Arizona Diamondbacks Blown Calls of the Week: August 23-29

Summary

• 33 bad calls in total, an average of 5.5 per game. And through the end of the Giants’ series, it was even better, with an average of 4.2. But last night kinda blew that away: there were as many blown calls there, as in the entire series against San Francisco.
• Not much in our favor though: last night was the only one where the D-backs even reached a .500 split on the calls, every other game favoring the opposition. On the road, we managed just two calls in favor, and seven against in the pair of games. Over the four at Chase Field, the ratio was 9:15 against the Diamondbacks. Overall, the other side got twice as many calls as we did.
• The totals for the year
  Overall: 467-532 (46.7% favor the D-backs)
  Home: 241-257 (48.4%)
  Road: 226-275 (45.1%)
• Best-called game: Aug 24, 3-2 @ NYM (Marvin Hudson). There were two games with three missed calls, so an honorable mention to Aug 27, 11-0 vs. SFG (Ron Kulpa). Hudson wins the tie-breaker, his contest having seen a greater number of total pitches.
• Worst-called game: Aug 29, 7-6 vs. LAD (Cory Blaser). Last night was a bit of a cluster, and I’d hate for it to have been decided by Blaser’s... interesting zone. However, Fangraphs don’t seem to think it was too bad, overall - tight, but not generally inconsistent. it does appears there were a couple of particularly bad ones, however. More on which below...

• Worst confirmed call - though see last nght’s game below, for a credible alternative contender.

The individual games

Aug 23, 2-4 @ NYM (Ryan Additon)

• 6 bad calls (2.41% of pitches)
• 1 help, 5 hurt
• 2 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 512
• Worst call was technically this one, but we’ve discarded that from consideration (and the above stats) on a sanity check!

Aug 24, 3-2 @ NYM (Marvin Hudson)

• 3 bad calls (0.88% of pitches)
• 1 help, 2 hurt
• 0 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 228
• Worst call:

Aug 25, 4-3 vs. SFG (Ryan Blakney)

• 5 bad calls (1.80% of pitches)
• 1 help, 4 hurt
• 1 outrageously bad call
• Bad call score: 424
• Worst call:

Aug 26, 1-2 vs. SFG (Jerry Meals)

• 5 bad calls (1.51% of pitches)
• 1 help, 3 hurt
• 3 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 352
• Worst call:

Kinda interesting. Only four bad calls, but three of them were really bad. The one above was the only one in the game to favor the D-backs, and came with the bases loaded. Madison Bumgarner was not happy to see this as a called strike three. Though it’s worth noting, he did seem to be the beneficiary of a make-up call in the bottom of the same inning, Brandon Drury being rung up on a pitch which was also a 4% agreement, in virtually the same location. I guess at least Meals was consistent?

Aug 27, 11-0 vs. SFG (Ron Kulpa)

• 3 bad calls (1.05% of pitches)
• 1 help, 2 hurt
• 1 outrageously bad call
• Bad call score: 250
• Worst call:

Aug 29, 7-6 vs. LAD (Cory Blaser)

• 12 bad calls (3.86% of pitches)
• 6 help, 6 hurt
• 3 outrageously bad calls
• Bad call score: 972
• Worst call:

This one would have been the worst of the week, but could not quite be confirmed. If you look at the Fangraphs strike zone above, you will see a pitch that was just as bad, and appears to be in the right location. However, Fangraphs identifies it as a pitch thrown by Jorge De La Rosa, to Curtis Granderson, not Paredes to Peralta. I’m not sure if one or other is wrong, or if we are talking about two different pitches. But either way, it’s enough to cast enough doubt to leave this one unconfirmed.