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bmoser
1633 Posts |
 Posted - 03/15/2009 : 15:00:48
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I know AAA doesnt generate much interest, but here goes anyway...
USSSA did a great job given the weather. Got all the pool games in. 11 of the 12 teams were closely matched as the scores showed.
I'd say the OP Sharks are the "A" team from that park. Good hitters
Biggest surprise was Sharon Springs Silver beating Chain Dirt Dawgs from Savannah. Dacula going 0-2 after having a nice Slugfest was also unexpected.
The muddy conditions favored the big hitting teams. 3 of the 4 teams who went 2-0 could bomb it.
The big difference between Majors and AAA is team depth. the top 5 are fairly close, but the bottom 5 aren't.
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tae281
447 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2009 : 19:25:57
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| The Chain Dirt Dawgs team had SS Silver beat, a couple of errors in the last inning did them in. |
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kbuck
33 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2009 : 21:21:42
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| What did you think about the 12u age group? Does anyone know anything about this Hardcore team? It looks like they will be joining the major teams shortly. |
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JAWS07
29 Posts |
Posted - 03/15/2009 : 23:10:13
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| Hardcore should already be in with the major teams. They really under-classified themselves. Very athletic, well coached, pitching depth, and has good sticks. Should be able to hang this upcoming weekend. |
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rock44melnix
110 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2009 : 08:33:28
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| I generally don't get into these too much but having played in this on Saturday, my thoughts are mixed. On the negative, the umpires were just not up to par. I know it's part of the game and all, but I just get tired of the cost and return on cost being so below when it comes to the umpiring in some of these tournaments. Calls will get missed, it happens, but the frustrating parts are seeing a strike zone change mid game and having a couple obvious calls get blown that impact the outcome of a game. Other negative, being we were the last game it's somewhat unfair criticism, error on the side of safety v having to get games in. Our field conditions at the end of the day were very shotty and I eventually had to have our pitcher stop throwing until the umpire had speedy dry put down - which took about 30 minutes to get the material to the field. On the positives, info flow, particularly with the weather, was pretty darn good. The fields took the rain very well on Saturday but just met their match overnight. |
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2009 : 10:47:53
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We had 1 ump that was inexperienced behind the plate, but the other ump was very good and offset his mistakes. There were a few make-up calls too. A Coach stalled us, so the experienced ump allowed another inning (we almost came back!).
I don't mind Rookie umps learning in our 10U AAA games so long as there is a Senior ump present and things seem balanced.
We had no standing water, and artificial mounds, so I didn't see playing the 2 pool games as a money grab. It wasn't even raining most of the time in Stockbridge, and when it did rain, it was light. By our Saturday 6:30 pm game, the field was a swamp down in McDonough, and they made the right call.
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Baseball
111 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2009 : 11:14:13
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The weather and umpires impacted the outcome of several games. I would be OK with Umpires behind the plate having varying strike zones as long as they are consistent with both teams. The strike zones were a mystery this past weekend.
I would not be surprised to see a McDonough team advance to the final 4 this weekend. |
Edited by - Baseball on 03/16/2009 12:29:32 |
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Phattso
143 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2009 : 12:53:31
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BMoser- Were you with the Dobbs Creek team?
quote:
Originally posted by bmoser
We had 1 ump that was inexperienced behind the plate, but the other ump was very good and offset his mistakes. There were a few make-up calls too. A Coach stalled us, so the experienced ump allowed another inning (we almost came back!).
I don't mind Rookie umps learning in our 10U AAA games so long as there is a Senior ump present and things seem balanced.
We had no standing water, and artificial mounds, so I didn't see playing the 2 pool games as a money grab. It wasn't even raining most of the time in Stockbridge, and when it did rain, it was light. By our Saturday 6:30 pm game, the field was a swamp down in McDonough, and they made the right call.
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greglomax
1031 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2009 : 12:57:54
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| Unless I am mistaken, the umpires are typically not local. I have seen them come in from all over GA, Fla, NC, etc. I assume the "McDonough" reference was to imply the umps were a little bias toward the hometown team. I am not sure that logic can be applied unless they truly pulled local umps to do the games. I would not expect that this weekend. You never know, though. |
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JAWS07
29 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2009 : 12:58:49
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I agree. With the rain and 40 degree temps I felt that the umps could have opened up the strike zone a little. Watched one game in the rain where 7 runs were walked in and the pitcher wasn't missing by much.quote:
Originally posted by Baseball
The weather and umpires impacted the outcome of several games. I would be OK with Umpires behind the plate having varying strike zones as long as they are consistent with both teams. The strike zones were a mystery this past weekend.
I would not be surprised to see a McDonough team advance to the final 4 this weekend.
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CoachMark
216 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2009 : 14:28:10
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quote:
Originally posted by greglomax
Unless I am mistaken, the umpires are typically not local. I have seen them come in from all over GA, Fla, NC, etc. I assume the "McDonough" reference was to imply the umps were a little bias toward the hometown team. I am not sure that logic can be applied unless they truly pulled local umps to do the games. I would not expect that this weekend. You never know, though.
The 10U umps in McDonough were definitely local. They knew the home team coaches by name as well as the park officials. Having said that, I had no specific issues with the umpiring.
Regarding the fields, they were disappointing. The fences were 175' down the lines and 184' in Center at our park. I believe the other park for 10U was 185' all the way around. With a power team, this gets them swinging for the fences. Also, doubles become singles. I imagine that balls will be flying out this weekend if the Majors are playing on the same fields.
For the fans, have them ready to sit in the outfield as they have no stands except CF and they have the views blocked from behind the plate so spectators can't sit there. I was told they did this to keep the local parents (for Rec I assume) from yelling at the officials. There was one port-a-potty at our field and the only concession area was quite a walk.
Finally, the bases were not set at the proper distances (1B was 63', 3B was 64'). This is un-acceptable for such a big event. Hopefully they'll take time to fix it before this weekend.
As far as communication goes, we were told from the website to go our respective fields for bracket play and get an update from the officials there on rain-outs, re-schedules, etc. So we sent our entire team on a 30 minute drive to a field that had no officials present when we got there.
When you add this to the inevitable Henry County traffic, our parents have requested that we not participate in a tournament in Henry County again. There are too many other better options to play. I hope that USSSA moves this event next year to another venue. Forsyth County comes to mind. The Slugfest is a Great Event, all the way around.
Hopefully some of these issues will be resolved before this weekend and you get better weather.
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JCB
88 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2009 : 15:55:54
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We played in games with very poor umpires. In one game the pitcher was clearly not coming set and the umpire told us it was his opinion that the pitcher was not "not coming set" with the intention to deceive the baserunner and it was therefore not a balk.
It is quite remarkable to me that umpires can be as poor and unaware of the rules as we have seen in three tournaments this spring. It is one thing to see a play a certain way and make a call, or even to see the strike zone a certain way or even an inconsistent way, but it is hard for me to fathom the umpires can just not know the rules. What are they getting paid? This is really a poor reflection on youth baseball or the governing bodies that claim to educate these umpires. We all spend a great deal of money and resources to make sure our kids can play at fine fields like ECB, and can have great equipment, and good coaching, but maybe we should extend additional effort to find some consistent umpires that actually know the rules. The expereince for our kids is only as great as the weakest link - they deserve better than this umpiring. |
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2009 : 16:04:45
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Our umps teed off both Coaches equally, and bad calls went both ways, so we were fine with it. Just got beat :( Our boys had a blast playing in the mud and seeing a 10 year old kid on the opposing team who was bigger than ALL our Coaches. I see humans being 20 feet tall a few generations from now. That's a BIG strike zone!
quote:
Originally posted by greglomax
Unless I am mistaken, the umpires are typically not local. I have seen them come in from all over GA, Fla, NC, etc. I assume the "McDonough" reference was to imply the umps were a little bias toward the hometown team. I am not sure that logic can be applied unless they truly pulled local umps to do the games. I would not expect that this weekend. You never know, though.
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greglomax
1031 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2009 : 16:58:02
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John,
Two weeks ago at East Cobb, except for the one rule interpretation regarding the balk in your game, which I admit I got it half wrong also, I did not see a lot of bad umpiring. As a matter of fact I had a lot of people comment on how well it was. I even passed that on to Jim Stros the Director of Umpiring for NUA.
At EC we don't select the umpires, Jim brings them in, and for the most part sends in some really good ones.
I am not sure if USSSA uses NUA or not for umpires but it does not sound like they do.
As far as knowing the rules, that seems to be more and more difficult as sanctioning bodies change rules, and as tournaments add their own "Flavor" to the standard rules. I would say that most of the umpires I come across also ump HS games, and are pretty knowledgable about those rules. It is when we start adding hybrid rules in like "Use HS for this, but MLB, for that, and we are using USSSA's interpretation for this other piece." that it gets confusing.
I know since putting that one on two weekends ago, I have gone back to call out a few things for the Mazzone Tournament so we can let the umps know ahead of time and avoid any confusion. |
Edited by - greglomax on 03/16/2009 22:05:25 |
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coachdan06
433 Posts |
Posted - 03/17/2009 : 00:48:49
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quote:
Originally posted by JCB
We played in games with very poor umpires. In one game the pitcher was clearly not coming set and the umpire told us it was his opinion that the pitcher was not "not coming set" with the intention to deceive the baserunner and it was therefore not a balk.
If accurate if the umpire made his calls based on the pitchers "intentions" instead of actual effect on the runners being deceived its an incredibly poor horrible example of intepreting the rules.
maybe attitude was the real problem.
that one needs to be called in before he takes the field again. |
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 03/17/2009 : 10:59:18
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yep!
Our 9 yr old lefty Warrior was hurling spears down at the Sharks from his high perch and kept the battle close on just 2 earned runs in 4 complete encounters. Suddenly, the Sharks attacked in the 5th. The Warriors fought back, and the sharks thrashed to and fro, then circled endlessly. From nowhere, a SIX FOOT 160-pound Great White emerged from the depths, and its jaws closed down hard for the save as 3 Warriors were left stranded at sea.
Our Captain harbored his #1 Warrior for the next battle that never was. Till next time...
quote:
Originally posted by Phattso
BMoser- Were you with the Dobbs Creek team?
quote:
Originally posted by bmoser
We had 1 ump that was inexperienced behind the plate, but the other ump was very good and offset his mistakes. There were a few make-up calls too. A Coach stalled us, so the experienced ump allowed another inning (we almost came back!).
I don't mind Rookie umps learning in our 10U AAA games so long as there is a Senior ump present and things seem balanced.
We had no standing water, and artificial mounds, so I didn't see playing the 2 pool games as a money grab. It wasn't even raining most of the time in Stockbridge, and when it did rain, it was light. By our Saturday 6:30 pm game, the field was a swamp down in McDonough, and they made the right call.
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JRegister
2 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2009 : 15:27:06
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The bottom line on this one is that it should have been called due to the weather conditions.
This was another successful effort by USSSA to keep the $495.00 that was spent to play two pool games. At Henry Co. High School, there was no Diamond Dust/Quick Dry. Therefore, the mound was slick as well as the home plate area. Also, we had high school players being the ground crew that could not make a decision which had to rely on constant cell phone calls to the tournament director for direction.
This was a bad event all around. Basically, we had a team pick up 300 pts for playing two pool games without having to play in an elimination round/bracket.
In the future, I will make sure that I pay close attention to a weather forecast before I turn over my $$ again. |
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ronicard
117 Posts |
Posted - 03/23/2009 : 21:31:14
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quote:
Originally posted by greglomax
John,
Two weeks ago at East Cobb, except for the one rule interpretation regarding the balk in your game, which I admit I got it half wrong also, I did not see a lot of bad umpiring. As a matter of fact I had a lot of people comment on how well it was. I even passed that on to Jim Stros the Director of Umpiring for NUA.
At EC we don't select the umpires, Jim brings them in, and for the most part sends in some really good ones.
I am not sure if USSSA uses NUA or not for umpires but it does not sound like they do.
As far as knowing the rules, that seems to be more and more difficult as sanctioning bodies change rules, and as tournaments add their own "Flavor" to the standard rules. I would say that most of the umpires I come across also ump HS games, and are pretty knowledgable about those rules. It is when we start adding hybrid rules in like "Use HS for this, but MLB, for that, and we are using USSSA's interpretation for this other piece." that it gets confusing.
I know since putting that one on two weekends ago, I have gone back to call out a few things for the Mazzone Tournament so we can let the umps know ahead of time and avoid any confusion.
greg,
Could you post the balk call that you were referring to? I'm always interested to see rules interpretations, especially on balk calls. Mainly because we had a balk call that was ruled incorrectly last year and cost us a game. We had a runner on 2nd and the pitcher failed to come set and stop. The 2nd base ump raised his hands and called a balk as the pitch was being delivered. The batter though gets a hit to right field and the right fielder attempts to throw the batter out at first. The ball goes past the 1st baseman, the runner scores and the batter advances to 2nd base. The umpire, however, calls out that the balk means dead ball and sends the runner back to 3rd base. The batter ends up popping up to end the inning and we lost by 1 run after the next inning ended. I protested to the umpire and he told me to be quiet or he'd eject me. I went home and printed out the rules to prove he was wrong...eager to show it to him the next day and tell him that his lack of knowledge of the rules had cost a team a game. Probably fortunately for me, the Sunday games were rained out and it kept me from being ejected from the game. :) |
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AAA S-NIT
