Dropper pointed down shoots items out side

What I expected to happen was...:
Items from the dropper would go down in the direction the dropper is pointed.

What actually happened was...:
Even with empty blocks below the dropper, the items instead shoot out the sides and pile up all around the dropper.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Place a dropper pointing down over empty blocks
2. 1 block down from the dropper place a ring of blocks so that the dropper is in the center and is sitting on top of the open space in the center of the ring (3x3)
3. Place a stack of items in the dropper and trigger it... I used a comparator clock.
4. Instead of the items dropping into the empty space below it in the center of the ring, they shoot out all around the dropper on top of the ring.