Yesterday, watching the Pirates-Mets game, I saw the Pirates' Andrew McCutchen called out on a third strike. The pitched ball was clearly over the plate, but "low." IMHO, it should, or at least could, have been called a ball.
In addition to being over the plate, the pitched ball must fall between the players' shoulders and knees. It was the "knees" part that confused me.
I was taught that "at the knees" meant at the level of kneeCAPS. Is that too high; that is, is there a definition of "knees" that is lower than the kneecaps?
Is it true that umpires have been informally expanding the strike zone, so that almost anything that is "over the plate" is called a strike as long as it is not in the dirt, even though it's technically "below the knees" (basically at the shin, as opposed to ankle, level)?
Could camera angles have caused a difference of opinion? That is, I saw a "flat" pitch "below the knees" through a TV camera, while an umpire, standing behind the plate, saw a "sinker," part of which was "barely" at knee level?