SARASOTA, Fla. — The reaction said it all.

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        Standing in the batter's box in an auxiliary diamond at the Reds' training complex, third baseman Aaron Boone watched a pitching machine spit a chest-high fastball past him.

        “Strike!” bellowed umpire Mark Hirschbeck.

        The players howled in disbelief.

        Hirschbeck visited camp Tuesday to deliver an informational lecture about the new interpretations of the strike zone and related changes that he and his fellow arbiters plan to implement this season.

        At least they'll try to implement them.

        “We're not robots,” Hirschbeck said. “Not everybody's going to call the exact same thing.”

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High time for 'new' strike zone

        Hirschbeck delivered these main points:

        • A pitch must cross some part of home plate to be called a strike. In other words, veterans such as Atlanta's Greg Maddux can't rely on pitches 6 inches outside anymore.

        • The lower boundary for a strike will be the “hollow” of the knee, or the lower part of the kneecap. The upper boundary will be the bottom of a hitter's front elbow as he strides into a pitch — about two and a half to three baseballs above the belt.

        • Pitchers can be ejected at any time if one of their deliveries that hits a batter or comes close to him is judged to be thrown with malicious intent.

        “They're taking all the fun out of it,” one coach said.

        Later, Boone and other hitters took turns standing in the batter's box and taking pitches for Hirschbeck to rule upon, giving them a feel for the new boundaries. It was generally agreed that high curveballs suddenly bending into the strike zone would create problems.

        Outfielder Michael Tucker had a solution. Holding his bat at his waist, which lowered his elbows, he approached Hirschbeck and said, “I just wanted to let you know I'm going to come to the plate like this.”

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