BliaYang6

38 minutes ago, Angels 1961 said:

Ohtani is doing things no other player attempts. Maybe it's time for a few days off. Been a very long season with little support in lineup around him. I'm sure he feels pressure to try and carry this team. This winter will be very interesting what halos do. Do they try and hope Trout and Rendon stay healthy? This team long way from contending and as season drags on, I wonder what Ohtani is thinking. Losing frustrates fans and I'm sure it's taken a toll on Ohtani. What kind of numbers could he put up with a good lineup around him?

I had high hopes for the season as we all did but could the Angels be cursed?  Trout is having the worst hitting season of his career but his homerun hit rate is his best though.  And that's still pretty damn good numbers for the league illustrating how elite Trout is.  Ward may have regressed to the mean and it's a down year for Walsh.  I've always thought Fletch was the second or third best hitter on the team for just getting on base so consistently AND when he was gone Rengifo (Fletcher 2.0) took on that role and have been the spark lately.  And now it's an awesome sight to have both of them in the lineup and being the spark.  Hope Trout and Ohtani maintain their usual self and the whole team finishes strong for some end-of-season morale.

It's a collective effort and as long as everyone tries their best there's really no faulting anyone when providing run support for any one starting pitcher on the mound.  It's just the umps that gets to me.

7 minutes ago, TempeAngel said:

So you think this is a conspiracy. You believe umpires are doing this to spite Ohtani? Really?

I will definitely look into it in the off-season on the pitching end.  It's pretty obvious that Judge gets terrible calls as well along with Ohtani at the plate.  There are plenty of YouTube uploads on that end.  What ever reason behind it, it's not fair.  Not even a Judge fan but the point is, fairness for all.

29 minutes ago, WicketMaiden said:

I see what you're saying, but again I ask, is Ohtani unduly affected by this compared to other pitchers? A review of several million umpire calls was made a few years ago and this was one of the findings:

When batters had two strikes, the error rate for all umpires increased – incorrect calls happen 29 percent of the time, almost double the error rate when the batter had one or no strikes.

So it could be that when Ohtani gets these bad calls you are having a more emotional response because of how it impacts the game, but according to the research it happens to most, if not all pitchers in pressure situations.

Not trying to be difficult here, chap, I just like to fact check everything. Here's a link to a summary of the 2018 analysis: https://theconversation.com/an-analysis-of-nearly-4-million-pitches-shows-just-how-many-mistakes-umpires-make-114874

No worries.  Thanks for the link.  I'll definitely read into it.

When I pit the starting pitchers head to head, I make sure bad calls or favorable calls are dispersed randomly and equally as possible towards both pitchers regardless of game situation because Umps are obviously human and mistake prone.  But another thing that makes us human is bias as well.  Sub-consciously or not.  For Ohtani's sake what ever he is doing or not doing on the mound or just being himself is not helping his cause.  He is just not being treated fairly, I confidently posit.  Aaron Judge for sure is not being treated fairly with those below the zone strike calls.  It is what it is until we administer in Robo-umps for the sake of fairness for everybody.

18 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Bad umpiring is a league wide problem. Do the research on just the main Angels pitching staff on blown calls by umpires and you will see that Ohtani is not alone in having to make additional pitches because a strike was called a ball. We saw Herget cheated out of a strike in relief, the umpire just blew the call. 

I'm not saying it all evens out.  Some umpires can see pitches off of a group of pitchers better than others. If you are seeing players whiffing at Ohtani's best slider image how the umpire has to interpret that wicked of a pitch when it catches a corner or bottom of the zone when the batter doesn't swing. It ain't that easy.  

Today Ohtani didn't have his game.  His misses were often wide, he nearly hit 3 batters on both sides of the plate. Being that off his game you know the umpire is under more pressure to find a strike to call between pitches that were not borderline. 

Ohtani couldn't get out of the 5th inning.  He had walked 4 batters, gave up 5 hits and only struck out two.  The Tigers, the leagues worst hitting team, was making his day miserable. That's not the umpires fault because he missed a couple calls. 

Circle back to this discussion after Ohtani's next start.  I think you'll find the better he pitches the better the umpires calls will look.  

Thanks for your response.  That's the thing.  He got three non-called strikes (mostly fastballs) in the zone which also played into his psyche + his physical attrition which lead to giving up some of those very runs DUE to the egregious non-calls putting runners in scoring position.  It all adds up towards his ER per game and non-called strikes outs which affects the whole team.

I also remember Gubie saying it's a good thing his sliders are so darn good getting whiffs and swinging strikes because he's apparently not getting these calls in the zone.  The problem is that Gubie says something along those lines like every game or every other game!

1 hour ago, WicketMaiden said:

Welcome to the board, @BliaYang6.

Can you pull any stats that support your position? Just wondering whether it's real or maybe just confirmation bias when you see Ohtani get a bad call. Thanks. 

Thank you!  This is my internal monologue I go through every start "Be as fair with your judgement down the middle as you can for both starting pitchers when observing the game."  Here's what I posted on an MLB.com upload:

Until we get robo-umps Ohtani will continue to get screwed over via umpire bias. Every time a high stakes situation takes place he'll get a timely dubious ball called on a strike throw. He rarely ever gets an out-of-the-strike-zone strike call either. On the flip side the opponent rarely ever gets a dubious ball called on a strike throw. On top of that they'll get a few dubious out-of-the-strike-zone strike calls in their favor. This is when the stakes are high with runners in scoring position and/or a full count for both pitchers. This allows the opponent to strand the runners on base and also screw Ohtani with runners on base costing him runs.

Only when the stakes are low with 0-0 count and/or no runners in scoring position then the ump will subtly give Ohtani some "make-up" calls to appease the fans, Ohtani, etc., whilst taking away some of those favorable calls to the opposing pitcher prior when the stakes were high and also giving him some dubious calls to "even" things out. That's how Ohtani loses out on those close games when it's a game of inches.  /End

If I can gather footage from every Ohtani start games.  I'm confident enough to say the umpire bias is there against him.

20 minutes ago, eligrba4ever said:

My response to your initial post was rude and I am sorry for that. The reverse white on black type was difficult to read but I could have been less curt about it. 

No worries.  From being a reader of the game threads for a good year or so, you guys are mostly class as apparent here as well. 

My beef is strictly UMP bias and no one else.  I should've stated that from the start.  'We need Robo-Umps' should really be my rally point.

2 minutes ago, Blarg said:

No big deal, no need to be nervous or apologize. If you haven't noticed the regulars on this board all respect players of any ethnicities. Clowns like the troll that just got bounced will be removed once their intentions are known. Feel free to post your thoughts about the game, the players and the present and future of the team.

Thanks for your reply!  That poster just happens to be on this thread the moment I registered.  Nothing really to do with him.  It's an uncomfortable topic and it pains me to say that Ohtani is getting the unfavorable treatment start in and start out relative to his opponent that day whether it is never getting any dubious calls as oppose to his opponent getting those very same dubious calls all start long, etc.

Umpires are human so we would expect bad calls every game sprinkled throughout for and against both teams BUT the problem here is that Ohtani almost always gets the bulk of the bad calls and rarely any of the good calls which defies fair treatment down the middle.  It's not just Ohtani but Aaron Judge gets terrible calls all the time at the plate too.  Ohtani just happens to be screwed both on the mound and at the plate.  Robo-umps are needed more than ever.  A lot of these games should've been Angels wins too when sports in general all come down to a game of inches.  I really can't bear to watch anymore Ohtani starts for now.  It's just too painful.

Just now, eligrba4ever said:

I doubt anybody will plow through this white type on black strip mess. Whatever you're saying, it is a giver of headaches. Learn graphics.

Yes.  I'll take the criticism.  I just felt nervousness typing this because of what I had to say.  I'm on a crappy tablet as well.  Just consider what I have to say and please respond. Thanks in advanced.  It's been a long time coming.

37 minutes ago, NotOhtaniFanBoy said:

Ohtani is not as good as the hype from his fanboys, and so the excuse now is "It is hard to be a pitcher and batter", or it is hard to be a pitcher"?!!  LOL!  That sounds like an admission from the loser Ohtani fanboys that Ohtani is neither a great batter and nor a great pitcher!  When Ohtani is decent, fanboys scream in ecstasy!  But when Ohtani is mediocre, it's the rain and it's just hard to be a pitcher and batter!  You fanboys are so pathetic!

Another start another screw job for Ohtani.  He's probably ranked #1 in non-called in-the-zone strikes especially during a high count/full count RISP high stakes situations.  It all adds up.  Ohtani has given up runs that way due to attrition via bad call after bad call and also rarely getting any dubious calls which is typically the complete opposite treatment for the opponent he faces on that day.  I'm done watching baseball until robo-umps are administered.  The hate Ohtani gets is either from the non-stop coverage - which I completely understand is grating to people.  The other is plain old bigotry and trust me, there are, i.e., (paraphrasing) "Asians aren't that athletic hence he's on steroids", "This Asian aint going to win over Judge this year", etc.,.  Whatever.  It is what it is.

What I don't stand for is unfair treatment towards an individual based on their ethnicity, race, group, background, or accomplishments, and that's exactly what Ohtani has been going through since last year after the AS break.  His numbers should be noticeably better than even now.  The attrition of getting dubious calls over and over again adds up and it shows on the stat sheets.  Poor Ohtani is too damn nice to do anything about it.  I might as well do something about it.  Hate all you want, it's your right, but if you support the unfair treatment of a single player the you are also part of the problem.  

I had to register here to speak my thoughts because I have start somewhere and this is the only blog I go for the game threads for the Angels incidentally.