ESPN MLB

It's not often that a first-base umpire misses three calls in one game, but of course that's exactly what C.B. Bucknor did Thursday night. Fortunately for him the game wasn't particularly close so nobody's (reasonably) blaming him for the Red Sox losing. Still, as NESN's Michael Hurley writes, Game 2 could be a lot worse:

After a genuinely unbelievable showing in Game 1 of the ALDS, C.B. Bucknor will be moving behind the plate for Game 2.

That's a move that should frighten not just Red Sox fans, not just Angels fans, but any fan of baseball.

Consider that an umpire's job behind the plate is to determine whether or not a ball, with a diameter of fewer than three inches and traveling at least 90 mph, crosses an imaginary box. Judging by the way Bucknor was seeing the game on Thursday, it's safe to assume Josh Beckett and Jered Weaver -- as well as hitters from both sides -- might take issue with some calls on Friday.

Whether Bucknor had playoff jitters, whether he wanted to uphold his status as baseball's worst umpire, whether he wanted to make up for the missed strike three call on Nick Green from September or whether he caught the stomach bug that Terry Francona was dealing with, the examples of his errors in judgment were seemingly endless.

Bucknor has twice been selected by the players as the worst umpire in the major leagues: first in 2003 and most recently in 2006, according to Sports Illustrated's player survey. (For whatever reason, SI didn't conduct an omnibus survey again this year).

Now, you might reasonably ask, "Why is one of Major League Baseball's worst umpires -- at least according to the players -- allowed to work in postseason games?"

That's an excellent question, but let's just be glad it's not worse. Bucknor's in his 11th year as a full-time member of the MLB staff; in those 11 years, he's now worked in three Division Series but never a League Championship or World Series. Which presumably is a good thing.

You might also ask, reasonably enough, "Shouldn't the postseason assignments be merit-based?"

They are, but only to a point. I've loaned out my copy of this wonderful book, but my understanding is that eventually just about every umpire will get a shot to work in the Division Series, but MLB is a bit more choosy about the later series. My guess is that Bucknor eventually will work a League Championship Series, if only because MLB will have a hard time justifying his continued employment in any games, postseason or otherwise, if they can't claim he's earned a shot on the biggest stages.

Which of course leads to one more reasonable question: "Why is C.B. Bucknor still in the major leagues?"

Actually, while that might reasonable, I'm not sure that it's completely fair. For one thing, we don't have any survey results since 2006, and it's possible that Bucknor would fare better if we did. We also don't know if the players were right, in 2006. Last night was just one game, and anyone can have a lousy game. Or maybe Bucknor is a lousy first-base umpire, but an outstanding plate umpire.

As far as I know, while it would be a relatively simple thing to track this stuff -- Baseball Info Solutions, are you listening? -- I don't believe that anyone is, except for Mike Port and Major League Baseball. And of course they're not talking. Or firing. The bottom line is that every so often, the worst umpires in the major leagues should be fired. Pink-slipped. Cashiered. Let go for cause. But there are, undoubtedly, younger and better umpires in Triple-A who would improve the quality of the officiating, were they give full-time jobs.

Major league umpires tend to feel underappreciated, overworked, and underpaid. All of these things are absolutely true -- of minor league umpires. The major league arbiters are none of those things. Not anymore. Maybe the good ones deserve more appreciation. But none of them are overworked or underpaid. Which is fine; they're good at what they do and their union has stood them in good stead.

You know what, though? While C.B. Bucknor might well be a good baseball umpire, good shouldn't be good enough. Not for the Division Series, and not for a meaningless game in Pittsburgh with 11,537 people in the ballpark. The major leagues should be reserved for only the great umpires. And for all the talk about limiting the use of video review to disputed home runs, the best way for MLB to hasten a greatly expanded use of review is to keep trotting good umpires out there in nationally televised games.