WPCNR'S VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. By John Baseball Bailey. October 11, 2005: Bob--  I could not agree with you more...even in fastpitch softball...the best pitch is the outside pitch low and away on the corner, but when the ump is squeezing you as the new down the middle strike zone in baseball does to a pitcher, you're going to get hit even if you're Walter Johnson. But, it ain't just the inside pitch.

GLORY DAYS. 2003 World Series.  Photo by WPCNR Sports

However -- the umpiring behind the plate has much to do with it. Joe West was killing Mussina last night, with an inconsistent strike zone,  and he killed the Yankee hitters who took pitches for strikes that West was calling balls for the Yankee pitchers.

And that running inside the baseline call on  Robinson Cano -- they NEVER call that. Are you kidding me? That was a huge call. That is bush league umpiring. The throw was bad. He was right on the line to the base. The only way you can have a running box that works for the runner, is if you have a double base...as they do in softball.

But overall -- you're correct. The Yankees like all power clubs...try and pull the ball...no one has taught them how to hit the outside pitch. Usually because the major league pitching they face on 80% of the teams they play is so bad.

Another thing -- the Angels have good scouts and pitchers that locate...though the Yanks also are not patient....A Rod...with Rodrigruez hanging curves all over the place should have been more patient at the plate with one on and nobody out.

And the centerfield/outfield problem has killed us all year long. Bernie cannot come in on a ball, and Crosby is a loose cannon. There is no excuse for the collision last night that ultimately cost the Yankees the ball game. You have to be watching out of the corner of your eye as you're going for the ball.

Matsui is the only decent outfielder out there...Sheffield has been letting them drop in all year long....and Soriano used to go out and get a lot of those pops that are falling in....Canoe has got to learn to range out there to make up for Sheffield's camping out at the running track...Robinson  is learning as a fielder....

The Yankees lost games this year for two reasons: inconsistent pitching and lousy defensive outfield. That's what happened in the Angels series, too.

The Rain Game.

But everyone also overlooks the fact that Friday night's game never should have been played in those conditions...ESPN was why the Yankees lost the series and the Angels won. Though if it had been good weather perhaps the Angels might have won anyway, but at least the pitchers would have had a chance at making good pitches.

The Angel bullpen and the Yankee bullpen were hurt because HEY when it's pouring rain -- you can't locate your pitches because you cannot get a grip on the ball!  You cannot grip the darn ball. Watever happened to resin bags?  

Outfielders cannot race in on balls. Outfielders cannot race back for balls....it was a disgrace they played that game. Another black mark on the Selig ledger -- the Commissioner who is singlehandedly destroying baseball for television contracts.

It is our game, not the networks'!!!

And hey -- the rain  killed both the Angel starter and the Yankee starter (Johnson) Friday night.

That is what nobody else is saying or writing.

You cannot play baseball in a monsoon, which the ESPN announcer, John Moore kept referring to as "a light rain."  What a shill for the house! The only good thing on ESPN is Joe Morgan, whose analysis and honesty is refreshing, and tailoring is splendid. I learn a lot from Joe Morgan.

However ESPN's play-by-play ineptitude is far surpassed by FOX's Joe Buck whose commentary on belabors the obvious and tries to read trends into insignificancies as if reading tobacco spit residue. Buck is one of the few sportcasters who can make an exciting ballgame dull. He never analyzes.

 His father Jack Buck was far better. He let the game play. I will never forget his call on the Kirk Gibson homer in the first game of the 1988 World Series:"Unbelievable! I don't believe what I just saw!"  To be a good sportscaster you have to be a fan, too. That moment that Jack Buck broadcast was perfect. I see it to this day.

WHEN is some one ever going to ask a hitter who hits a winning home run, what pitch he hit. It appeared that when Chris Biggio hit the game-winner against Atlanta that it was a hanging slider -- INSIDE. The rookie throwing a dangerous pitch that Biggio could pull into the Polo Grounds distance in left -- the most dangerous part of the Houston ballpark.

I just want you to know Mr. and Mrs. America and all the fans watching outside of New York that was a steady rain on Friday night. The game never should have been played. They would not have played rec league ball in that rain. Only major league baseball does that.

Perhaps the telecasters should be made to sit out in the open, then we might be able to get some objective reporting on games.

"It's sopping wet in this booth ladies and gentlemen."

One recalls a game broadcast during World War II by Dizzy Dean. In those days, wartime restrictions prevented broadcasters from mentioning what the weather was like in major league cities. Mr. Dean on particularly sloppy day, wry observed, "I ain't allowed to say what the weather's like, but that ain't sweat that's dripping down the pitcher's face."