Pages

Monday, September 26, 2011

Ejections: Paul Schrieber (2)

HP Umpire Paul Schrieber ejected Yankees catcher Russell Martin for arguing a ball call in the bottom of the 5th inning of the Yankees-Rays game. With two out and one on, Rays batter Ben Zobrist took four consecutive pitches from Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes for a four pitch walk. Replays indicate all four pitches were located outside the strike zone, the call was correct. At the time of the ejection, the Rays were leading, 4-2. The Rays ultimately won the contest, 5-2.

This is Paul Schrieber (43)'s second ejection of 2011.
Paul Schrieber now has 2 points in the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (-2 Previous + 2 MLB + 2 Correct Call) = 2.
Paul Schrieber was not drafted in 2011.

This is the 198th ejection of 2011.
This is the 88th player ejection of 2011.
Prior to his ejection, Martin was 1-2 in the contest.
This is the 26th ejection by Joe West's crew. Jerry Layne's crew has 27 ejections.

Wrap: Yankees at Rays, 9/26/11
Video: Martin is ejected arguing balls and strikes after a four pitch walk

Pitch f/x courtesy Brooks Baseball
Note: Pitch #3 was a ball that bounced in the dirt, in front of home plate, and accordingly is absent from the plot.



27 comments:

  1. If the Yankees hadn't already clinched their playoff berth & best record title, I'd say they're frustrated...

    ReplyDelete
  2. That was a magic word-integrity questioning ejection.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yet another team of rat-like announcers saying that the catcher can say whatever he wants as long as he "does it the right way."

    Good for Paul.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks to MLB's poor video representation, Schrieber took huge heat for this ejection from all fronts (including Gregg Zaun on the Jays telecast, an ex-catcher who clearly feels that the catcher should have the freedom to say whatever he wants providing he stays in his crouch and keeps facing the mound).

    As is often the case, MLB's video fails to show what led up to the ejection. Basically, it shows Schrieber stepping out in front of the plate to talk to the crouching Martin with the batter standing only a couple of feet away. Without any preamble, it appears like Schrieber was baiting Martin into saying something so he could eject him. I doubt that very much for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the importance of this game to the Rays, Red Sox and Angels.

    Sometimes it seems that MLB forgets that THEY hire the umpires. Maybe, just maybe, MLB should think about the fact that posting video that tends to make the umpires look bad reflects poorly on those who hired them in the first place.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I agree that maybe something was said that really got to Schrieber, but mlb better release what it was, because it looks really bad. They need to protect their umpire from being tormented about this for the next month. catchers complain to the umpire from their crouch all day, as long as they don't show the crowd they are doing it then it isn't a problem. Unless martin blew off a bunch of curses and verbal abuse directed at Schrieber, this is absolutely inexcusable.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Perhaps I'm talking out of turn here, but I tend to disagree that this is "good for Paul." 1 of 2 things happened. Either what Martin said while Schrieber was still behind him was sufficient to warrant an ejection, or it wasn't. If it was, Schrieber should have run him just then. If it wasn't, he doesn't need to come out from behind him and have that discussion. Since Martin, even if he was disrespectful with his words, continued to respect the HP ump with his actions (facing forward and not leaving the crouch), Schrieber should have reciprocated. If the conversation declined from there, Schrieber can still eject Martin without appearing to bait him.

    I actually believe Schrieber did bait him (I'm not a Yankees fan). It simply looked that way to me, although I admit that Martin's response was a bit incongruous. However, even if Martin earned the ejection, I think appearances are better served by Schrieber simply tossing Martin by reciprocating his manners. Stay behind him, have the discussion, and if need be, run him from there. Standing in front of the catcher while he's still in the crouch looks awful, and it doesn't demonstrate a great deal of respect.

    Then again, we are talking about the umpire who scooted Magglio Ordonez towards the dugout.

    ReplyDelete
  9. To add onto @940's point, and I've done this to keep up appearances, the catcher says one of the automatics while in the crouch, facing forward. I get down to a prelim stance and tell the catcher in a casual tone, "Okay, then, you're out of the game." Catcher usually thinks about it for a sec and says "you're kidding" or something to that affect, all while still in the crouch. I say "no, I'm serious. You've been ejected, get off the field." Then the catcher usually will stand up, wheel around, argue like there's no tomorrow and lose all decorum. Once he does this, I simply execute a standard ejection mechanic.

    If the catcher thinks his crouch, facing forward allows him to do whatever he wants, he's wrong. I can eject from the crouch, too, and chances are, when the catcher is emotional enough to say one of the automatics, that same catcher is emotional enough to lose his sense of decorum upon me telling him, "you're ejected." Then, from the observer's point of view, it's a good ejection.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I know it wouldn't change the ruling, because the other three pitches in the at bat were balls, but I'm just curious whether or not Pitch #4 might be considered a strike under the Miller Rule.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm also curious, to Anon 9:53pm, and any other umpires here that feel like chiming in, what is considered an "automatic?" What are those words, gestures, what have you, that will lead to an automatic ejection?

    ReplyDelete
  12. http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19675601

    From this game...I think this is a balk. Shields spins off his front foot, not using the widely accepted "jump throw" move. Analysis?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dan, the confidence interval for Pitch #4 is (.892, 1.038), which is a 0.108/.038 split, or a 74% chance the pitch was a strike, 26% chance the pitch was a ball... So it could have been considered a strike under the Miller Rule. However, as far as the Miller Rule is concerned, we have yet to establish precedent for the probability under which a ball/strike call may be considered incorrect, as opposed to correct. In other words, we wouldn't yet be inclined to use a 74% chance of the pitch being a strike to say that the call of "ball" was incorrect. As it stands, the entire range from 20%-80% still appears to fall under that "borderline" designation.

    By contrast, the Kulpa Rule - assuming a ball call at 0.900 [our borderline region's lower limit], which creates a CI of (.817, .983) or a probability of .136/.030 - allows for up to an 82% chance that a pitch is actually a strike before a "ball" call will be deemed incorrect.

    ReplyDelete
  14. No, a catcher cannot say anything, but in MLB they do. Its accepted practice for the catcher and ump to discuss the strike zone as long as no one can see it. You can see how shocked Martin is, he can't even argue about it, he is just stunned

    ReplyDelete
  15. What I heard was that Martin asked Schrieber, "Did you stretch today?" and Schrieber replied something like, "What are you talking about?" Martin then answered, "Cause you're a little tight." Keep in mind this is most likely Martin's side of the story.

    ReplyDelete
  16. According to the YES Network's Kim Jones (via twitter):

    "Russell Martin ejected for 'a joke,' asked HP Ump if he had stretched because 'you seem a little tight.' And JoeG laughed!"

    You can tell by the way Martin stood around casually chatting (looking incredulous) with Schrieber after the ejection that he was kind of just surprised by it, and wasn't actually angry or anything. Rarely do you see the player stand there with the manager just having a chat with the umpire--he can't have said anything that bad. Usually the manager will try to push the player away and just talk to the umpire himself.

    ReplyDelete
  17. "Russell Martin asked home plate ump Paul Schrieber if he stretched before the game, because he “seemed kind of tight.” Schrieber was not too pleased, so that’s what led to the ejection. I’ll give Russ some creativity points, but the zone really wasn’t that bad."- This is from the River Ave Blues, a blog of a beat-writer for the Yankees

    ReplyDelete
  18. Let's all hope a performance like Paul put together in this game is not seen again for a long long time. He was horrible and the stats back it up

    http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/zoneplot.php-pitchSel=all&game=gid_2011_09_26_nyamlb_tbamlb_1&sp_type=1&s_type=7.gif

    inconsistant.. over 30 missed including a remarkable 20+ strikes called balls. It seems like i'm the only umpire on here who talks about consistancy of call which is an important factor for MLB supervisors. This is an embarassing day for Paul.

    I believe it's been talked about on the old left field corner site how Paul has struggled with situation handling over his career and that being paired with West would help him.

    In addition, the interplay with Paul and Pitcher Phil Hughes goes back to the Longoria AT bat where Schriber was upset at some gestures from Hughes on close pitches and Paul from behind the plate demonstratively flails his right arm telling him the pitches are outside. He only missed one pitch during the Longoria AB.. but at this point his tensions were running high

    During the inning on close callable pitches Paul was 5 for 8.. it's hard to include the 2 pitches that bounce or the one that was a foot outside. For purposes of this site to make the umpire look better we count all callable pitches.

    Again from a consistancy standpoint this was not Paul's best day.

    ReplyDelete
  19. in response to Cricket:

    Yes - this is a no step balk. Needs to have both distance & direction - his non pivot foot does not appear to gain any distance towards 1B

    ReplyDelete
  20. This is one of those correct call incorrect ejections

    ReplyDelete
  21. This is MLBAM at its worst and YES announcers at their worst - they are lying. Directly prior to this ejection, Martin goes out to the mound to talk to Hughes. When he comes back, he's walking towards Schrieber and stands in front of Paul for several seconds looking animated. Martin gets in a parting shot and goes down to the crouch while Schrieber is talking. Schrieber goes around to face Martin.

    If @953PM gets the catchers to make those ejections look good, Martin did the exact opposite. Martin baited Schrieber and got into his crouch after saying something he shouldn't have. I will agree that Schrieber should have dumped Martin immediately, but how often do you see an umpire toss a catcher when the catcher is in a crouch facing away?

    Martin did some fine acting to look innocent, but the WHOLE VIDEO shows he was not. Shame on MLB Advanced Media and the Yankee announcers. Fact is Martin was out on a mound visit, he ran back and animatedly talked to Schrieber. As Schrieber responds, Martin blows him off by turning and dropping into his crouch. That's showing lack of respect. The TB broadcast clearly shows the entire sequence from the camera directly behind home plate. That's the video that should be used.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Watch on MLBTV and turn the audio to "park overlay." The mic is with Paul, so for the most part, you only hear him.

    Martin says something, Schrieber says, "Oh yeah? What's that supposed to mean?" Martin says something else, Schrieber ejects him. Looks like Schrieber gave him a chance.

    And the pressbox announcer in TB once again has screwed up an ejection announcement (see Ed Hickox #2 of BJ Upton). This time, the TB press box announcer says it's Martins fourth ejection of the season. This is obviously Martin's first ejection of the year.

    ReplyDelete
  23. As Martin describes the conversation(not direct quote):
    Martin: Did you stretch today?
    Schriber: What did you say?
    Martin: I asked if you stretched today?
    Martin: 'I feel like you're kind of tight right now.'
    The rest I gathered from CG on MLB.com, game audio is audible:
    Schriber: You're outta here
    Martin: Are you kidding me?
    Schriber: No I'm not kidding ya'

    I would probably have run him in a regular game, but in a game like this, with the playoffs just days away, tensions are high, and sometimes you have to let something like this go.

    ReplyDelete
  24. @ 2:03 The press box announcer was thinking of Girardi, who has 3, that would have been his 4th.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I guess being in the crouch position gives the catcher the right to say whatever he wants? Seriously? I guess it is like Will Farrell in Talladega Nights, if you say "With all due respect," it gives you the right to say whatever you want and it isn't offensive!

    ReplyDelete
  26. @2:03 - How do you do "park overlay" on MLBTV?

    ReplyDelete
  27. You get park as an audio option with the home broadcast if you subscribe to MLB.TV Premium and are running Nexdef.

    ReplyDelete