46-45 final score!

[CoachJD]

The most unbelievable part of this game is that the umpires were there for 5 hours.

We have a regular umpire who, at around 6 PM, will stare at the sky and go "well, maybe we can get one more inning in before it's dark." It doesn't get dark until almost 8 PM. And we have lights.

That man wouldn't ump a game for 5 hours if his entire family was being held hostage and working the entire game was the kidnapper's only demand.

 

[EdLovrich]

The most unbelievable part of this game is that the umpires were there for 5 hours.

We have a regular umpire who, at around 6 PM, will stare at the sky and go "well, maybe we can get one more inning in before it's dark." It doesn't get dark until almost 8 PM. And we have lights.

That man wouldn't ump a game for 5 hours if his entire family was being held hostage and working the entire game was the kidnapper's only demand.

Since it seems like this was a playoff game, I doubt an umpire like you are describing would have been working it anyway. But, I am disheartened to hear that there are umpires like this. Do I hate getting long drawn out games that are walk and HBP fests? Sure, but they get balanced out by the 1 hour 10 min 7 inning gems that are 1-0 and both pitchers in the zone all day long.

 

[Eric F]

Holy moly! I thought the bottom-level teams in our league were bad. That's brutal.

 

[uncdrew]

I would hate to have to watch that game

 

[CoachJD]

Since it seems like this was a playoff game, I doubt an umpire like you are describing would have been working it anyway. But, I am disheartened to hear that there are umpires like this. Do I hate getting long drawn out games that are walk and HBP fests? Sure, but they get balanced out by the 1 hour 10 min 7 inning gems that are 1-0 and both pitchers in the zone all day long.

I have never seen one of the "city umpires" work a state tournament game (I'm sure it happens from time to time; they can't all be bad!). The umpiring here is truly terrible, and unfortunately very few of them are interested in improving. We've had 7 games so far this year, and in 5 of them there were issues with umpires being objectively wrong about rules. In only one case did it affect the game significantly, but it's still frustrating to deal with. It's worse when they're actively telling the players incorrect information.

I love when we get suburban umpires. They're always much, much better. And they never just end a game after two innings because they want to go home.