Friday, August 31, 2012

Ejection 145: Bill Welke (3)

HP Umpire Bill Welke ejected Rangers RF Nelson Cruz for arguing a strike call in the top of the 7th inning. With one out and one on, Cruz took a 1-1 slider from Indians pitcher Esmil Rogers for a called second strike. Replays indicate the 1-1 pitch was located belt high and slightly outside the outer edge of home plate (px of .927), the call was incorrect. The call is now correct.* At the time of the ejection, the Rangers were leading, 4-1. The Rangers ultimately won the contest, 5-3.

This is Bill Welke (52)'s third ejection of 2012.
Bill Welke now has 4 points in the UEFL (0 Previous + 2 MLB + 2 Correct Call = 4).
Crew Chief Jeff Nelson now has 1 point in the UEFL's Crew Division (0 Previous + 1 Correct = 1).
*Quality of Correctness was challenged and summarily overturned pursuant to UEFL Rule 6-2-b-1 (Kulpa).

UEFL Standings Update

This is the 145th ejection of 2012.
This is the 62nd player ejection of 2012. Prior to his ejection, Cruz was 0-4 in the contest.
This is the Rangers' 6th ejection of 2012, 1st in the AL West (TEX 6; LAA, OAK 4; SEA 1).
This is Nelson Cruz's first career MLB ejection.
This is Bill Welke's first ejection since May 28 (Jim Leyland; QOC = Irrecusable).

Wrap: Rangers at Indians, 8/31/12
Video: Following a swinging strikeout, Cruz slams his bat, barks at Welke and is thrown out (TEX)
Pitch f/x plot courtesy Brooks Baseball

17 comments :

Anonymous said...

It seems that Welke has a pitchers zone but then he always seems to squeeze pitchers as well

Russ said...

So basically, he's inconsitent. The thing I have noticed about Welke is he does not call low strikes very often but will call pitches quite a bit outside strikes. That also seems to be Lance Barrett's biggest problem. People are saying he has a pretty small zone, which he does at times, but he also calls pitches that are way outside strikes.

Anonymous said...

they were leading 4-1 not 4-0

UmpsRule said...

The video is up: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=24371057&c_id=mlb

According to Tom Grieve, Cruz has a high boiling point. But then again, remember what Grieve said when Kinsler got tossed by Tschida?

Steve Holt said...

I watched the game and Cruz was also mad about a strike three call in the third, which was also slightly off the plate. NOT SAYING THE EJECTION WASN'T WARRANTED BECAUSE IT WAS. Just pointing out that the tension between Cruz and Welke had built throughout the game.
As far as the EJ goes, I give Bill an "atta boy" because you can slam your bat(It even broke!!) or you can say something but you can't do both.

Cricket said...

I'll go ahead and throw the challenge flag...

UEFL rule 6.02(b)(1)

Russ said...

Here is a throwback ejection from 1999

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=24353589&c_id=mlb

Russ said...

Man Bobby argued the same back then. Not facing the Umpire when he is yelling and giving a death stare when he gets thrown out.

Anonymous said...

Challenge. We don't know what Cruz was ejected for. He couldn't have said anything more than screw you, or something to that effect, but nothing referring to a specific pitch.

Lindsay said...

This appeal has been summarily affirmed, in part, and summarily reversed, in part.

Opinion, Gil:
Pursuant to UEFL Rule 6-2-b-1, this pitch has been adjudged to have been borderline (.927/borderline range of .768 through .935), with no overwhelming evidence to suggest this call was not borderline, as specified by Rule. Insomuch and as it relates solely to Quality of Correctness, the Original Ruling shall be reversed.

As it relates to Reason for Ejection, this appeal is summarily denied and the Original Ruling affirmed. Pursuant to UEFL Rule 6-5-c, QOC applies ot any pitch called during a balls/strikes at bat, provided this call is against the ejected person or team and this call realistically resulted in a different outcome of the at-bat. Insomuch and as it relates solely to Reason for Ejection, the Original Ruling shall be affirmed.

Scott Stevenson said...

@umpsrule Cruz came up in '05, and it's his first career ejection. One toss in 7 years doesn't sound like a hothead to me.

Not that he didn't deserve it this time.

Anonymous said...

I just gained a little respect for Cruz. Said the magic word, knew he was going to get run and then didn't put on a sideshow ala Matt Kemp. That report will take 10 minutes to write.

Anonymous said...

Of course the call is correct - the ball is located out of the strike zone and it is a strike....makes perfect sense

Anonymous said...

Challenge. We don't know what Cruz was ejected for. He couldn't have said anything more than screw you, or something to that effect, but nothing referring to a specific pitch.

Double Down for Donuts said...

I was watching this game. There were some close pitches that could have gone either way, and that is MOST definitely what Cruz is upset about. However, he did not check his swing on this, and the frustration overwhelmed him. Hence his ejection. (The HP umpire could have been the bigger man and let this go - no one knows what Cruz said to him other than he and Cruz, but I can see why he did not.)

Anonymous said...

"Of course the call is correct - the ball is located out of the strike zone and it is a strike....makes perfect sense "

Hey Eyenstyne, maybe it is because Cruz STRUCK at the ball and DID NOT CHECK his swing.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jenious - it is the third pitch of the at-bat that is in question....not strike three.

Read much?

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