Sunday, June 12, 2011

Ejections: Alan Porter (1)

HP Umpire Alan Porter ejected Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel for arguing a strike three call in the bottom of the 6th inning of the Cubs-Phillies game. With one out and none on, Phillies batter Roy Oswalt took a 3-2 fastball from Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija for a called third strike. Replays indicate the pitch was located at the knees and over the middle of the plate, the call was correct. At the time of the ejection, the Cubs were leading, 3-2. The Phillies ultimately won the contest, 4-3 .

This is Alan Porter (64)'s first ejection of 2011.
Alan Porter now has 5 points in the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (0 Previous + 3 AAA + 2 Correct Call = 5)
Alan Porter
was undrafted in 2011.

This is the 71st ejection of 2011.
This is the 38th manager ejection of 2011.
This is Charlie Manuel's second ejection of 2011.
This is Alan Porter's first career MLB ejection.

Wrap: CHC @ PHI 6/12/11 Wrap
Video: Manuel is Ejected

Pitch f/x courtesy Brooks Baseball

12 comments :

Anonymous said...

announcer: "That balls too low, plain and simple" Immediately after this, the video feed shows side-view replay of the ball passing right by the batters knees. Never let video evidence get in the way of the conclusion you want.

Ryan said...

Not sure where to post this: Case Study from NCAA Super Regional game in Austin, TX (University of Texas vs. Arizona State).

With a 3-2 count with 1 out and a runner on 1st in the bottom of the 4th, the ASU batter checks his swing at a pitch up out of the zone as the 1B runner attempted to steal 2nd on the pitch. Before a call is made on the pitch, the catcher throws to 2nd in attempt to pick off the runner from 1st (assuming that he thought a strike may be called on the check swing.) During the throw from the catcher, the batter crosses in front of the plate, causing the throw to be off the mark and go into center field. The runner advances to 3B on the errant throw and the batter to 1B on the walk.

The home plate umpire immediately calls interference on the batter as the throw from the catcher goes into center field. After a lengthy discussion between the full 4 man umpire crew, the batter is confirmed out for interference and the runner sent back to first base.


Given that the batter (right handed) is issued a walk, should he be out on interference for crossing in front of the catcher who is attempting the get the runner at 2B? Does interference take precedence over a walk?

Forgive me if this is a bit confusing. It was quite confusing watching in real time and over again on DVR.

Anonymous said...

Video: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=15838039

Jeremy Dircks said...

Anonymous,

Thank you for the video.

Ryan,

We can possibly take a look at that, though we usually focus on MLB umpiring/rules, but it is Super Regional/College World Series time.

Anonymous said...

Good call by Porter, and even better handling of its' aftermath..calm, collected and professional job by Alan.

Anonymous said...

Good job by both Porter and Cederstrom in this instance. I like how Cederstrom didn't manhandle Charlie (a la Joe West a couple of weeks ago) but still protected his young crew member while also allowing Charlie to get his say in.

SPballsandstrikes said...

Porter is a solid umpire. The side view shows it crossed the front knee,making it the correct call. The centerfield camera does make it look lower,but that side view sells it.

Hopefully Porter sticks around for many years to come.

Anonymous said...

agreed. Porter has done a solid job.

Anonymous said...

Ryan

I would say that if the batter swings (3-2 pitch), the onus is on the batter, who is out, to stay out of the way of the catchers throw. In this case, you would have a double play with the batter being out and then a player who is out (batter) committing interference on a following play, causing the runner to be out for the interference.

Two thoughts come to mind on this play

Since this play was ball four, the onus now reverts to the catcher more so (hey the pitcher erred by throwing the pitch for a ball) since the batter should naturally be going to first (he cannot evaporate) on the base on balls, much like the Armbrister (Larry Barnett) play although in that case the ball was "hit" in front of the plate. As long as everyone was doing what they were suppose to be doing and not intentionally interfering, it is just a scramble, unscramble situation. Therefor the batter would be on first and the runner would stay at 3rd on the errant throw to 2nd. Runners would now be at the corners.

All of the 2nd paragraph is negated if in the umpires judgment (right or wrong) there is some type of interference by the batter for doing something he should not do in the judgment of the umpire who was right at the scene of the violation with a perfect view of what was happening.

There may or may not be some specific case book plays in the college manual for this exact situation, which tells the umpire how to call this play, even if it seems the ruling gives an advantage or disadvantage one way or the other that we may agree or disagree with.

Anonymous said...

Looked low from the CF camera,, but a good call from the side view. The Cub's catcher kind of butchered the pitch.

Anonymous said...

Well, that's the real problem, isn't it? The catcher butchered the pitch. Those that claim that this should have no bearing on the call, well, the participants in the game (when hitting) would probably disagree.

It's a borderline pitch that, called a ball, would've caused not a single eye to blink.

Anonymous said...

Alan Porter just watched what was happening at third base when Zimmerman tags out the Dodger for the third out while the player running towards home is two steps away from the plate, this was on a ground ball. The call later is that the run counts. The announcers say that if the out is made before the runner crosses home plate that the run had not yet scored and should not count. Porter just ignored what was happening at his plate. He makes my list as the worst umpire ever, should not play in the postseason by any means nor in any important game. Send him back to the minors to learn the rules and to learn to do his job and take care of his plate. All the umpires got together after the dodgers manager wanted it to be a run as initially it was not a run. No umpire did his job and it was obvious that Porter had not called it a run but did not maintain his position being right there at home plate. This is major mistake by him for not knowing what was happening at his plate. As for the above entries about strike or not strike calls I could care less as there are always good and bad strike and ball calls during every game. But to miss that a run is not a run by not watching and doing his job is inexcusible as Alan Porter was totally oblivious as to what was going on. 9/19/12 game 2 of twilight doubleheader. He made no call initially at home plate, I do not know but does the umpire make a call as to whether or not a player scores at home plate in this type situation? Since he made no call then the manager for the dodgers came out and had to ask if it was a run. The umpires talked and then Mr. Porter finally indicated it was a run. The play is not reviewable but replays clearly show the runner slowing as he approached the plate and did not beat the out made on the incredible tag at third base. Does the league ever admonish umpires that make such mistakes or are they really not accountable to anyone all the time. It is not mute that the nationals would go ahead to lose this game by one run. Be that as it may Porter was not a good umpire tonight that much is certain. It seems to me inappropriate for the home plate umpire to not make a call at all at home plate, ie not called out or safe. It would seem to me that if he had felt the runner safe at home he should have made the safe signal and vice versa. Losing 7-6 because of this bungled call by Alan Porter is deplorable amd directly due to the malfeasence of Mr Porter. It seems from the above that this umpire is not a good umpire tonight. The error by the umpire was just shown again on tv and the runner clearly did not reach home plate before the third out was made. I disagree with the above entries that say he is a good umpire. I don't think so. He should know his job by now as he is apparently 34 years old with much experience but not showing it tonight. Since I just found this site tonight and it is called ejections, I would thus nominate Mr. Alan Porter to be ejected. Hopefully he will sit with such a low standing as to not make any money in the playoff games and in the postseason as it would be too nationally (no pun intended) embarrassing to MLB. Tonight Mr. Alan Porter was a disgrace and as everyone saw it the umpire was not doing his job.

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