rrbauer
11-21-2007, 11:06 AM
It used to be that whatever favoritism came from the official scorers involved scoring questionable plays as "hits" when the home team was batting. No doubt more than one batting title swayed in the balance. I say "used to be" because in this year's National League pennant race, I saw instances in games that involved the Rockies and the Mets where the play was clearly an error and it was scored as a hit for a player on the visiting team. At the time, I wrote it off as dumb scoring.
However, at playoff time, fielding percentage was mentioned, time after time, when the Rockies played. The best fielding percentage in baseball (or something like that). Usually, in Coors Field, fielding is the last thing you talk about. As I thought about it, I recalled a game in late September (I watched all the Rockies game down the stretch-Phillies and Mets, too, on DTV Extra Innings) when a hard ground ball was hit to Tulowitski (Rockies SS) a couple steps to his left. He fielded it cleanly but then dropped it in the transfer to his throwing hand. Looked like an error to me. Official scorer called it a "hit". Couldn't believe it. Even the announcer made some comment about changing the call when they showed the replay. Nope. A hit.
Well, what is the motivation to award a hit to a player on the visiting team instead of an error to a player on the home team? Gold glove consideration?
What else could it be?
However, at playoff time, fielding percentage was mentioned, time after time, when the Rockies played. The best fielding percentage in baseball (or something like that). Usually, in Coors Field, fielding is the last thing you talk about. As I thought about it, I recalled a game in late September (I watched all the Rockies game down the stretch-Phillies and Mets, too, on DTV Extra Innings) when a hard ground ball was hit to Tulowitski (Rockies SS) a couple steps to his left. He fielded it cleanly but then dropped it in the transfer to his throwing hand. Looked like an error to me. Official scorer called it a "hit". Couldn't believe it. Even the announcer made some comment about changing the call when they showed the replay. Nope. A hit.
Well, what is the motivation to award a hit to a player on the visiting team instead of an error to a player on the home team? Gold glove consideration?
What else could it be?