Saturday, August 18, 2012

Ejection 129: Jeff Nelson (4)

HP Umpire Jeff Nelson ejected Blue Jays SS Yunel Escobar for arguing a strike call in the bottom of the 7th inning of the Rangers-Blue Jays game. With two out and three on, Escobar took a 0-0 sinker from Rangers pitcher Michael Kirkman for a called strike. Replays indicate the pitch was located knee high and skimmed the inner edge of home plate (px value of -.900), the call was correct. At the time of the ejection, the Rangers were leading, 2-1. The Rangers ultimately won the contest, 2-1.

This is Jeff Nelson (45)'s fourth ejection of 2012.
Jeff Nelson now has 2 points in the UEFL (-2 Previous + 2 MLB + 2 Correct Call = 2).
Crew Chief Tim Tschida now has 9 points in the Crew Division (8 Previous + 1 Correct Call = 9).

UEFL Standings Update

This is the 129th ejection of 2012.
This is the 54th player ejection of 2012. Prior to his ejection, Escobar was 1-4 in the contest.
This is the Blue Jays' 5th ejection of 2012, 2nd in the AL East (BOS 9; TOR 5; BAL, NYY 4; TB 3).
This is Yunel Escobar's first ejection since July 30, 2011 (Marvin Hudson; QOC = Correct).
This is Jeff Nelson's first ejection since August 9 (Steve Clevenger; QOC = Incorrect).
This is the 12th ejection since Monday, August 13.

Wrap: Rangers at Blue Jays, 8/18/12
Video: After flying out to go 1-4, Escobar argues a called first strike and is heaved by Jeff Nelson

Pitch f/x courtesy Brooks Baseball

43 comments :

UmpsRule said...

The fifth EJ in Escobar's career. Why don't they trade him to the Rangers so Tom Grieve can say he never argues?

Anonymous said...

i really feel bad for tim tschida he is such a good umpire along with welke and gucionne who is being filled in for by campos- nelson really makes a good crew look bad with his ejections- clevenger and now escobar- they should put nelson on a different crew like gerry davis, gibson, and cuzzi and move manny gonzalez to tschida's crew- he has really had a good year on davis's crew

Mike said...

If the video is synched correctly, then Nelson needs disciplined. There's no need for him to point at Escobar across the field like that. And if you notice, he's the one yelling at the manager too..

But I'm sure there will be plenty jumping in soon enough calling me a rat..

Anonymous said...

@anon 3:08 No idea what you are basing your opinions of Nelson on. He's a fantastic umpire who missed just 2 pitches last year during his ALCS plate and was voted Umpire of the Year by the UEFL. He's only had 2 EJs this season. So what if he was wrong on the first one. One bad pitch is not a good reason to flip out on him.

Nelson is one of my favorites and I would like to see him get a CC position in the next few seasons.

Unknown said...

I agree Nelson is an excellent ump, I would put him in top 10%.

Yunel in a previous inning was almost knocked over the LF fence by a Beltre slide at 2B so he was probably happy to be out of the game.

UmpsRule said...

Not only was nothing wrong with the Clevenger ejection, but Nelson is indeed a fabulous umpire. However, he appears to be the aggressor here, if the video is indeed synced correctly.

Zac said...

The video says it is not available yet. Where are you guys seeing it at?

Mike said...

Zac, underneath the video, there are 3-4 other videos. It was listed in one of those when I had originally clicked on it..

Zac said...

Found it now.

There is no way Nelson is getting disciplined for anything in this video. It was handled exactly right at the pro level. That must be a joke.

Idiot announcers again. Why am I not surprised? Ho hum...

Eric said...

I think that the Blue Jays announcers and video crew were probably pretty selective with their video here (and I say this as a Jays fan) I highly doubt Nelson just decided to instigate something with Escobar here. I may take a leap of faith here (but not a big one in my mind) and say Escobar probably had a few things to say as he ran by on his way out to short and we just see the tail end of the conversation.

If the video they showed is all there is to it, then yes I would say Nelson handled this wrong but I think there is more to the story than what was shown.

As for Clevenger, I agree it was handled well.

Anonymous said...

Well, we all know by now that MLB is just fine with umpires baiting players. They're getting good at that.

Anonymous said...

This crew knows how to get itself in trouble, I'll tell you that.

Anonymous said...

One can make the argument that Tschida's crew should be broken up like they did to Joe West's crew during the middle of last year.

Jerry said...

Why, because of 4 ejections this week, including three involving Campos, who isn't even on the crew full time? Moving Campos would likely have more effect here than splitting the crew up entirely.

Zac said...

Anon @ 4:40:
You and the other slapd*cks on here are the only ones making that argument.

This crew knows how to handle business and not take garbage from players. We did not see the entire exchange in that video, I can promise you that. Nelson did not bait anyone.

Anonymous said...

He should have just shut up after the AB. Don't give the umpire any excuse to chuck you.

Anonymous said...

Listening to FSSW, the Texas crew mentioned that Escobar did something to get Nelson's attention prior to what we see on the Toronto feed. Not sure what, but at least in their mind, the ejection was justified: "If you're going to argue from shortstop, you're looking to get kicked out."

chris said...

don't really get why you can't just turn your back and ignore the guy yelling at you from shortstop,
didn't agree with this one,

Anonymous said...

"Turn your back and ignore the guy yelling at you from shortstop"?????? Are you serious?

1) Umpires shouldn't tolerate players yelling at them period. but we'll put that aside and focus on the fact this is a ball strike argument which is strictly forbidden by the rules and is an immediate ejectable offense.

2) And if the player is in the vicinity of the SS position than he us yelling from @ 110 ft away, which means he is a) yelling loudly and b) attempting to insult and embarrass the umpire in front of the entire infield and probably the first few rows of fans.

I don't know any umpire at any level that would "turn his back" on that nonsense. Give me a break.

chris said...

i get what you're saying, but it's not like he's stopping the game to argue, he didn't get in the umpire's face. It's between innings. He disagreed with a call. I'm sure he's also frustrated about popping out. Just walk the other way and give him the silent treatment.

Anonymous said...

To tell you the truth, this ejection reminds me of Mattingly after Jerry Meals ruled Matt Treanor had left third early on a sacrifice fly to end an inning. Only when the broadcast came back from commercial break did Mattingly end up getting tossed, similar to what Escobar did here. He does nothing until getting ready to begin the next inning. It's an unecessary delay, so YES, he IS stopping the game to argue.

chris said...

looks to me like the umpire was standing along the first-base line when he ejected him, which tells me the pitcher is prolly taking his warmup tosses,

Zac said...

chris, who cares? Players don't get to yell at the umpires. We don't yell at them when we feel like they screw up, so it goes both ways.

Turning a blind eye and ignoring the shortstop blasting you does not work. It shows you up and makes things harder on the next umpire that deals with the guy yelling at him.

Anonymous said...

I think this crew needs a break. Agreed Campos is gone, but this EJ looks bad. If you want to eject him, eject him immediately...don't wait until he takes the field and then decide you want to eject him.

I think this whole group could use a series off. I don't think they are bad umpires, they just need a break.

Anonymous said...

Umpires don't yell at players? Really? Get real Zac!

tmac said...

wow some very interesting comments on here:

Here's how this works: The player can yell but he must do it in the direction of the outfield not staring at Nelson. Every action has a reaction and Nelson is reacting to the player yelling at him. The player is warned and he decides to yell again resulting in an ejection. Perhaps we have some players on here that don't understand umpiring 101. This one is pretty basic.

Continued disputing of balls and strikes results in offender leaving the playing surface and partaking in the spread before everyone else.

Anonymous said...

Read Escobar's lips right before he is tossed. You cannot yell that across the diamond and expect to stay in the game. That is absolutely elementary.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Toronto's synchronized split screen video tells the whole story. Notice that when the split screen starts, Nelson and Escobar are already going at it, which suggests there was more leading up to this that the video does not show.
This could very well have been a 100% justified ejection. But because of Angel Campos's trainwreck in Pittsburgh the other day, this entire crew has been branded with a scarlet letter, so anything they do will be held in suspicion. All I can say is, THANK GOD it's not too late to fire Mr. Campos. He has unfairly tarnished an entire crew with his incompetence.

Cricket said...

How can anyone argue that this is not a deserving ejection? The man yelled "F*ck you" all the way across the diamond...

Anonymous said...

Chris the umpire cannot just allow one player to yell like that. If he does, the umpire must now let everyone do it. So with that in mind he has to draw the line. Should he wait until 2 players yell? Then the 3rd player will say why did you let those guys yell, and you don't let me yell?
Listen Chris, the players are fully aware, they are not like you. Players always eject themselves, they all know where the line is.
What players do in front of the camera, on the field is just for show. It's about money, contracts, it's about looking like they have this never say die attitude. That way the next time their contract is up, their agent can argue, look see this guy has passion for the game. No doubt they all are Rats.

Spence1222 said...

If we let the players yell at us, then the managers and coaches would expect to be able to do the same! That would be even more intolerable. Tschida's crew is just having a few rough days at work, same as all of us. Do we anticipate getting disciplined or fired, over a small perecentage of our entire workload. I should hope not! Things will bet back to normal for this well run and talented crew, and then some other crew will be taking the heat and be in the spotlight. Thats how it works, teams have and high and lows and so do umpiring crews. It is what makes this game so special.

Curt Crowley said...

Jeff Nelson is a great umpire. His only flaw is that he just won't STFU after an ejection. He doesn't exactly look professional arguing with Farrell and turning around to get a parting shot in after Tschida walks up.

There's nothing wrong with Nelson offering an explanation about what happened. If Farrell is shouting him down, then throw him out and move on. When Nelson yells back he looks like an a-- who is doing the same thing he just ejected someone for doing.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Nelson has a little Jerry Crawford in him.
Gives it as good as he gets. Wish the entire MLB umpire staff would do the same. Clamp down on the a-holes, all of them.

Anonymous said...

Turn your back?? Chris, you're a puss. I can only imagine the kaos on your field when you umpire.

Curt Crowley said...

9:08, I understand the desire to respond in kind. However, if the position of umpire is to be respected, the persons who occupy that position must act in a manner that is respectable.

When an umpire engages in conduct that is the same as the conduct for which he just ejected a player, that umpire is not worthy of respect. He is a hypocrite and a bully who is abusing his authority. If it is unsportsmanlike for a player or manager to do it, it is also unsportsmanlike for the umpire to do it. If there is a penalty for players and managers, there also needs to be a penalty for the umpires who choose to act that way.

In short, this behavior is wrong because it cheapens the umpiring profession, no matter how good the umpire's technical skills may be.

TX Wrangler said...

Ok this might be a stupid question, but I'm a rookie, so be nice.......

It says in this post that Nelson has 2 points and he's my primary umpire, so why is it still showing I have -2 points for Nelson?

Lindsay said...

The Appeals Board is still reviewing the Campos-Blanton & Kellogg/Caparazza/Foster-Reynolds/Showalter ejections, so points are currently frozen until those are resolved. Nelson does indeed have two points.

Zac said...

Anon @ 8:34:

Really? When was the last time an umpire yelled at a player for striking out or booting a ground ball?

Anonymous said...

Blogger needs to work on a mechanism to successfully filter out the word "rat". It's getting used entirely too much around here.

Anonymous said...

Crowley, since no one respects the umpires, the question is as an umpire would you rather be respected or feared?

Anonymous said...

You think crowley is an umpire? Based off what? crowley is no umpire. He's full of shit, and uses things he learned at the amatuer level, and tries to analize pro umpires. He has no clue about umpiring.

Curt Crowley said...

1:38, I see you skipped right over the whole Nelson being a great umpire thing. Did you disagree with that part of my comment too?

Your comments demonstrate the problem with the mindset of some who comment. If you think it boils down to either being on the side of "the umpires" or not, I submit that you need to live a little bit.

It's not about being on the umpires side all the time. That's being an apologist. Strike that. It's not being an apologist, it's being a liar. It's worse than the idiots who always say the umpire is wrong every time. It's worse because, as an umpire, you're better than that.

This transcends Nelson and this particular play. Surely you understand that an umpire can be both right and wrong in one of these transactions. An umpire can hustle his butt off, get in perfect position and make a perfect call. He can also make a well-justified ejection. Then act like a jerk after the ejection. That's an example of an umpire being great and not-so-good on the same play.

Surely you also understand that an umpire can be flawless on an ejection today, but next week lose his temper and look like an a--. Is it anti-umpire to praise him for the flawless performance today, but say he acted like a jerk on the ejection next week?

Under your theory, if I say an umpire is perfect on the call, perfect on the ejection, but looked bad on the situation handling, then I'm an anti-umpire rat. I'm not trying to patronize you, but if you are an umpire, I know you're a hell of a lot smarter than that.

Anonymous said...

What curt will never understand is it doesn't matter what actually happened on a play. What matters is what the umpire calls.
If the umpire had 3 hours after the game to look at a play, and check the rule book he mite make a different call, but that's not reality you dumb RATS. The umpire gets 3 seconds tops to decide.
Curt you sound really really smart, hours after the game, and after having looked at 10 replays. And then you get to type your words, and even go back and change what you've written, hours after thinking about the play your talking about.
A person who abandons or betrays his or her party or associates, especially in a time of trouble is a Rat.
Curt your not an umpire, you'll never understand what it is like to be in those shoes, that's why it's easy for you to stick it up the umpire ass, no matter who it is. How are you not a Rat?

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