Honestly, yesterday was the game that finally convinced me that having a human call balls and strikes makes no Goddamn sense. I've been pretty ambivalent about having automated strike zones up until now, because USUALLY umps do a reasonable enough job, and I like the fact that good defensive catchers can help their pitchers get borderline calls. Knowing an ump's strike zone also can add an interesting element of variability to a game which can feel redundant and repetitive.
That said, I had also never seen an umpire so wildly inconsistent and frankly incompetent as last night. I feel bad for him, because I'm sure he's going to hear it from his superiors as it was his debut, and I'm sure he's been wanting that opportunity for years. Still, in a game that was otherwise closely-contested, a series of AWFUL calls clearly swung the game to the A's. It was extreme enough to disrupt the game, to create incredible uncertainty about what would be called a ball or a strike, and IMO ruin the experience. No excuse for it in this day and age.
