Bad Umpires

Over at Metsblog.com this morning they talked about how Marlon Anderson is appealing his suspension for his tirade against the umps when he was called out on a ridiculous strike three. Anderson is appealing his two game suspension on the grounds that he was thrown out not for what he said during that game, but for his previous history with umpires.

If I'm Marlon Anderson, I walk into the MLB offices with a tape of the overhead shot of home plate on that called third strike. I point to the opposite batter's box and say "watch for the ball." Anyone who looks at that tape can see that it is quite possibly the worst called strike three in recent baseball history.

The problem is unless you're caught gambling or throwing games, nothing is going to be done about bad calls, which is really a shame. That called strike three was potentially a game changing call. Umpires are there to uphold the rules not change outcomes.