Iggy,
What I reported is 100% accurate. I saw Cervelli make his first mental mistake today as a catcher, although it was somewhat understandable and I give him a pass.
On an 0-2 pitch Pettitte came inside and Cervelli beautifully framed the pitch so that it looked like a strike. The home plate umpire, Tim Timmons, was slow to make his call. Before he made any call, Cervelli, assuming the pitch would be called a strike, rose from his catching position and headed to the dugout, thinking it would be a strikeout. Timmons then called it a ball. Had Cervelli not gotten up from his crouch and headed to the dugout, I think Timmons was going to ring up the punchout. But he was pissed at Cervelli presuming what the call would be. Timmons then called the next pitch, which was also very borderline, a ball after what seemed like 10 seconds. I think Cervelli got too excited about what he thought was a punchout. He needs to dial it back a little bit. However, Timmons needs to be a little more decisive with his calls. This would not have happened if Timmons had just yelled "ball" rather than stand there in dumbfounded amazement of Pettitte carving up the corners. Timmons had been slow with some other calls but Cervelli was certain he was going to call the pitch in question a strike as it was a masterful pitch placed just off the inside corner and then beautifully framed by Cervelli who is already showing an amazing ability to frame pitches.
I blame Cervelli and Timmons equally on this play. But if the umpires are going to complain about the length of games they should not be seen taking fucking forever to call an amazing pitch a strike, and then calling it a ball because the catcher did not wait forever for him to ring the guy up and he wanted to head to the dugout. Either the players are expected to play ball and not delay the game, or not.
