Is it me or is there alot more nastiness at CDMSBL games this season? I get that disagreements are part of the game but lately it seems like four or five guys are chirping after every call. Maybe its time we reevaluate our behavior. Over the past ten days I've played three games in the 45s and three in the 35s; some games on my team and others as a sub. If you compiled the games and if our games were broadcast, it would have gone something like this (I'll exaggerate a little but every comment is based on an actual occurence).

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Its a beautiful day for baseball and the field at New Scotmoore is in great shape. We have a nice crowd here as some moms and the kids are excited to watch some adult baseball. The Dragons have finished their warmups and the Bulldogs are ready to bat. Ramirez is on the mound for the Dragons and his first pitch to Jones is a called strike at the knees. Jones doesn't like the call and neither do his teammates. They're yelling that the pitch was in the dirt and outside. Well the pitch looked pretty good from here. OK Ramirez rocks and fires and its ball one, a little high. But the left fielder doesn't think so and he's making sure the ump hears about it. Ramirez checks the sign, he delivers and its a hard grounder to short. A slight bobble but a strong throw and Jones is out. And Jones is furious, oh he just threw his helmet against the first base fence and now he kicks it into the bat rack. Wow what a competitor! I hope his Anger Management Counselor doesn't share office space with the umpire's eye doctor.

Trudeeau steps in for the Bulldogs. This lefty has been on a tear lately and you don't want to give him a pitch he can drive. Ramirez delivers; and its low and outside for ball one. And Ramirez is yelling "Abre Los Ojos" at the plate umpire. I know a little Spanish and I think that means "open your eyes". The 1 - 0 pitch is a belt high fastball for a called strike. Now Trudeau is upset and he's mumbling "Allez arbitre ouvrir les yeux" which also translates to "c'mon ump open your eyes". Boy this game is taking on an international flavor. Here's the pitch and Trudeau hits a sinking line drive into center field. Here comes Headcase but he can't make the sliding catch. Looks like he trapped it.

Now Headcase doesn't like the call and he throws his glove down and kicks it in disgust. He must have wanted something for the effort. He's yelling something at the field umpire. I think he said something like "No wonder you can't see cuz you're wearing those sun glasses". (Yeah that was the actual comment) Well that doesn't make sense. The players are wearing sun glasses to help them see BETTER.

And Nguyen steps in for the Bulldogs. This feisty second baseman can really handle the bat. Ramirez fires a fastball for strike one. The Bulldogs on the bench are barking that the pitch was too high for little Than. And Than just told the umpire "Di vao trong tai mo doi mat cua ban" According to Rosetta Stone that is Vietnamese for "C'mon Blue open your eyes". Now with a 2 -2 count, Ramirez throws a slow curve and Nguyen swings and misses. The ball gets past the catcher, Trudeau hustles down to second base.

Heinrich steps in for the Bulldogs hoping to drive in the game's first run. But wait. The Dragons' left fielder, Einstein, is arguing that Trudeau has to go back to first. He's claiming that the runner can't advance on a dropped third strike (I'm not making this up) Now I'm just an announcer but if I didn't know the rules I would be too embarassed to start that argument. But I guess you can't fix stupid.

OK back to baseball. Heinrich steps into the box and has a big smile for the catcher and the umpire. It IS a perfect day for baseball. Now Heinrich just said something to the umpire and I think he said "Komm Schniedsrichter offnen sie lhre augen" I can only guess what that means but the umpire doesn't look happy. He must speak German. The first pitch is high and Trudeau is heading for third. A perfect throw to Riley and Trudeau is called out. And Trudeau throws his helmet against the 3B fence and out comes Hatfield to argue the call. This southerner has a voice that could curdle milk so I hope this discussion doesn't last long! "Well you gotdang blue belly, you didn't see no tag. If your eyes were any farther apart youi'd look like my Pa" (This part really didn't happen. I just threw it in in case my friend Marcus Aurelius was reading!)

Now the Dragons will get their turn to bat and leading off is the left fielder, Einstein. I hope he know more about hitting than he does about umpiring. Lip****z delivers. A swing and a lazy fly ball towards shortstop. Oh and Einstein throws his bat against the backstop and doesn't even run to first base. I guess he's not having any fun playing the game he loves.

Next up is Headcase and he looks like he is still upset about the call in center field. You really can't let that affect your hitting. Lip****z deals; a little outside for ball one. Now Trudeau is yelling from right field that that same pitch was called a strike on him. I always wonder how those outfielders are able to see the pitch better than the home plate umpire. The 1 - 0 is bunted right back to the pitcher and Headcase is easily out at first. Oh and look, he's gonna take a long, slow walk across the infield to show everyone how mad he is. Now he's glaring at the field umpire and Headcase just yelled "Haya mwamua kufungua macho yako". Well now we know how to say "open your eyes" in Swahili.

The third batter for the Dragons is Parent. Thats appropriate. I would guess that most of the guys in this division have children. So they are all parents. And its nice to see the younger kids at the games. The first pitch from Lip****z is a curve ball that caught the outside corner, And now the Dragons bench is giving the umpire an earful. Boy every call seems to strike a nerve today. Now the 0 - 1 and Parent drills one into the gap in right center. And the ball gets past Trudeau. Lip****z is yelling at his outfielder to make a #@ing play. Parent is hustling to second and it looks like he'll try for third. Nguyen makes a perfect relay to Heinrich, Parent dives and he is......OUT. What a play.

Oh and Parent throws some dirt and swears he beat the tag. Heinrich shows Parent where he tagged him on the ankle. Now Parent is telling Heinrich to mind his own business and I'm leaving out some of the choice words. Einstein is yelling at his teammate for trying to stretch a double with two outs. And Lip****z is high-fiving Nguyen and saying "at least someone out here can make a play".

Well we'll be back for the second inning from New Scotmoore and we have two games after this one. Gonna be a long day for the umpires. But first a word from our sponsor, Albany Mediation Center. "Don't argue out loud. Come to Albany Mediation Center for a fast, friendly solution"

Now before I let everyone debate what is appropriate at the field I"ll share one more experience and I'll use real names. In the game Monday at Bob Moore between the Reds and the Yankees there was a close play at 1B. I was the first baseman. I had to "jump" for a high throw from SS. As my foot came down on the base I felt the runner's foot hit the base. Very close call that could have gone either way. The umpire called the runner out. There was a responsive but brief protest from the runner and base coach. After the 3rd out of the inning I stayed at 1B to coach. On his way out to CF, Yankee manager Lex Hertlett stopped by the field umpire and asked whether the runner's foot beat mine to the base. Lex didn't call any attention to the conversation, my guess is that nobody else knew the conversation was taking place. After a brief and respectful meeting Lex and the umpire joked with me about the play and the game resumed. To me, that is the way to handle a disputed call.

Lets enjoy the rest of the season.

Jimmy, I don't agree with tossing anyone out as soon as he questions a call unless he is being obnoxious and using profanity. To question a call in a reasonable way is part of the game particularly in the heat of battle in a close game. It happens. Also if an ump shows inconsistency in calls if at the plate or on the bases then the manager has the right to make his case in a controlled manner without going off the deep end.

I'm particularly concerned about umps widening the strike zone to move the game along. A strike is a strike and if the ump allows 2 inches on either side that's fine. Too often I see the strike zones as wide a 4-6 inches and one ump even told me that's how he calls his game.

Maybe if the league presidents sit down with Mark Fitch and try to correct these inconsistencies we may reduce the "bitching" considerably. By the way I find the umpires in the 55 division more consistent and they have to do double duty(bases and plate).

Artie G.