Pete,

As a former Division 1 College umpire, if you set up on the inside slot, between the catcher and the batter, the outside part of the plate is a guess, it's an angled view and you don't get an honest opinion. In 1985 I attended Durwood Merrills Umpire Academy in TexArkana Tx, and he presented several methods of adjusting your position to get a better angle. I was more disapointed with the lack of consistency. I myself had a low strike zone (calling the bottom of knee) but everyone knew my zone and you adjust. Sometimes, much like Cal Ripkens strike zone was much smaller than Billy Ripkens based on star quality seems to matter at the Major league level as well. I recall Greg Maddux getting a very generous 4-6 inches off the plate.
Still we can't continue getting 4 non-quality innings from our Starters and killing an unstable pen!

Pete--I saw that final shot of Brian Roberts walking off the field with his hand on Doug Eddings' back speaking with him.

Actually, Eddings' wide, styling zone worked well for Brian, getting him to focus on driving pitches to left for base hits.

But, you are right. His strike zone was nutty.

It's too bad we didn't get to Papelbon tonight. He was vulnerable, missing badly like a guy with a tired arm.

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Pete's reply: I noticed Brian doing that too, for a second, but MASN has to get to a commercial, so you couldn't really tell what was going on. Knowing Brian, he was smoothing things over after being frustrated with the guy.

Yeah...was watching MLB.com's gamecast online, and I feel like they have a pretty accurate pitch locater, and that zone was all over the place. Ridiculous. I mean, its one thing when an ump calls a little low, inside, outside, OR high consistently, but not ok when he brutally expands the zone.

I believe there was the same problem last night. Sounds like this crew doesn't like the O's. Hopefully they don't bet on games like refs in the NBA did for a while. They're really the ones that can control the outcome of the game.

And how come Roberts has lost the ability to catch a baseball recently?

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Pete's reply: Not just Brian. The O's have had a brutal three-game stretch defensively after looking great at the start.

Pete,

You have no clue what are you talking about. Last night's umpire was terrible. Us non-football fans like the game to move and the score low, we dont like walk-a-thon. How many days till footbore starts??

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Pete's reply: Thanks for the compliment. Are you saying you want a terrible inconsistent strike zone?

The calls were insane, as no way can a team be patient when obvious balls are called strikes. I hope we don't see this guy for quite some time because he was awful.

It was still a gutsy game from the O's, as they came back from 6-0 to make it a ball game to the end. The part that scares the heck out of me, is how is this BP going top hold together when we can't even get 5 innings anymore, never mind 6 innings. I never had any delusions of grandeur about the starting pitchers, but at the same time, I didn't think they would be flat out awful.

Pete, does Waters take Eaton's spot or do you give him one last chance?

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Pete's reply: I suspect they'll give him one more start.

Agree the strike zone was an absolute joke last night but there were a lot of calls that went against Eaton in the big inning.The one pitch BRob complained about was really awful and I'm surprised he didn't get tossed for arguing.

The thing is Eaton really doesn't look that bad pitching, he looks like he know what he's doing but still gets lit.He just doesn't have an out pitch.I think he'll get several more starts though.What's really worrisome is Koji not living up to the billing. He pitches a lot like Eaton.

"This is a totally non-partisan statement that should not be construed as some kind of excuse for the Orioles' 6-4 loss to the Red Sox tonight."

1) No it's not and

2) Yes it is.

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Pete's reply: Au contraire. Yes it is and no it's not.

adam eaton should be released

The problem here isn't the Umpire,If Eaton could pitches he would of did the same as Boston pitchers ,but he can't 83 to 85 fastball SUX in my book that the problem here.

Now it's just gotten just plain STUPID. Eaton wouldn't win the majority of high school games and I'm making myself available to pitch for the Orioles as they'll take anyone. Good Lord man, bring up some kids and dump these guys that have absolutely no chance in hell of winning .... perhaps not even a little league game. Stop being the damn laughing stock of baseball and have some pride. Get Berguson up here followed by others and get competitive. As it is now the O's have to score 1600 runs this season to hit .500

I watched the game on ESPN's Gamecast (since I'm still in college in Ohio) and the pitches looked like they were everywhere, I honestly thought the thing was glitching. Glad to know it was actually accurate.

Pete,
Just got back from middle east yesterday and watched my first game of season last night. The close up view is even scarier. We all knew it wouldn't be pretty, but at this rate the bullpen will be shot by mid May and the collapse will escalate geometrically. Watching 12-10 ballgames every night gets old fast. Probably be seeing the kids sooner than we thought.

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Pete's reply: Welcome home. At least here, when somebody says "Duck!" it's just a foul ball.

Eaton has to go. Staying positive is one thing, but defending your terrible pitching by claiming a World Series title that you didn't even play in is pathetic. Orioles need to drop him immediately or leave him out there to pitch the innings he should and not destroy other pitchers in the bullpen.

Schmucker:
Whatever happened to Garrett Olson? I thought he was on the Seattle staff, but a check of the records doesn't show that he has pitched for them?

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Pete's reply: The M's optioned him to Triple-A Tacoma on April 1.

Let's face it. The Orioles starting pitching may be the very worst in baseball. Without a doubt it's in the bottom five. No matter how good the bullpen is, they cannot overcome the inadequacies of the starting pitching. The Orioles will be lucky to win 70 games and will finish in last place again. Bring on the Ravens!

I listened to the Boston feed of the broadcast on XM radio. Even the Boston announcers were shocked at the lousy umpiring in favor of Beckett. It must have been really bad.

We watched the game on Boston's NESN+ and every time there was a ball that was undoubtable a ball but called a strike, Remy would show the pitch graphic. Even the Boston color felt the ump was making extremely bad calls on the O's.

Umpiring like that makes watching a game painful, not enjoyable. Major league hitters can't be major league hitters because they have to swing at anything between the two batter's boxes, in the dirt, should high. BUT, did you catch the first two totally pathetic swings in the ninth from Markakis!? Wow, he looked like a girl! Papelbon can't be THAT good...

Pete,

How is the O's pitching coach Krantiz regarded around the league?

Judging by his inability to get anything out of any pitcher, I am getting the impression that he doesn't know what he is doing.

I realize the O's current pitchers are generally horrible, but wouldn't a competent pitching coach be able to have some positive effect? The staff is leading all of MLB in giving up homeruns, and last year were at/near the top in giving up walks and HRs.

At what point do we start looking at Kranitz? Is there someone better out there?

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Pete's reply: I think you judge the personnel and try to figure out if they could be better. I think the guys who have struggled are the guys you figured would struggle. Little early to dump the pitching coach.

It was a cold night so more strikes equals less time out n the cold.

I have to follow the game on Sportsline Game Center. Looking at the balls and strikes calls I was thinking either their spotting is way off or the umpire was terrible. Guess Sportsline is more accurate than I thought.

Pete, you're right about the strike zone, but the officiating problems didn't end with that. Even as a Birds fan, it was pretty apparent that Wigginton was tagged out in his 9th inning steal. His lead foot slid outside the base, without touching it, and the 2nd base umpire was in pretty good position to see that. Overall, the whole crew from last night needs to be examined.