“Kill the Ump”, “My blind grandfather could have made that call” are just some of the endearing quotes the men in blue listen to on a daily basis. Whether you like them or not, following the numbers of the men that control the game is definitely worth the time and effort. With the wonderful game of baseball rich in numbers, here is yet a few more to make you better at the craft of handicapping.

If you like a particular home team, you would be hard pressed to not love to see the likes of Ed Montague behind the plate in 2006. Home teams are a robust 12-4 when he is situated behind the dish. Other umpires that have appearance of being less then neutral observers are Jerry Meels 12-3, Ted Barrett 12-5, Mark Carlson 9-3 and Alfonso Marquez at 11-4. This group of umpires has seen bettors collect +35.6 units on home teams when they squat behind the plate. Talk about your home cookin’!

Now say you like a team like Detroit, and who wouldn’t these days, who is playing either an American League game or an inter-league on the road. You would have to be grinning from ear to ear with the prospect of a Phil Cuzzi or a Gerry Davis behind the plate. Playing on the road is supposed to be a discomforting feeling, with these two calling the games, it is anything but. Cuzzi is 12-4 with the road teams winning and Davis is 11-3 in the same circumstance. One other umpire has an extreme record in this area and that is Chuck Meriwether who must like the traveling grays with visitors 11-4 when he takes his turn with the broom in his hand. Oddsmakers are nervous with home favorites when this trio is behind the plate, with the road teams profiting at better then +32 units.

Those that set the lines do not use the umpires as a basis for making a line, rather they will check for umps that have extreme tendencies like the ones mentioned previously. The other area in baseball wagering that umpires can control even to a greater degree is the Totals. If the man in blue has a small strike zone, be it width, height or both, this can forces pitchers to be more precise and place more pitches in the batters wheel-house. This style of umpiring can lead to more high scoring games and Overs. Conversely, other umpires call the high strike, reward the pitcher who consistently hits the outside corner and will reward that pitcher more latitude to work a couple of inches off the plate. This means more low scoring affairs, which of course has the total going Under.

Larry Young to date has the highest percentage of games going Over at 84.6%. Teams average better the 11 runs combined when he is behind the plate. Sam Holbrook is another who is involved in higher scoring affairs. Nine of his 11 games behind the plate have resulted in Overs. What makes Holbrook unique in this study is he calls among the most bases on balls of any ump with a minimum of 10 games behind the plate.

The aforementioned Meriwether and Jeff Nelson evidently like the pace of a lower scoring game. Both have been involved in games throughout the season were the total score is 9 runs a game. This ends up with Meriwether 10-4 favoring the Under and Nelson 11-4.

This type of information is important, because it can give you that little extra edge to enhance your positive units betting baseball at BetOnUSA.com and other places. Some cappers consider these numbers while other could care less. The StatFox position on providing FREE data on umpire Totals is if it didn’t matter, it would not be posted. Use this information wisely.