It always amazes me how little perspective umpires have on these types of situations. It seems as though the assumption is that the umpire can do no wrong. It’s this same attitude that was displayed by Marty Foster when he justified a bad call to Derek Jeter by telling him that he didn’t have to be tagged to be out when stealing a base, earlier this season.

Fangraphs.com’s research suggests that based on current player salaries, a win is worth roughly $4.5 million, which means that when Marty Foster called a fastball down the middle and a chunk above the knees ball four, walking Nick Green (of the .307 career OBP) and scoring the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, there ought to have been serious consequences (and I’m not talking about a little verbal abuse from the Anaheim coaches).

Rick Reed’s smug suggestion that the Angels’ coaches might, or even should be, fined for their actions is absurd. He should be fined for doing his job terribly, and in a highly leveraged situation. Or fired.

Of course, this would all carry more weight if the race for home field advantage, the AL East, or the AL Wild Card was even in contention (they’re not). But I’m sick of umpires thinking that they get paid gobs of money to work 8 months a year to only get it right most of the time.