WS Umpires

[Willie Bee]

LINK
New York, NY (Sports Network) - - Randy Marsh will head the crew of umpires for the 2006 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals.

Marsh, a 25-year veteran, will call balls and strikes for Game 1 on Saturday night in Detroit. He will also work home plate for a potential Game 7.

This will be the fifth World Series assignment for Marsh, who also worked the 1990, 1997, 1999 and 2003 Fall Classics. The crew chief in 2003, Marsh is also a veteran of seven League Championship Series and five Division Series.

Joining Marsh for this year's World Series will be Alfonso Marquez, Wally Bell, Mike Winters, John Hirschbeck and Tim McClelland.

Marquez and Bell will be on the field for a World Series for the first time, while Winters and Hirschbeck will each work their second Fall Classic. Winters previously worked the 2002 World Series, while Hirschbeck hasn't been to a Fall Classic since 1995.

McClelland will make his fourth World Series appearance. He previously worked the game's biggest event in 1993, 2000 and 2002.

[Willie Bee]

Randy Marsh: Age 57 … 24 yrs MLB experience … Hails from and still resides in Kentucky … crew chief for Crew A this past season … 15-15-4 O/U during regular season, average 9.6 RPG

Alfonso Marquez: Age 34 … 6½ yrs MLB experience … Born in Mexico, resides in Arizona … 17-17-2 O/U during regular season, average 9.4 RPG

Wally Bell: Age 41 … 14 yrs MLB experience … Born and still resides in Ohio … 17-12-6 OVER during regular season, 10.0 RPG

Mike Winters: Age 47 … 16 yrs MLB experience … Born and still resides in California … 16-13-3 UNDER during regular season, 9.4 RPG

John Hirschbeck: Age 52 … 22½ yrs MLB experience … Born in Connecticut, resides in Ohio … Crew chief for Crew O this past season … 17-9 UNDER in regular season, 8.5 RPG

Tim McClelland: Age 54 … 23½ yrs MLB experience … Born in Michigan, resides in Iowa … Crew chief for Crew N this past season … 20-14-1 OVER during regular season, 10.3 RPG

[Tchocky]

Thanks for the scouting report. I like the Tigers even more now.

P.S. I just hope officiating doesn't become an issue. The officiating has been fair so far in the post season. I got screwed by the officiating in the NBA Finals.

[nosuzieno]

good stuff, thank you.

[bigboydan]

I'm curious on how Marsh's strike zone will be in game 1. Will he be squeezing or will it be more of an liberal type zone.

[Willie Bee]

Though I know Marsh will call Game 1, I'm not sure about the plate rotation order behind him. But I do think it will follow the order they are listed in above. And that makes it interesting to see two umps, Marsh and Marquez, calling the first two games with neither of them favoring either the over or under during the season.

One thing I did notice about Marsh is that he was 6-0-1 towards the OVER early in the season. So the under did rebound with him. He finished the season, however, as even as his full season record with a 4-4-1 mark over his final eight games calling balls and strikes.

I made one note in my files about Marquez during the regular season, and that came way back on April 25th when he worked a game in Houston that went 14 innings. Granted, it was a long game, but 17 walks were issued in that game, and I noted that he had an inconsistent zone. He's young, the youngest on this crew, so that might be expected. He also may have moved to being more of a pitcher's umpire during the season. Of his 36 games behind the plate, eight times there were 10+ walks in the contest. But four of those eight came the first five times he worked the plate this year.

One reason I think the order above will stand as the rotation for this series is it puts the most veteran of the group working Games 5-6-7, with Hirshbeck in #5, McClelland in #6 and Marsh for his second go in a seventh and deciding game.

[scottyy11]

hirshbeck is generally a gd under

[Tchocky]

Two of the three regular season meetings were over.