I have probably watched about 100 games this season. Everything from the local Yankees and Mets to Central and West Coast games. 

God, that MLB Extra Innings package is awesome! 

But what is not awesome is the consistency of the home plate umpires. It appears that all these umpires are in competition to see who has the smallest strike zone. 

When umpires do not call strikes early in the count on close pitches, hitters will not swing at close pitches the rest of the game. When close pitches are called, then hitters will swing at pitches near the strike zone. 

It seems like most hitters take close pitches, and if they are called strikes, the look on their face tells you they did not agree. 

But I see that look on most pitchers faces, too. 

On Monday night (5/4/09) the home plate umpire for the New York Yankee/Boston Red Sox game was Jerry Meals. His strike zone was so small that pitches which are right over the plate were called balls. When did a belt high pitch right over the middle of the plate become a ball?
 
And the players cannot look upset when calls do not go their way, especially when they are rookies. 

In Tuesday's Yankee-Red Sox game, Mark Melancon came in the top of the 9th inning in a 6-3 game. He proceeded to walk the bases landed before being replaced by David Robertson. Melancon' strength is that he has always thrown strikes, but the strike zone of Mike DiMuro's he was trying to pitch into was about the size of a cubic foot.

Unfortunately, the plate is 17 inches wide, which leaves two and half inches on either side of the plate not in the umpires strike zone.
Melancon was likely given the rookie pitcher treatment of a tiny strike zone, with all the veteran hitters getting the benefit.

Last night against the Tampa Bay Rays, the home plate umpire, James Hoye was calling pitches "on the black" as they should be--they are strikes! So many hitters were staring in amazement at these called strikes. The funny thing is that the hitters were not adjusting during the course of the game! They were still taking the corner strikes even late in the game.

Some baseball people have suggested that the mounds be raised again to the 1968 level of 15"
MLB should gently nudge the umpires to begin to open up the strike zone, so hitters again become more aggressive and games become crisper and better played. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing a walkathon based upon an umpires tiny strike zone.