Arizona Diamondbacks Blown Calls of the Week: July 26-August 1

Summary

• 45 bad calls in total, an average of 7.5 per game - considerably lower than the 11 per game managed last week! Both home and away games showed very close to an even split. There was just one game at Chase Field, which went slightly against Arizona, but a 4-5 margin. But the five games in St. Louis and Chicago ended exactly even at 18-18, giving an overall tally for the week of 22-23.
• The totals for the year
  Overall: 394-435 (47.5% favor the D-backs)
  Home: 205-200 (50.6%)
  Road: 189-235 (44.6%)
• Best-called game: July 27, 4-0 @ STL (Sam Holbrook). It’s interesting to compare the numbers for this crew against the last time we saw them in June. Two of the three who worked both sets, made fewer mistakes this time round. Holbrook improved from eight calls to three this time round. Thought it probably helped this was a crisp game, completed in only 285 pitches, with all the runs coming on one swing.
• Worst-called game: July 30, 2-3 @ STL (D.J. Reyburn). This is my unsurprised face. I think Reyburn is the first two-time weekly champion in this category, having taking the title for his performance on June 28. Also, coincidentally, against St. Louis. Also a game Arizona lost by a single run. Still, I guess “only” blowing a dozen calls is an improvement, considering the tally last time was 16. The chart below shows his issue was inconsistency on both left- and right-hand sides of the zone. Pitches near the inside + outside edges could be balls or strikes, almost at random. Look particularly at the right below: red and black dots almost on top of each other. That’s not good.

• Worst confirmed call. Reyburn had a 2% as well, but that one could not be confirmed on Fangraphs, so we go with an extremely low strike call from Jim Wolf on July 29, benefiting Zack Greinke. It was just one of a number of low strikes Wolf called, but at least these were relatively consistent.

The individual games

July 26, 10-3 vs. ATL (Larry Vanover)

• 9 bad calls (2.71% of pitches)
• 4 help, 5 hurt
• 0 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 734
• Worst call

July 27, 4-0 @ STL (Sam Holbrook)

• 3 bad calls (1.05% of pitches)
• 2 help, 1 hurt
• 2 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 268
• Worst call

July 28, 0-1 @ STL (Greg Gibson)

• 6 bad calls (2.18% of pitches)
• 2 help, 4 hurt
• 1 outrageously bad call
• Bad call score: 502
• Worst call

July 29, 7-1 @ STL (Jim Wolf)

• 8 bad calls (2.68% of pitches)
• 5 help, 3 hurt
• 3 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 686
• Worst call

July 30, 2-3 @ STL (D.J. Reyburn)

• 12 bad calls (3.95% of pitches)
• 6 help, 6 hurt
• 1 outrageously bad call
• Bad call score: 958
• Worst call

August 1, 4-18 @ CHC (Gerry Davis)

• 7 bad calls (2.46% of pitches)
• 3 help, 4 hurt
• 0 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 572
• Worst call