Eric Gregg Lives!
By The pitches thrown to Cody Ross in the last AB in today’s Red Sox/Rays game. 3 were called strikes. If you pay attention to such things you probably could have identified this immediately as the work of Larry Vanover.
Vaonover is a real throwback. In the worst sense — a throwback to umpires of the 80s, who were not merely egregiously incompetent but proudly and belligerently incompetent. When Vanover was just starting out he called out Moises Alou out on a pitch in the opposite batter’s box that was also low. Alou walked back to the dugout and muttered something with his back turned to Vanover, who tore his mask off, started screaming at Moises, and tossed him. He hasn’t improved at all, but somehow he keeps cashing his paychecks.