:50 AM

    This ruling has been challenged; due to the computer's instantaneous production of a px value, this challenge may be summarily ruled upon.

    After summary review, Quality of Correctness has been confirmed. The call is still "incorrect."

    (This is the same criteria and review, albeit an abbreviated version, we used for D.J. Reyburn (2) earlier in the month.)

    When we reviewed this play at the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League, we credited Bellino with an incorrect call.

    We know the plate is 17" in diameter, or 8.5" on either side (radial value, Rule 1.05). We also know a regulation MLB baseball must have a circumference no greater than 9.25 inches (Rule 1.09). Circumference = pi * diameter; therefore, diameter = circumference / pi; diameter = 9.25 / 3.14159 ... = a baseball's maximum diameter is 2.944 inches. Since there are two sides of home plate that any part of the ball may pass through and still be within the strike zone, the working horizontal planar strike zone is 17" + 2.944" + 2.944", or 22.880 inches wide. The radius, therefore, of the working zone is 11.440 inches, which converts to approximately 0.953 feet (pitch f/x charts use a horizontal unit of feet).

    Generally speaking, we consider any legal pitch between 0 and 0.900 to always be a strike, between 0.900 and 1.000 to be borderline, and above 1.000 to be a ball (if there was no swing, etc.). The px value on Bellino's called third strike was -1.074, which is in the "ball" range. Therefore, the call must be incorrect.

    Denied.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2011 at 7:11 AM

    Also from last night, the Giants second baseman Fortenot, while attempting to field a ball up the middle, ran full speed into an immovable object named Bruce Dreckman...Fortenot should have been called for clipping.

    http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19618451

    ReplyDelete
  8. ump_24September 25, 2011 at 9:24 AM

    Ejections are automatic whenever a player flagrantly throws equipment in protest of a call.

    Wiggington spikes his buckey so hard that it bounces up off the ground to eye-level.

    If that's not flagrant enough for you, he turns around to confront and yell at Bellino.

    Ejection every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Regardless of player, situation, or religious holiday.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2011 at 9:27 AM

    But Jeremy

    Does that mean its several inches outside the total extended range that is allowed? Looks like several inches is an exaggeration. Why not put the statiscal amount it missed the extended range by, to be called a strike. I think you do a disservice when you exaggerate the miss amount. However, since I do not have the broad statistical analysis ability that you have, I will admit that I am probably all wet behind the ears with my disservice comment and therefor I will apologize ahead of time.

    This pitch does come into the phrase IMHO that is taught from LL on up, swing at anything close and protect the plate. I think this pitch comes within that boundary even though missed, but pitch 4 would not come within that boundary taught from LL.IMHO

    Of course if this pitch is called on a first or second strike, but not the third strike, nothing much comes of it usually. Although not intentional, it seems sometimes in some games this pitch does get called for a 1st or 2nd strike but not a third strike.

    ReplyDelete
  10. BillSeptember 25, 2011 at 9:52 AM

    12:12 Anon...

    I suspect that if Wigginton has said "Jesus, Dan, where the hell was that pitch" he stays in.

    He chose to, by your words, "scream where?" AND thorws the helmet. That is gonna be a dump at virtually all levels of baseball

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2011 at 10:28 AM

    someone wanted to get the game over with in a hurry

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2011 at 10:46 AM

    It's amazing how blindly some people will agree with umpires. You really saw this as a strike? Really?

    ReplyDelete
  13. LindsaySeptember 25, 2011 at 11:27 AM

    As Jeremy mentioned, the total strike zone (which includes the 17" plate + 2.944" max diameter of a baseball + 2.944" for the other side of the plate) is 22.880", half of which is 11.440" (so that measured from the center of home plate, the true strike zone extends 11.440" inches to either side). That converts to 0.953 feet; pitch f/x uses feet as its unit of measurement.

    The pitch in question has a measure px value of 1.074. Pitch f/x has a maximum margin of error of one inch, or .083 feet. Assuming a full margin of error, we have 1.074 - .083 = 0.991, zone ends at 0.953.

    Assuming a max margin of error, the pitch is still .038 ft (.456 inches) off the plate.

    Assuming zero margin of error, the pitch is .121 ft (1.452 inches) off the plate.

    Assuming max margin of error in the other direction, the pitch is .204 ft (2.452 inches) off the plate.

    In determining QOC for called balls/strikes, we use the 100% confidence interval alluded to above, to determine the probability that a certain pitch was a strike versus the probability that the pitch was a ball. In this case, that probability comes out to 0% chance the pitch was a strike, 100% chance it was a ball. Therefore, the call must be incorrect.

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2011 at 3:24 PM

    Thanks Gil. Even though it was definitely missed it looks like the 1.452 inches to me.

    Too bad the crybaby had been punched out in the 6th on a pitch inside the box and struck out swinging in the 8th and then making an out with runners on base for the 2nd time in the game was just to much. Waaaaaaaaa.

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2011 at 9:50 PM

    @ Anonymous 10:46am,

    I'm pretty sure that we agree that ejection was warranted with what Ty said/did, and I think most can say that the pitch was could've been called better. Bellino is an up and coming favorite of mine, and I will say this was a bad call.

    The challenges come from a points standpoint, as this is a "Fantasy League."

    ReplyDelete