[jtur88]

Why doesn't somebody settle it, once and for all? Do the umpires look and see who is batting, and who is pitching, and expand or contract the strike zone accordingly? Saturday on Fox, Buck and McCarver said it again: "Pitches like that are going to be called strikes when you're struggling like Ortiz is." One of them said it, and the other repeated it almost word for word.

Let's get to the bottom of this. Do the MLB umpires look at the scouting reports before the game, and decide who gets a big strike zone and who gets a small one? How do the umpires know that Ortiz is 3-for-42 or whatever? Why do they care? Do the announcers talk to the umpires? Do the umps tell them that they fudge the calls according to who the players are?

The announces have been saying this for years. They are accusing the umpires of not being objective---and even worse, justifying the umpires for doing so. If they are wrong, why don't they stop saying it? If they are right, why aren't the umpires fired? If the announcers are wrong, why don't the fans care. If the umpires are wrong, why don't the players care?