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Saturday, June 2, 2012

Ejections 057, 058: Bob Davidson (2, 3)

HP Umpire Bob Davidson ejected Yankees Manager Joe Girardi and Batting Coach Kevin Long for arguing a strike call in the top of the 7th inning of the Yankees-Tigers game. With one out and two on, Yankees batter Curtis Granderson took a 0-0 changeup from Tigers pitcher Joaquin Benoit for a called first strike. Replays indicate the pitch was located knee high and off the outer edge of home plate (px value of -1.204), the call was incorrect.* At the time of the ejection, the Tigers were leading, 2-1. The Tigers ultimately won the contest, 4-3.

These are Bob Davidson (61)'s second and third ejections of 2012.
Bob Davidson now has 0 points in the UEFL (4 Previous + 2*[2 MLB + -4 Incorrect Call] = 0).
Crew Chief Jerry Layne now has 4 points in the UEFL's Crew division (4 Previous + 0 Incorrect Calls = 4).
*This ruling has been affirmed in a 3-0-1 decision by the UEFL Appeals Board.

These are the 57th and 58th ejections of 2012.
This is the 30th Manager ejection of 2012.
This is Joe Girardi's 14th ejection as Yankees Manager.
This is Long's first ejection as Yankees Batting Coach.
This is Bob Davidson's first ejection since May 15, 2012.

51 comments:

  1. if i am right Davidson ejected Jorge Posada in Detroit in 2007

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  2. You would be correct.

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  3. HAHAHA LOVE this ejection from start to finish. First ejects Long from the dugout as Davidson is just walking by after the Granderson foul ball, then when Girardi comes out to argue, he gets tossed while both Layne, Wendelstedt AND Bellino come in to make sure Davidson doesn't do something stupid to get suspended again.

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  4. On Friday, Girardi and Davidson had an argument at 1B when Davidson blew a call on Gerald Laird infield hit in 6th.

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  5. Davidson needs to go, I swear, im not saying that cuz im a yankee fan im saying that as a baseball fan. Some of these umpires need to go, AND WTF Davidson, get the mouth guard out of your mouth, u can't be serious. 4 umps couldn't contain joe girardi at all, i agree, ^^^ with u how does Layne, Wendelsedt and a young ump bellino come and help bob davidson. At first i thought ok give the umps a break but now its gone to far. I saw schribers call against kc that a good pitch that he misses, these guys did not get an A at umpiring school that fo sho, Davison, scriheber, foster, West, Hernandez, Miller, etc they need to go

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  6. I must say, if I read Kevin Long's lips correctly, he barks to Bob Davidson "what are you loking at?", and then when Bob looks into the dugout he seems to either say "don't look in here", or "don't come here", or something to that effect. To me this is a bit arrogant on Kevin's part. How can you scream at an umpire, and then get mad when he looks over at you? This stuff seems to happen at all levels. Guys think they can say whatever from the dugout, and then if you notice you're accused of having "rabit ears".

    On a side note, I did notice a much more calm and collected Bob Davidson walk away from the confrontation, and never do his trademark smirk or screaming. Maybe he did benefit from his suspension, in that he looked much more in control in this situation, and he let Long and Girardi be the ones to look foolish.

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  7. If hawk saw this and have this happen to his team he would prob get a second visit from bud the very next day. This is absurd, These guys don't know what there doing. Can you imagine a ump back in the minors is waiting for a call to go to the bigs, and he has to wait for davidson to retire, im mean evan i can do better and i don't evan want to be an ump, plus the odds are not in your favor as i heard from Hunter Wendlstedt

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  8. @Anon 8:55
    Andy Fletcher also wears a mouthpiece when he is behind the plate. It is mostly to protect against concussions. I'm not sure how a person can criticize an umpire for wearing protective equipment, that seems to be kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel for an insult.

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  9. I think there are some people that may like to antagonize Bob... It's nice to see the love that the other 3 guys on Bob's crew have for him.... Should tell you something about the man.... He may not be that good anymore but he's an umpire's umpire. It's a shame his old school demeanor never changed. His time may have come and gone but there was a time for him and sadly it just isn't now in the politcally correct ESPN era.

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  10. Why is BOb Davison not crew cheif, he's been in the bigs for a while now, he has more expericne than Kellogg, Bell, Cederstom, Hallion, Gorman, Rapunao, and the same amount of years umpiring as Layne, and these umps are better than him, oh and on a side note nice of Hawk to call wegner and apoligize, that was a little to much, he killed the ump

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  11. So Kevin Long says "Don't come over here what are you looking at?" and that is an ejectable offense. What an absolute joke. But Bob was not very riled up Today and did not do anything suspension worthy but still a weak ejection IMO.

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  12. @MattAB 9:02

    every umpire should have a mouth piece then, umpires safety should be a big priorty. Im not looking for an insult, the way he was biting on his mouth peice and not even having in his mouth. like a kid with a lillpop, cmmon. And how do you know flecther is the only one with the mouth peice? beside DAvidson. NOw everytime you will see davidson throw people, coaches, players, haha evan fans i.e. MIL, 9/8/2010 rabbit ears he will go nuts in the beginning and realax at the end so he dosn't get punished, he prob not staying for long so he prob wants to eject a few more before he hangs it up

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  13. Moutpieces do not prevent concussions.

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  14. @MattAB 9:02


    Its all good man, know worries, your right, just made at how it transpired with Bob. Will see what happens

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  15. Man Im writing alot!!!! cuz the umps are the talk pretty much when it comes to baseball, did adrian johnston miss the beltran foul call, yes, but that does not make it better for the main reason is he got it the call wrong and it was ovisous,. Good for santna, same as joyce but only the outcome of the game had a sort of good feel good story happy ending i guess, harold reyonalds of mlb network was all over adrain johnson last night. Shoudl we improve replay for fair or foul calls etc. and also where the runners were placed when someone hiting a double by being reversed from a homerun anyone???? We can say the human element is good for the game and all,the fact of the matter is that if we keep puting in replay, and not trusting these well trained umpires, u can kiss the human element goodbye i doubt it, maybe it the year 3050, idk hahah Im all about the right call. Im mean it can't worse, or can it?

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  16. Tim McClelland just dumped Ranger's catcher Torrealba (sp) for arguing a close play at home.

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  17. Yea torralba has being jected, wow another one bites the dust haha

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  18. wont' be surprises if wash goes soon too, tnight or tom

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  19. The anonymous comments are illiterate and inane. Too bad, really.

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  20. The McClelland play was damned close. In real time, the runner looked clearly safe. On replay, I'd like to see it again. At a bar, though.

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  21. The only thing that can't get worse is your grammar and spelling.

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  22. For being such a close play, McClelland didn't really sell it in my opinion. The safe sign looked quite lackadaisical to me, but then again he's not really that emphatic about any of his calls. Doesn't change the fact he's a damn good umpire.

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  23. @Anon 9:22
    I'm not sure that every ump should be required to wear a mouthpiece, but if they choose to wear one it shouldn't be discouraged. It's kind of like an extended throat piece on a mask, or a helmet versus a traditional mask, it should all come down to what the umpire is comfortable with. And I don't know if Andy Fletcher and Bob Davidson are the only two who wear them, or if others do it as well. I was simply pointing out that this has become a practice of some umpires in recent years, and is probably not something that makes a lot of sense to insult.
    @Mike
    I'm not a doctor, so I can't really speak from a professional opinion, but I have read that mouthguards are supposed to possibly help in preventing concussions. Everything I've seen says that the research is inconclusive, but that it can't hurt to wear one. Also, concussion prevention was one of the reasons Andy Fletcher gave for why he wears a mouthguard. If anyone is interested in that story here is the link for it:
    http://umpattire.blogspot.com/2009/08/mlb-umpire-andy-fletcher-use-of.html

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  24. It also looks to me like Kevin Long said, "What are you going to do about it?" That kind of challenge is certainly ejectable. I would have, regardless of the rest of the conversation.

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  25. Only a matter of time until the Pitch FX tool or something similar replaces the home plate umpire for ball/strike calls.

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  26. They were not protecting Bob. I cannot believe some of you guy's, are you all just fans who umpire? Is there any umpires here? Dummy up for 1 second.

    The Game has not passed Bob by. You cannot hide in the Bigs and be a plate dodger. Is he older? Yes. Is he slower? Yes. Is his vision worse than 20yrs ago? Yes. He still can do the job, so knock it off and give the man the god damm respect he has earned. I don't care if he made it to the Bigs using mirrors, it's enough already.

    What the crew was doing was a simple thing, it was not protection. You can call it that, but what was really going on was they were not going to let Giradi get to him if MLB is going to suspend Bob. It was statement by the crew, Fine if you don't like how Bob talks to the players, then they are not going to talk to Bob. I'm not speaking literally, I'm mean if Bob can't bark back at the players, then they are not going to come out and bark 1st.
    That's how I read it.

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  27. @Anon 9:58
    Sorry to disappoint you with my grammar and spelling, sue me.

    @MattAB OK

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  28. @Richmsn "The anonymous comments are illiterate and inane. Too bad, really." How you figure, cause of punctuation? Worry about yourself Ok, thanx

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  29. I agree with Anonymous 11:18. Everyone chill were just discussing plays that the umpires missed.

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  30. I have a feeling both benches clear tomorrow with the tigers and yankees. Verlander angst the yankees, hunter wendelstedt actually threw out weaver out of a game for hitting the tigers 7/31/11 that was when verlander had a no hitter at the time i think and then somebody bunted to piss verlander off, keep in mind today's home plate umpire will be hunter wendelstedt

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  31. Not a Davidson fan, but I will give the man his due here. A stupid coach decided to mouth off and directly challenged him ("What are you gonna do?") and Bob calmly ejected him and walked away. No screaming, no smirking, none of the usual Davidson histrionics. And it's nice that the rest of his crew is willing to help him out a little while he gets comfortable with some new situation handling techniques. A few more situations like this and he'll win "Most Improved Umpire of 2012" by a landslide.

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  32. 11:28, learn some middle school level spelling and grammar then.

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  33. "every umpire should have a mouth piece then, umpires safety should be a big priorty. Im not looking for an insult, the way he was biting on his mouth peice and not even having in his mouth. like a kid with a lillpop, cmmon. And how do you know flecther is the only one with the mouth peice? beside DAvidson. NOw everytime you will see davidson throw people, coaches, players, haha evan fans i.e. MIL, 9/8/2010 rabbit ears he will go nuts in the beginning and realax at the end so he dosn't get punished, he prob not staying for long so he prob wants to eject a few more before he hangs it up"

    Could we get that in English, please?

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  34. I think how the hole crew came over to get Girardi away from Davidson is how umpires should handle every ejection. Its easier for 3 guys to get a player/manager away than just the crew chief. Although a lot of people dont like that entire crew you have to admit they are a very entertaining umpire crew to watch.

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  35. My goodness. My 7-year-old daughter can write better than some of these anonymous posters. You aren't sending out text messages, folks.

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  36. This is the type of crap that happens on amateur fields too. Then when the umpire takes care of business, they accuse him of having "rabbit ears." Good for Bob -- he handled that exactly right and so did his crew for getting in to have Bob's back.

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  37. Before people get all defensive when criticized for poor grammar and spelling, they must consider that it does detract from their points when we can barely comprehend their words. Also, ff Kevin Long did indeed ask Davidson what he was going to do about it, it being whatever Long had already said, then that is completely justifiable. Finally, it would be nice if people would stop lumping in Bill Miller with other controversial umpires. One incident is not grounds for that.

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  38. i want to challenge the correctness. Long said the fightin' words after another play had transpired. He latterly begged to be ejected. I'd take points from Bob if he didn't throw both of them out.

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  39. I can't read lips all that well, but from what I see in the video and what others have posted it sure doesn't look like Long was arguing balls and strikes when he was ejected.

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  40. I could go either way with this one. I agree that it was an ejectable offense and it seems like macho got the best of Kevin Long and he couldn't just keep his mouth shut. I also agree that Davidson handled himself better than he used to. When I was a rookie ump/official, I was taught to stay away from the sidelines, bench, and dugout; keep me head on what matters. If Davidson continues to hook people out of the dugout, maybe the points about all the umps in the minors looking for their chance has some merit.

    If he can prove he learned a lesson last month, then his veteran experience continue to be a benefit to the game. I'd say we give him another opportunity.

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  41. @ Anon 9:59

    Davidson was over by the dugout because of the foul pop-up. He didn't go over there to start arguing. Also, being in the dugout doesn't give Long a valid excuse to act like a 12-year old.

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  42. I'm very impressed with this video.

    Bob was drawn near the dugout by the play. No, he didn't take a direct route back to the plate, but he didn't eject from the plate either.

    It's clear that whatever was first said, things said afterward weren't about pitches, or baseball at all. Long was showing his ass, plain and simple. "Don't come over here," after he's clearly spoken to Bob, and "What are you going to do about it," are completely unneccesary. I'm sure he had been making noise before too. And it looks like some of his statements had an extra word on the end, like he might have been calling names.

    Girardi was even worse. Trying to get out of the dugout to save his coach is fine. But first he had to chase Bob down, because Bob had walked away after pulling the trigger. Then Gigardi continued to run his mouth after Davidson has turned to walk away, which is just asking for trouble. Wendelstedt was there between them and Davidson was walking calmly away, the way everyone wants him to.

    Finally, after he went to far and Bob heaved him, Girardi went into the most childing rant I've ever seen from him. Throwing his hat was stupid. Chasing Davidson more, around the entire crew, was stupid. Girardi looked out of control here, while Bob looked completely calm.

    Bottom line, Davidson took every opportunity to walk away. Yes, he dumped a couple of guys. But he didn't pick the fights, he didn't prolong the fights, and he didn't do any of the things that get him criticized.

    Good on ya, Bob.

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  43. Generally not a Balkin' Bob fan, but he was in the right here 100%. His "situational handling" was certainly what MLB probably wants to see, and we'll see if he continues to show this uncharacteristic restraint in the future.

    It's hard to shake a reputation, and I don't know if Bob ever will at this point. It's hard to imagine someone like Kevin Long saying something so disrespectful to a guy like McClelland or Tschida.

    CB Bucknor seemed to be courting a lot of trouble earlier in his career, but his attitude (if not his skills) has much improved and seems to have rehabilitated his rep among players and coaches somewhat. Difference is CB is a young ump with presumably a long career ahead of him, whereas Bob is nearing the end.

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  44. Gimme a break. Let's give bob Davidson a cookie because he didnt TOTALLY show his A-- like he normally does.

    If this is all it takes for a coach to get tossed from a professional baseball game, then we've got problems. Bob Davidson is thin skinned, with a pair of stretch Armstrong ears that *constantly* stay in the dugout.

    MLB should get davidson some therapy so he can rid himself of the chip on his shoulder. Davidson is still a good umpire, but he needs to be a man, accept criticism and lose the attitude.

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  45. One person I talked to suggested that the Yankees were trying to bait Davidson and get him trouble again.

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  46. If this all it takes... All? All? Long was grossly disrespectful three different times, at least, before finally getting tossed. Davidson handled this situation about as well as he could. If he had kept Long in the game, that would have sent the wrong message.

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  47. Big Marc,

    Good post up until you said Bob can still do the job. He cannot, he is terrible, and I am an Umpire's Umpire! However I am not going to blindly defend someone just because we are in the same profession. He is bad. He needs to do. Will he? Of course now, union, pension, bla bla bla. So we are all stuck with him until someone makes it "worth his while" to move on.

    Pension reform! Give em full pension after 10 or so, don't make 'em wait. More movement up from AAA instead of young stud umpires getting released so the Bob Davidsons's of the world can hang around. Lifetime appointments are garbage, performance should indeed matter.

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  48. Your not an umpires umpire. Your a know it all. You've never been anywhere near the Bigs. I think your a dick for saying Bob is terrible, as if because your an umpire your opinion means more. To me, you know nothing about umpiring, and less about life.

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  49. I, for one, am happy to stand up and say that Bob Davidson is a good umpire. Pretty damn cranky, yes, and a little slower, but good. Certainly good enough to do the job he's doing. And if he can continue to behave this way when he ejects in the future, then he will be even better.

    Too many people are willing to crucify an umpire for the rest of his career over one or two calls. Even worse, too many people can't discern the difference between attitude and skills. Finally, too many people just enjoy hating umpires.

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  50. After review, the original Quality of Correctness of "Incorrect" has been affirmed in a 3-0-1 decision by the UEFL Appeals Board. Three Appeals Board members elected to Confirm the Original Ruling and one elected to Defer it.

    Per Curiam Opinion:
    At issue in 057, 058: Bob Davidson (2, 3) are both Quality of Correctness and Reason for Ejection. Before determining QOC, the Board is tasked with confirming or defering the Reason for Ejection, whose original ruling is Balls/Strikes.

    Rule 6-5-c specifies that QOC only applies to "the call made directly prior to ejection, or, if balls/called strikes during a single at-bat, any pitch called during that at bat, provided that the call was against the ejected person (or his team) and this call realistically resulted in a different outcome of the at-bat." The Board therefore rejects the argument that "Long said the fightin' words after another play had transpired," and therefore, QOC cannot be adjudicated for this play.

    Instead, the Board finds that "another play" referenced in the argument referred to a previous pitch during the same at-bat, which, under 6-5-c, is eligible for QOC consideration.

    The Board found that Girardi himself confirmed the Original Ruling's declaration of Reason for Ejection: "Girardi, who was visibly upset while arguing his case on the field and while offering postgame remarks, said the incident stemmed from a call Davidson made during Curtis Granderson's seventh-inning at-bat and the manner in which Davidson handled himself toward Long and Girardi." (MLB.com).

    Second, the Board considers QOC itself: Because the Kulpa Rule (6-2-b-1) specifies that pitches with absolute px values greater than 0.935 may be a ball, and the pitch in question is associated with an absolute px value of 1.204, the Board confirms Quality of Correctness as incorrect.

    Therefore, the Board affirms the Original Ruling.

    Confirmed: Jeremy, tmac, yawetag
    Upheld: None
    Overturned: None
    Deferred: Albertaumpire
    Abstained: Gil (Posted Original QOC), BillMueller (owns Davidson), RichMSN (owns Davidson)

    Quality of Correctness has been affirmed, 3-0-1.

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