baseballrules

What is going on with all the arguments, wild displays of anger and ejections in MLB? These include Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano losing it all after a call at the plate, Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley claiming the umpires are widening his strike zone and a wild argue and toss game between the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins.

Players, managers and coaches who get out of line need to be tossed, as umpires need to control the game. But isn’t it interesting that we never hear that umpires are suspended or reviewed.

It is one thing for players, managers and coaches to get heated over bang-bang plays, but when the arguments are over inconsistent strike zones, poor positioning by umps, blatantly missed calls and umps provoking confrontations, where is MLB to get this all solved? All you hear is that they defend the umps.

Get it corrected, MLB. Umps with poor performance need to be suspended, or sent to the minors for seasoning, just like players. Umps with quick hot buttons need to be sent to anger management classes just like players. AND…make the strike zone consistent as it is stated in the rule book.

MLB’s inaction is hurting the game. Confrontations only will become worse until MLB treats the umps and those in uniform equally in these incidents.

Great article by Bill Smith in the Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail, about umpires controlling the game. Yes, controlling it is fine, but don’t ever think that you are bigger than the game. That is something most umps understand, until some of them make it to the major leagues. Several of those high paid umps need a reality check.

The wife of the Connors State College baseball coach Perry Keith has been charged with assaulting two umpires after a game in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Sheri Keith was charged last Friday in Washington County District Court with two counts of assault and battery on athletic officials. The charges stem from a May 9 incident in which Ms. Keith allegedly assaulted umpires Michael Lentz and John Williams after her husband’s team lost a game against Eastern Oklahoma State College.

According to a police affidavit, Ms. Keith barged into a locker room after the game, screamed obscenities and attacked the umpires.

If the accusation is proven to be true, she should be banned from all future Connors games. Her husband should bench her and tell her that he is the only member of the family who talks to the umpires.

Youth baseball almost didn’t happen this year in Greenfield, Ohio, a town of 5,000. The depressed auto industry has caused a lot of money to be directed away from recreation., But, local residents raised the money, fixed the fields, found equipment and registered 450 kids to play.

Some concessions have been made. Scoreboards and lights won’t be used due to the expense. Restrooms will remain closed and replaced by portable toilets that save money on water and sewer use. Teams will play with used baseballs — only one new ball per game.

Another glaring change is the games will be played without base umpires. The community has done a wonderful thing for themselves and their children. With only one ump per game, let’s hope they realize that not every call can be accurate.

We would like to suggest an idea: Let the experienced adults umpire behind the plate. Ask baseball knowledgeable mothers and fathers whose children are not playing in a particular game to volunteer their time to cover the bases. Give them a quick overview, tell them what kind of calls they can expect to make and get them involved.

Congratulations to Jim McFarland, celebrating 50 years as an umpire. He gets just as excited for the baseball season as any other younger umpire. He was inducted into the Delaware Baseball Hall of Fame 10 years ago. After all these years, he still has his enthusiasm for his work and love for the game.

Congratulations Jim.

Read more on Delaware Online.

Chicago Cub Milton Bradley was suspended one game for arguing with an umpire. Jermaine Dye of the Chicago White Sox was suspended for arguing with an umpire. New York Yankee Johnny Damon was thrown out of a game for arguing with an umpire and, in baseball lingo,showing him up by using his bat to draw a line in the batter’s box where the ball actually passed him (hint: the ball was not even close to the plate). A number of managers also have been given the thumb in the last week.

I can understand when players and managers get the heave-ho for using the “magic words,” using a play to fire up the team, or arguing balls and strikes. Umpires are there to enforce the rules and send players and managers to the showers when they cross the line.

But the umpires rarely get cited for making the bad calls, provoking a player/manager, or arguing back, and MLB needs to hold the umps accountable.

MLB’s Bob Watson is wrong when he fines and suspends players/managers and the umpires walk away with no penalties.

Case in point is the Damon incident with home plate umpire Wally Bell last Friday. He calls the lefty Damon out on a pitch several inches off the plate that passes through the right-handed batter’s box. Next time up, Wells calls Damon out with a pitch several inches off the inside part of the plate that looked as if it was close to the line of the left-handed batter’s box. That’s when Damon got angry, showing with his bat where each of those balls were that were called strikes. Wells’ bad calls and his ejection of Damon changed that inning and may have cost the Yanks runs. It so happens, that Damon’s replacement, Brett Gardner, jumped right in and helped the Yanks rally later in the game.

If umpires such as Wells had called the pitches correctly, players such as Damon would not become frustrated. But MLB does nothing to reign in the umpires, make sure they call strikes according to the rule book. Umpires that perform poorly are not sent for extended spring training or down to the minors.

Some of MLB’s umps feel they are bigger than the game and they don’t have to adhere to the rule book strike zone. This has been going on too long. MLB has to put a stop to it.

Then, there was the ridiculous ejection of Los Angeles Angels pitcher John Lackey. Lackey, who was out of action out with a sore forearm for the first six weeks of the year, made an odd debut Saturday in Texas when his first two pitches sailed wildly toward Texas Rangers leadoff hitter Ian Kinsler. The first one went behind Kinsler and the second struck him.

Home plate umpire Bob Davidson overreacted, no matter what was going on between these teams in previous games. Does he really think that Lackey, after missing the first six weeks of the season and bringing his family to Texas to watch his season debut, was out to get Kinsler to send a message? Davidson assumed he was rather than just being wild and injected himself into the game.

MLB has to teach its umpires how to be in control without taking control and changing the course of games.

Baseball and softball umpires from mid-Michigan pledged their first game fees during the month of May for the third straight year toward the continued improvement of children’s health care.

More than 125 umpires working baseball and softball games at 20 locations donated their game fee to Officials For Kids, a charitable initiative of the Michigan High School Athletic Association in conjunction with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Money raised will be used at the local Children’s Miracle Network facility, Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, for the maintenance of its Pediatric Emergency Room and Waiting Room.

Two local officials associations are involved — a group of umpires assigned to games in the Lansing area and the Heart of Michigan Officials Association.

Umpire Paul Schrieber apologized for making contact with Detroit Tigers slugger Magglio Ordonez during a confrontation Wednesday night.

During the seventh inning against Minnesota, Schreiber called Ordonez out on strikes. Ordonez argued that the pitch was low. As Schrieber spoke to him, the umpire placed his hand on Ordonez’s back and steered him toward the dugout.

Schrieber read a brief statement before the Tigers-Twins game on Thursday: “In yesterday’s game, after I called Magglio Ordonez out on strikes, I inadvertently placed my hand on his back and ushered him away from home plate so I did not have to eject him for arguing balls and strikes,” said Schrieber. “I should not have placed my hands on him, period. For doing so, I apologize to both Magglio Ordonez and the Detroit Tigers.”

Ordonez said he was surprised when Schrieber put his hand on his back, but added that he didn’t think Schrieber “had any bad intentions.”

“You’re not supposed to do that,” said Ordonez before the Thursday game. “If you touch (an umpire), you get suspended. I’d be home.”

Tigers manager Jim Leyland was ejected for coming to Ordonez’s defense. Leyland said he has never seen an umpire make contact with a player like that. But he also made a point to say that there was no ill will toward Schrieber.

“I want to defend the umpire in a sense that he did not do it with any intentional, physically really, challenge of the player or anything like that,” said Leyland. “I have no problem with that umpire. I do have a problem with what he did. You can’t do it. But it wasn’t something that was a violent gesture. I think he was just saying, ‘Hey, that’s it. Get out of here.”’

The punishment for the gesture is not yet known.

“I hope the umpire doesn’t get suspended or something because I don’t think the man did it with any malice or tried to create a problem,” said Leyland. “It was just a reaction. It was a reaction he shouldn’t have had, but I don’t think it warrants any type of discipline, maybe other than a fine. I hope we both get fines and turn the page.”

Crew chief Joe West said Schrieber “shouldn’t have put his hands on him, but he was trying to keep the man in the game.”

Did you see those two guys sitting behind home plate during the Toronto Blue Jays - New York Yankees game last night? They were wearing umpire shirts and one of them was wearing a mask.

During most of the game, they were signaling strikes and foul tips. Had more energy than most MLB umpires, but then again they were just having fun. They also weren’t very consistent with their calls or attention to the game. But, they and those around them were having fun.

WFAN Sportsradio hosts in New York were commenting on it today.

Great entertainment. Try to catch a reply of the game. The Yankee feed should be on YES Network. If you missed it, the Yankee batting practice show or pre-game show before tonight’s game should have some highlights of the game and you might catch a glimpse of them. These shows air at 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. eastern time.

“The bats are getting heavier, the shots are hit with more ferocity. I can bet umpires have to be very careful,” said the umpire.

You might first think this comment was made by an American umpire, but the statement that the bats are getting heavier gives it away.

This statement was made by an umpire in an Australian cricket league. Field umpires in that league now are wearing special gear — a helmet for protection — as the field of play has become increasingly dangerous for them.

Here, umpires at all levels, whether behind the plate or on the bases, should wear protective gear. In MLB, baseline coaches are wearing helmets (but I don’t understand why they don’t go a little further by wearing helmets with ear flaps), so why aren’t the base umpires?

It just takes one incident to change everything. Why sit back and wait for someone to be injured, or worse.