Posted on August 7th, 2007 by refpolice
When Blue Jays pitcher Josh Towers pegged Alex Rodriguez in the left knee tonight, no one who knows anything about baseball thought is was unrelated to the incident in late May where A-Rod barked behind the thirdbaseman Howie Clark causing him to drop a pop-up, which allowed the Yankee to come back an untimately win [...]
Posted on August 6th, 2007 by refpolice
In the wake of the NBA basketball officiating scandal involving Tim Donaghy, the MBL has requested that MLB umpires submit to background checks as part of their employment agreement. Not suprisingly, Lamell McMorris, a spokesman for the World Umpires Assiation, the labor union for MLB umpires doesn’t like the idea. While MLB should be concerned that [...]
Posted on July 14th, 2007 by refpolice
A very clear message is being sent be MLB umpires this year: look at us the wrong way and you’re gone. The latest proof of this troubling trend is Ivan Rodriguez’ ejection/suspension for correctly questioning an interference call that homeplate umpire Mike Winters failed to make when batter Yuniesky Betancourt impeded Rodriguez’ effort to throw out [...]
Posted on June 11th, 2007 by refpolice
In perhaps the most egregious display of inconsistency we’ve seen in a very long time, home plate umpire Jim Wolfe ejected Cubs’ Ted Lilly after facing just 2 batters in Sunday night’s game in Atlanta. Lilly hit Edgar Renteria on the left hand with 2 out in the bottom of the first and Renteria walked [...]
Posted on May 7th, 2007 by refpolice
With two outs in the eighth inning with the Yankees leading 2-1, Willie Bloomquist was thrown out by 6 feet with a perfect throw from Jorge Posada and a perfect tag from Robinson Cano. This throw out was in fact so perfectly executed, it baffled second-base umpire Gerry Davis who called Blooquist safe. A bloop single [...]
Posted on May 1st, 2007 by refpolice
In their first game back after Josh Hancock’s death, the St. Louis Cardinals lost 7-1 to the Brewers in Milawaukee. In the sixth inning with one out, Albert Pujols took a 2-2 picth from Brewer pitcher and former teamate Jeff Suppan, tossed his bat and lumbered down to first base. Neither Suppan or catcher Johnny Astrada seemed to notice, homeplate umpire [...]