Arizona Diamondbacks blown calls of the week, Apr 19-25

After the Home-platepocalypse which was the first couple of weeks, showcasing doubleplusungood outings by the Antichrist, Angel Hernandez, and his minion, Stu Scheurwater, things were a good deal more subdued this week.

• There were 48 bad calls over the seven games. That’s an average of 6.9 per game, sharply down on the 9.7 in the opening period. Maybe it takes a while for umpires to get their eye in as well?
• The split was much more even as well, with 25 of the blown calls favoring Arizona and 23 hurting them. That’s a lot better than the 55-90 split previously.
• Another change: the numbers were not significantly different at home and away, though there were only two road games in this sample. Those saw a 5-4 split in favor of the D-backs, with the five home games also demonstrating a one-call margin, at 20-19.
• That brings the totals for the year to:
  At home: 52-56
  On road: 28-57
  The odds of such an extreme road split happening by chance is 0.2%.
• Best called game: Tony Randazzo, who was working the dish for the 0-1 game in San Diego. It may have helped that that contest required only 217 pitches all told.
• Worst called game: Mike Muchlinski, behind the plate for the 13-5 blowout over the Dodgers last Friday. You probably didn’t notice, because you were too busy dancing around the living-room, jersey pulled over your head while miming drinking pints of beer. Er... Just me then. Anyway, at 11 bad calls, it was relatively mild.
• Worst confirmed call of the week - as discussed last week, this category requires independent confirmation from another source, such as Fangraphs - also goes to Muchlinski, who clearly had an early dinner reservation.

Apr 19, 0-1 @ SDP (Tony Randazzo)

• 3 bad calls
• 2 help, 1 hurt
• 2 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 260
• Worst call

This was the best-called game of the year so far, with only three pitches regarded as “mistakes”. However, this did include one which was certainly a game changer. In the 8th inning, we got this call - it had a 36% “call same” rating, so was hardly beyond the pale. But instead of strike 3, Erick Aybar hung around, and later in the at-bat, hit a home-run off Greinke, the only run in the 1-0 defeat. So, arguably, in terms of impact, it was the worst call of the season for the Diamondbacks so far.

Apr 20, 1-4 @ SDP (Gerry Davis)

• 6 bad calls
• 3 help, 3 hurt
• 3 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 544
• Worst call

Apr 21, 13-5 vs LAD (Mike Muchlinski)

• 11 bad calls
• 3 help, 8 hurt
• 4 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 936
• Worst call

Apr 22, 11-5 vs LAD (Marty Foster)

• 8 bad calls
• 4 help, 4 hurt
• 3 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 654
• Worst call

Apr 23, 2-6 vs LAD (Mike Winters)

• 8 bad calls
• 4 help, 4 hurt
• 5 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 730
• Worst call

I think that call would probably cause my forearm to tighten up as well... :(

Apr 24, 7-6 vs SDP (Adrian Johnson)

• 5 bad calls
• 5 help, 0 hurt
• 2 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 446
• Worst call

Here’s a first: a game in which all the blown calls benefited the Diamondbacks. In what ended up being a one-run contest, that could have been very helpful.

Apr 25, 9-3 vs SDP (Gary Cederstrom)

• 7 bad calls
• 4 help, 3 hurt
• 1 outrageously bad call
• Bad call score: 598
• Worst call