The world according to Jim:<\/p>\n
\u2022 The ABS system is now part of Major League Baseball \u2013 and have some of us maybe been reminded of the old adage about being careful what you wish for? \u2026<\/p>\n
\u2022 We are still learning what the wrinkles of this challenge system will be, including players, coaches and managers. You have two challenges available, and you lose one for each wrong guess. (Let\u2019s just assume that all the wrong ones are guesses and the right ones are \u201chad \u2019em all the way.\u201d) \u2026<\/p>\n
\u2022 So do you challenge an egregious call early? Why not, if you\u2019re sure that the Hawkeye technology will agree that you\u2019re right? Do you save a challenge for the ninth inning just in case you need it? You almost have to if the game is close.<\/p>\n
Are certain players more trustworthy than others when it comes to tapping the hat or the helmet? Managers spent all spring learning whom to trust, encouraging some \u2013 hitters, particularly \u2013 to follow their instincts and suggesting to others that they act a little more judiciously. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u2022 But let\u2019s save some consideration for the umpires, and I know how tough that is, especially as much as TV\u2019s strike-zone box has seemed to magnify just how many bad ball-strike calls there have been over the years.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve already seen the snarky suggestion that \u00c1ngel Hern\u00e1ndez \u2013 judged in the court of public opinion (or at least social media) as baseball\u2019s worst umpire \u2013 left the game just in time when he retired in May. And CB Bucknor, another arbiter who has been dragged by the public for his command of the strike zone, had a brutal first week. Last Saturday in Cincinnati he had eight calls challenged and six overturned<\/a> \u2013 including two sets of back-to-back pitches.<\/a><\/p>\n Bucknor, a 30-year umpiring veteran, is one of those about whom we would complain under the old system, and I sometimes wonder if that strike-zone box made his (and others\u2019) calls look worse than they really were.<\/p>\n But consider: A player showing up or embarrassing an umpire usually earned an early shower. Now the technology embarrasses an umpire even more than a player could, and what\u2019s the recourse? Eject the tech guy? \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 To make Bucknor\u2019s week worse, Tuesday in Milwaukee he badly missed a call at first base, saying the Brewers\u2019 Jake Bauers never touched the bag on an overthrow<\/a> (the video showed that he most certainly did). And the next day, umpiring behind the plate, Bucknor took a foul ball flush in the mask in the second inning<\/a> and had to come out of the game. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 For better or worse, we no longer have individual strike zones, with each umpire improvising the way a singer might. Nor do we have the plate ump maybe widening the zone a bit in the ninth inning of a blowout on getaway day. That sort of thing \u2013 \u201cOK, you\u2019d better be swinging, because we\u2019ve all got planes to catch\u201d \u2013 was actually part of the charm of the game.<\/p>\n But as radio host Dan Patrick said the other day,<\/a> \u201cThey allowed umpires to have their own interpretation of a strike zone, which is crazy. It should be, \u2018Here\u2019s the uniformity of it. This is it. Now get used to it.\u2019 \u201d \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 How would the Greg Madduxes and Jamie Moyers of the world have handled the ABS system? They were among the pitchers who would live on the edge of the strike zone and had good enough control to get the benefit of the doubt on close pitches. They\u2019d be in enough trouble these days anyway, because if you can\u2019t throw at least 95 mph the game has no place for you. And now the benefit of the doubt has been taken away. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 I\u2019ve become convinced in recent seasons that umpiring behind the plate seems worse because of (a) the emphasis on velocity and spin and the way pitches break so crazily, and (b) the emphasis on catchers\u2019 framing ability. Umpires are overmatched. (But if the ABS system reduces catchers\u2019 ability to steal strikes through framing, I don\u2019t consider that a bad thing.) \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 Interestingly, in idle press-box conversation last season with an umpire evaluator who shall remain anonymous, discussing the imminent implementation of the ABS system, he suggested that umpires weren\u2019t opposed to it if it meant getting the calls right. But maybe we all should have anticipated the humiliation factor. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 So, among the notices tacked to bulletin boards in umpires\u2019 dressing rooms, maybe this message should be added:<\/p>\n \u201cTechnology hates you.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 This week\u2019s quiz: UCLA faces South Carolina on Sunday in Phoenix for women\u2019s basketball\u2019s national championship. The Bruins have been to this point before, winning a championship before the NCAA even paid attention to the sport. When the Bruins won it in 1978, who did they beat and which organization sponsored this championship?<\/p>\n Bonus question: Who was the leading scorer in that championship game? Answers below. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 Some of the program\u2019s elders who won that 1978 title, including Ann Meyers Drysdale and Denise Curry, are in Phoenix for this year\u2019s championship weekend, Gabriela Jaquez told a questioner after Friday\u2019s victory over Texas, \u201cGive credit to the people that have walked before us, They have won championships.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 Also worth noting: When Cori Close and UCLA face Dawn Staley and South Carolina on Sunday, it will be the fifth time in seven seasons that two women will be coaching in the championship game and first since 2024. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 Quiz answer: UCLA defeated Maryland, 90-74, for the championship of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women on March 25, 1978, before 9,351 at Pauley Pavilion and a national TV audience for the first time on NBC. Bonus answer: Meyers nearly had a quadruple-double (20 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, eight steals), while Anita Ortega scored a game-high 23 points for UCLA.\u00a0 \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 And the meeting of big schools in the championship game,<\/a> after years in which the women\u2019s sport was dominated by schools like Immaculata and Delta State,<\/a> was said to be the point where the NCAA began to suspect there might be something to this women\u2019s basketball after all.<\/p>\n jalexander@scng.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t