Old Enough to Know Better

It’s been a long time since anyone cried about QuesTec. Fortunately, a few good people stepped up and dragged it back into the spotlight:

You have to thank QuesTec. Our pitch counts are getting up. Around the league, you see lots of finesse pitchers struggling because they’re not getting too many corners [for strikes]. You have to be around the strike zone a little bit more and get them to put it in play.

** White Sox ace (and, according to some, greatest pitcher in the history of the world) Mark Buehrle, when informed he was the first Sox pitcher in three weeks to pitch into the eighth inning

They should let the umpires be themselves, let them call their own zones. I’m not sure why it’s done, but it’s here to stay and we’re going to have to deal with it.

** White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper on QuesTec

Pop quiz: which stadium just had QuesTec installed this spring? If you said U.S. Cellular Field, give yourself a cookie.

Red Light Curt and Tom Glavine have expressed similar sentiments about QuesTec. And their takes were as hilarious as Buehrle and Cooper’s. You have to be “around the strike zone a little bit more” to get a pitch on the corner called a strike? Umpires should “call their own zones?”

C’mon, guys – the strike zone is pretty well defined in the rule book. The pitch either crosses the plate in the zone, or it doesn’t. There’s not a lot of wiggle room there.

We’ve already seen what happens when umpires are allowed to “be themselves.” One guy will give the pitcher six inches off the outside corner as a strike. The next night, the umpire will decide that home plate is only 14 inches across. QuesTec isn’t perfect (of course), but it’s helped get us away from those bad old days into some semblance of strike zone normalcy.

UPDATE: Saw this after I posted this first time...

Everybody's got a different way to go about their business. But hit me and we'll fight. I might get my butt kicked but we'll fight. I grew up fighting. I played the game the way it should be played. I manage the way you have to manage in this game.

** White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who only a few weeks ago was all for peace, love, and understanding

Hilarious...