Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Ejection 098: Bob Davidson (4)

HP Umpire Bob Davidson ejected Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar for throwing at Angels batter Mike Trout in the bottom of the 4th inning of the Royals-Angels game. With none out and none on, and following a home run by Angels batter Bobby Wilson, Trout was hit by a 3-0 fastball from Hochevar. Replays indicate the pitch was considerably inside, the call is irrecusable. At the time of the ejection, the Angels were leading, 8-0. The Angels ultimately won the contest, 11-6.

This is Bob Davidson (61)'s fourth ejection of 2012.
Bob Davidson now has 2 points in the UEFL (0 Previous + 2 MLB + 0 Irrecusable = 2).
Crew Chief Brian Gorman now has 4 points in the UEFL's Crew division (3 Previous + 1 Irrecusable Call = 4).
^ UEFL'er Heyblue wins 2 pts for correctly predicting Prop Prediction Q7: Davidson Reason for Ejection.

This is the 98th ejection of 2012.
This is the 40th player ejection of 2012.
This is Luke Hochevar's first career ejection.
This is Bob Davidson's first ejection since June 2nd (Joe Girardi and Kevin Long; QOC = Incorrect).
This is the Kansas City Royals' sixth ejection of the year.
Video: Down 8-0, Royals' Hochevar plunks Trout on a 3-0 pitch

Relevant Rule
Rule 8.02(d): If in the umpire's judgment, F1 intentionally pitches at the batter, he may be expelled.

Relevant Ejection
Ejections 053, 054: Mark Wegner (1, 2); Quintana ejected for throwing behind Zobrist ("Hawk" Rant)

31 comments :

NKCAUmp said...

And yet... it was pretty recusable. Davidson didn't warn Jared Weaver or either team when he hit Lorenzo Cain twice in the first three innings. Hochevar was probably throwing at Trout, but seems like and inconsistent application of the rule.

RichMSN said...

Picking Layne as my crew chief is like a gift that keeps on giving. :)

Russ said...

Except for the fact that Davidson is now on Gorman's crew :)

RichMSN said...

Crap. I forgot about that and the commish got it wrong above. Easy come, easy go.

Anonymous said...

That looked like Brian Gorman, not Jerry Layne...?

Anonymous said...

It hit the bat, didn't it? Can you really get ejected for a pitch that doesn't even hit the guy, even though it's thrown so far inside?

Jeremy Dircks said...

Yeah that's my bad. Matter of habit with Bob.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that was a foul ball, not a hit by pitch. The call was clearly wrong. CHALLENGE!

AERAdmin said...

@NKCAUmp: He doesn't have to warn anyone. And it is entirely consistent. He ejected the pitcher that, in his judgment, intentionally threw at the batter. He didn't eject the ones that in his judgement did not intentionally throw at the batter. Can't get much more consistent than that.

@Anon 4:42: Wow, seriously? He was ejected for THROWING AT the batter. It doesn't matter whether or not it hits him.

AERAdmin said...
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AERAdmin said...

Unless this is another 6-5-e thing?

Lindsay said...

This ruling has been challenged.

The challenge has been denied: Quality of Correctness for the hit by pitch vs. foul ball is not our concern. The pitcher was ejected for intentionally pitching at a batter, "Throwing At," which is authorized by OBR Rule 8.02(d) and is codified in UEFL Rule 6-2-b-5.

According to 6-2-b-5, Quality of Correctness for all "Throwing At" ejections must be "Irrecusable" unless the umpire has ejected a person who was "clearly and overwhelmingly not involved in the unsportsmanlike act." Given that the only activity on the field during the play immediately preceding ejection was the hit by pitch, deemed unsportsmanlike and in violation of OBR 8.02(d) by the calling umpire, this exemption does not apply and QOC remains irrecusable.

Certiorari has been denied.

Jimmy Jack said...

I suppose the only way this could be "incorrect" would be if MLB rules required that the ball actually hit the batter before a pitcher gets ejected, but that is not the case. Instead, the section in the rule book is called "Intentionally Pitch at Batter."

It's the intent, not whether the pitch connects with the player himself, that governs the day.

Anonymous said...

So it hit the bat, something the hitter inadvertently placed in front of his body to shield himself from being thrown at. It's an 8-0 blowout of a game, the batter before hit a home run. My money's with Bob on this play, HBP or not.

Anonymous said...

0 + 2 + 0 = 0?
No... 0 + 2 + 0 = 2
Bob Davidson has 2 points.

Jay said...

Even when he's disciplining someone for something as straightfoward as intentional HBP, Bob Davidson finds controversy.

Anonymous said...

This might just be the first time I ever agree with Bob Davidson. Pitch is far inside, its a fastball, guy before him hit a home run, and the score is 8-0... definitely intentional.

I wish more umpires would eject for intentional HBPs without a warning, because that just has no place in baseball. Its dangerous and just leads to more problems in the end.

Anonymous said...

When your supervisors tell you to eject pitchers who intentionally throw inside, what are you supposed to do? We all have bosses.

By the way, did you see Davidson's double fist bump. Somewhere on the internet, when Tom Glavine intentionally threw inside on back-to-back pitches with Dale Murphy of the Phillies, he was ejected with a double fist pump. The plate umpire, Bob Davidson.

James said...

People say whatever you want about Bob Davidson, but he and Cowboy Joe take care of business. Remember when Bob Davidson ejected John Lackey for throwing inside in 2009 after just two pitches in Texas, his season debut after two+ months on the DL? As I said, Davidson has chutzpah and gets it done. If I want an umpire's umpire, I'm choosing Bobby D.

Anonymous said...

I just don't get why you would toss him. Score is 8-0. 3-0 count. It's perfectly plausable that he missed. He did it all game

AERAdmin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RadioPearl said...

I have no issue with the ejection. It was the correct call. However, that is a foul ball! It certainly hit the bat. Missing that is a bit of an embarrassment, don't you think.

RichMSN said...

It's only an embarrassment if you're not an umpire. If you are an umpire, you know exactly how hard of a call that is.

UmpsRule said...

Based on the video, I couldn't ever see Davidson rule a hit by pitch. Also, it doesn't matter if the batter gets hit by the pitch. If the umpire thinks he was throwing at the batter, he is perfectly right to eject him.

Anonymous said...

I agree, but it didn't look like he said you really screwed up that call either. More like what kind of call was that. Which should def not get you tossed

Anonymous said...

But we don't know what he said when he was still on the ground

Double Down for Donuts said...

"People say whatever you want about Bob Davidson, but he and Cowboy Joe take care of business. Remember when Bob Davidson ejected John Lackey for throwing inside in 2009 after just two pitches in Texas, his season debut after two+ months on the DL? As I said, Davidson has chutzpah and gets it done. If I want an umpire's umpire, I'm choosing Bobby D. "

I strongly disagree. There are about 50 umpires in MLB who provide more CONSISTENT and more ACCURATE calls than Bob. Joe West (as much crap as he takes) is one. My personal fave is "Fonzy". However, Bob is the only one I can think of being suspended for inappropriate umpiring behavior. He is definitely NOT in the top tier of umpires, and is about as efficacious as Angel H. I'd like to see some of these older guys retire and bring up some young blood.

Anonymous said...

Good morning gentlemen-this is Bob Davidson. I sure hope this finds all well. First of all I'd like to say how much I enjoy all your comments-both positive & negitive-they really make me laugh. Now on yesterdays ejection of Luke Hochevar-it was not a foul ball as it hit Trout on his hand and then went off his bat. Take care guys. Keep posting.

RadioPearl said...

RichMSN, I am an umpire ... have been for decades. I still think that is an *obvious* foul ball. You can hear it plainly and loudly.

Double Down for Donuts said...

"I still think that is an *obvious* foul ball. You can hear it plainly and loudly. "

Most definitely. Well, either that or Trout is indeed a cyborg (and it hit him in his robotic arm). Anyway, I did not see what happened later in the game, but I hope they got that part right. BD has a quick trigger finger, but he does not seem as contentious in this one as I have seen him in others. Maybe his suspension forced him toward introspection!

Curt Crowley said...

DDFD, you bring up a good point re Bob's lack of hostility. I had to watch the video 3x just to verify there weren't two Bob Davidsons in the league. I've never seen him hold court like he did with Hochevar and the catcher. Same w/Yost. He appeared to be actually listening and trying to explain the call. The whole "you want a piece of me" routine was gone. Davidson looked very professional on this one.

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