MLB Ejection 077 - Marty Foster (1; Terry Pendleton)

HP Umpire Marty Foster ejected Braves Bench Coach Terry Pendleton for arguing a balk no-call in the top of the 5th inning of the Braves-Mets game. With two out and one on, Mets pitcher Steven Matz threw to first baseman James Loney, to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and picked off Braves baserunner R1 Chase d'Arnaud. Replays indicate Matz appeared to initiate his natural pitching motion before throwing to first base (see video link, below, of Matz's natural motion from Set Position), the call was incorrect. Play was challenged and affirmed by the UEFL Appeals Board, the call was incorrect. At the time of the ejection, the Mets were leading, 3-1. The Braves ultimately won the contest, 4-3.

This is Marty Foster (60)'s first ejection of the 2016 MLB regular season.
Marty Foster now has -1 points in the UEFL Standings (1 Previous + 2 MLB - 4 Incorrect Call = -1).
Crew Chief Mike Winters now has 6 points in Crew Division (6 Previous + 0 Incorrect Call = 6).
*Rule 5.07(a)(2): "After assuming Set Position, any natural motion associated with his delivery of the ball to the batter commits [the pitcher] to the pitch without alteration or interruption."
*Rule 6.02(a)(1): "If there is a runner, or runners, it is a balk when: The pitcher, while touching his plate, makes any motion naturally associated with his pitch and fails to make such delivery."

This is the 77th ejection report of the 2016 regular season.
This is Atlanta's 2nd ejection of 2016, 4th in the NL East (MIA, NYM, WAS 3; ATL 2; PHI 0).
This is Terry Pendleton's first ejection since March 29, 2015 (Jeff Nelson; QOC = U [Balk No-Call]).
This is Marty Foster's first ejection since July 11, 2015 (Victor Martinez; QOC = N [Balls/Strikes]).

Wrap: Atlanta Braves vs. New York Mets, 6/18/16 | Video available via "Read more"

Tmac's Teachable Moments - The Time Play in LA

Tmac presents a teachable moment analyzing the time play in Los Angeles Thursday night.

This is an interesting time play. Too often, I see umpires so anxious to signal time plays with two outs in situations that never actually happen (i.e. runner on 2nd and two outs). At higher levels, a large number on time plays actually occur with one out.... How is this possible? Lets take a look at this play from Thursday's Milwaukee Brewers-LA Dodgers game. One out, runners on 1st and 3rd, and we have Ryan Blakney working the plate and the umpire at 2nd for the call is Crew Chief Mike Everitt. A fly ball is hit to left field that should easily score the runner from 3rd, but we have a crafty runner from 1st that is trying to get into scoring position with two outs. The 3rd base umpire goes out on the play leaving us in a 3-umpire system. Luckily we have a thoroughly engaged plate umpire who is not caught unaware that there a time play developing and he is in a straight line from the back of home to 2nd base for his best possible angle. Blakney scores the run and while there was no angle that clearly showed whether the tag came before or after the runner touched the plate he was emphatic in scoring the run. What makes this play even more difficult is the resulting play at second.

Everitt, who is the 1st base umpire at the beginning of this play has a runner standing, not sliding into 2nd and the tag occurs on the outfield side which makes Blakney's view blocked. Essentially, this is a play that was handled really well by the umpiring crew and I thought it should be brought to light. In addition, who doesn't like hearing Vin Scully's voice!

Featured MiLB Ejection - Alex Ziegler (Pat Kelly)

MiLB Umpire Alex Ziegler's ejection of Pensacola Manager Pat Kelly during Thursday's Southern League (AA) action is our featured Minor League Baseball ejection.

1B Umpire Alex Ziegler ejected Blue Wahoos Manager Pat Kelly for arguing an out call (reversed safe call) in the bottom of the 3rd inning of the BayBears-Blue Wahoos game. With none out and none on, Blue Wahoos batter Joe Hudson hit a 1-1 fastball from BayBears pitcher Billy Buckner on the ground to first baseman Kevin Cron, who threw to Buckner as he and Hudson arrived at first base. After an initial safe call, and an ensuing BayBears argument and umpire conference with HP Umpire Matt Winter and 3B Umpire Travis Godec, Ziegler ruled Hudson out. Replays indicate Buckner, in his attempt to tag first base with his foot, possibly grazed the top portion of the bag with his right foot ahead of Hudson's arrival, the call was irrecusable. At the time of the ejection, the BayBears were leading, 1-0. The BayBears ultimately won the contest, 3-2.

Wrap: Mobile Bay Bears vs. Pensacola Blue Wahoos (SL), 6/16/16 | Video available via "Read more"

MLB Ejection 076 - Bob Davidson (1; Anthony Rendon)

HP Umpire Bob Davidson ejected Nationals 3B Anthony Rendon for arguing a strike three call in the bottom of the 12th inning of the Cubs-Nationals game. With none out and none on, Rendon took a 3-2 sinker from Cubs pitcher Trevor Cahill for a called third strike. Replays indicate the pitch was located over the outer half of home plate and knee high (px .564, pz 1.587 [sz_bot 1.480]) and that all other eligible pitches during the at-bat were properly officiated, the call was correct. At the time of the ejection, the Cubs were leading, 4-3.

This is Bob Davidson (61)'s first ejection of the 2016 MLB regular season.
Bob Davidson now has 2 points in the UEFL Standings (-2 Previous + 2 MLB + 2 Correct Call = 2).
Crew Chief Dale Scott now has 6 points in Crew Division (5 Previous + 1 Correct Call = 6).

This is the 76th ejection report of the 2016 regular season.
This is the 39th player ejection of 2016. Prior to ejection, Rendon was 0-5 (2 SO) in the contest.
This is Washington's 3rd ejection of 2016, T-1st in the NL East (MIA, NYM, WAS 3; ATL 1; PHI 0).
This is Anthony Rendon's first career MLB ejection.
This is Bob Davidson's first ejection since September 30, 2015 (Terry Collins; QOC = U [Throwing At]).

Wrap: Chicago Cubs vs. Washington Nationals, 6/15/16 | Video available via "Read more"

Marlins File Doomed Protest Over Out of Base Path Call

The Marlins filed a protest over Umpire Cory Blaser's out of the base path call that drew the ire of Miami Manager Don Mattingly. With none out, two on (R1, R2), and fans barely in their seats in the top of the first inning of the Marlins-Padres game, Marlins batter Christian Yelich hit a ground ball to Marlins first baseman Wil Myers, who attempted to tag out Yelich as Yelich slid to his right trying to avoid Myers' tag. After 1B Umpire Cory Blaser immediately ruled Yelich out for running more than three feet away from his base path, Mattingly ran out to argue with Blaser.

Upon crew consultation, Blaser upheld his out call, prompting Don Mattingly to file a protest with Crew Chief Jeff Nelson, alleging that Blaser misapplied Rule 5.09(b)(1) regarding a runner being deemed out of the base path.

Here is why Don Mattingly's protest will be unsuccessful (or would have failed had SD won the game):

Diagram of the play: Is Yelich out of sorts?

Since the Marlins won the game (as the non-protesting team usually does), the protest was automatically dropped, but Mattingly's protest of Blaser's OBR 5.09(b)(1) rules application was invalid from the beginning since it concerned a question of judgment and not of application (Rule 8.02(a): "Any umpire's decision which involves judgment...is final"). The following section addresses why Mattingly's protest was of an ineligible judgment call, as opposed to a rules misapplication.

Rule 5.09(b)(1) states that a runner is out when, in the umpire's judgment, "He runs more than three feet away from his base path to avoid being tagged unless his action is to avoid interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A runner’s base path is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely."

Mattingly's protest concerned Blaser's ruling of when "the tag attempt [occurred]" and B1 Yelich's position at the time of said occurrence. However, the official baseball rules do not specifically delineate such a tag attempt's timing. OBR's Definition of Terms specifies that, "a tag is a touch of the base/runner with the ball/glove," so a tag attempt, logically, is an attempt to touch the runner in this fashion ("attempt" is not defined).

Because there is no specific rule that specifies when, precisely, a "tag attempt" begins (much less what a "tag attempt" actually is), there is no rule which Blaser could have misapplied. As such, Mattingly's protest could not have possibly concerned a rules application, and instead, concerned a judgment call, which, by rule, is not eligible for protest. (Unless, of course, Blaser for some reason had called the runner out for being out of the runner's lane [the lane is irrelevant for this play since interference is not in question], though field microphone audio indicates Blaser used the out-of-the-base-path umpire's shorthand of, "he's out of the base line!" confirming this as an OOB call and not an RLI one: again, no interference = no RLI.)

Perhaps Mattingly played the role of magician and used the classic guise of misdirection to distract Blaser and Nelson from his otherwise-potentially ejectable conduct, drawing their attention away through any umpire's favorite pastime: a rules discussion.

Now that we've established the inadmissibility of Mattingly's protest, we can turn our attention to Blaser's judgment call and consider whether or not his call was correct. Replays appear to indicate that at the moment F3 Myers executed a tag attempt for the first time, B1 Yelich appeared to be running in the absolute center of the runner's lane (which, again, has no bearing on this play other than to provide a physical landmark or reference point as to the three-feet specified in 5.09(b)(1), though good on Yelich for running fully within the lane, given our recent spate of RLI controversy). Yelich's furthest deviation from the established base path appears to have been somewhere in the realm of three feet, though replays are ultimately inconclusive as to whether he ran and dove over three feet out of his way.
(For more on this sort of play, see: Baez Out of Base Path, 5/23/16 [1B Umpire Dana DeMuth])

BONUS: Replays do indicate that Myers appeared to actually tag Yelich, meaning that had Blaser reversed his call to "safe," and Padres Manager Andy Green subsequently challenged the play, it likely would have been overturned to an out due to Myers' tag.

MLB Ejection 075 - Jerry Meals (1; Jake Odorizzi)

HP Umpire Jerry Meals ejected Rays P Jake Odorizzi for arguing a ball four call in the top of the 6th inning of the Mariners-Rays game. With two out and none on, Mariners batter Leonys Martin took a 3-2 fastball from Odorizzi for a called fourth ball. Replays indicate the pitch was located over the outer half of home plate and knee high (px .542, pz 1.805 [sz_bot 1.530 / MOE 1.613]), the call was incorrect. At the time of the ejection, the Mariners were leading, 5-4. The Rays ultimately won the contest, 8-7.

This is Jerry Meals (41)'s first ejection of the 2016 MLB regular season.
Jerry Meals now has -1 points in the UEFL Standings (1 Previous + 2 MLB - 4 Incorrect Call = -1).
Crew Chief Jerry Meals now has 2 points in Crew Division (2 Previous + 0 Incorrect Call = 2).

This is the 75th ejection report of the 2016 regular season.
This is the 38th player ejection of 2016. Prior to ejection, Odorizzi's line was 5.2 IP, 5 ER, 4 BB.
This is Tampa Bay's 2nd ejection of 2016, 4th in the AL East (TOR 10; BOS 4; BAL 3; TB 2; NYY 1).
This is Jake Odorizzi's first career MLB ejection.
This is Jerry Meals' first ejection since July 31, 2015 (Bryce Harper; QOC = N [Balls/Strikes]).

Wrap: Seattle Mariners vs. Tampa Bay Rays, 6/14/16 | Video available via "Read more"

MLB Ejection 074 - Mark Carlson (1; Robin Ventura)

HP Umpire Mark Carlson ejected White Sox Manager Robin Ventura for arguing a ball four call in the top of the 7th inning of the Tigers-White Sox game. With two out and none on, Tigers batter Miguel Cabrera took a 2-2 slider from White Sox pitcher Matt Albers for a called third ball. Replays indicate the pitch was over the outer half of home plate and below the hollow of the knee (px .368, pz 1.681 [sz_bot 1.65 / MOE 1.73]) and all eligible pitches during the at-bat were properly officiated, the call was correct. At the time of the ejection, the Tigers were leading, 8-7. The White Sox ultimately won the contest, 10-9, in 12 innings.

This is Mark Carlson (6)'s first ejection of the 2016 MLB regular season.
Mark Carlson now has 7 points in the UEFL Standings (3 Previous + 2 MLB + 2 Correct Call = 7).
Crew Chief Paul Emmel now has 2 points in Crew Division (1 Previous + 1 Correct Call = 2).

This is the 74th ejection report of the 2016 regular season.
This is the 29th Manager of 2016.
This is Chicago's 5th ejection of 2016, T-1st in the AL Central (CWS, MIN 5; DET, KC 3; CLE 1).
This is Robin Ventura's 3rd ejection of 2016, 1st since May 6 (Bill Miller; QOC = U [Warnings]).
This is Mark Carlson's first ejection since September 11, 2015 (Buck Showalter; QOC = U [Warnings]).

Wrap: Detroit Tigers vs. Chicago White Sox, 6/13/16 | Video available via "Read more"

MLB Ejection 073 - Mike Muchlinski (1; Justin Turner)

HP Umpire Mike Muchlinski ejected Dodgers 3B Justin Turner for arguing a strike three call in the top of the 8th inning of the Dodgers-Giants game. With two out and one on, Turner took a 1-2 sinker from Giants pitcher Cory Gearrin for a called third strike. Replays indicate the pitch was located over the outer half of home plate and thigh high (px .652, pz 2.566) and that all pitches during the at bat had been properly officiated (replays also indicate ESPN's live K-Zone graphic was, as it often is, improperly or inaccurately calibrated: px .652 should not show as the outside corner [px .7083 is the edge of home plate, see UEFL Rule 6-2-b-1 for the math]), the call was correct. At the time of the ejection, the Giants were leading, 2-1. The Giants ultimately won the contest, 2-1.

This is Mike Muchlinski (76)'s first ejection of the 2016 MLB regular season.
Mike Muchlinski now has 6 points in the UEFL Standings (2 Previous + 2 MLB + 2 Correct Call = 6).
Crew Chief John Hirschbeck now has 13 points in Crew Division (12 Previous + 1 Call = 13).

This is the 73rd ejection report of the 2016 regular season.
This is the 37th player ejection of 2016. Prior to ejection, Turner was 0-4 (SO) in the contest.
This is Los Angeles' 2nd ejection of 2016, T-1st in the NL West (ARI, COL, LAD, SD 2; SF 0).
This is Justin Turner's first ejection since May 31, 2015 (Marty Foster; QOC = N [Balls/Strikes]).
This is Mike Muchlinski's first ejection since September 7, 2015 (Melvin Upton, Jr; QOC = Y [Balls/Strikes]).

Wrap: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants, 6/12/16 | Video available via "Read more"

MLB Ejection 072 - Chris Guccione (2; Dale Sveum)

1B Umpire Chris Guccione ejected Royals Hitting Coach Dale Sveum for arguing a check swing (strike three) call in the top of the 7th inning of the Royals-White Sox game. With two out and two on, Royals batter Salvador Perez attempted to check his swing on a 2-2 splitter from White Sox pitcher Chris Sale. Play was reviewed and adjudicated by the UEFL Appeals Board (Check Swing; 5-3-1), the call was correct. At the time of the ejection, the White Sox were leading, 7-5. The White Sox ultimately won the contest, 7-5.

This is Chris Guccione (68)'s second ejection of the 2016 MLB regular season.
Chris Guccione now has 7 points in the UEFL Standings (3 Previous + 2 MLB + 2 Correct Call = 7).
Crew Chief Jim Joyce now has 5 points in Crew Division (4 Previous + 1 Correct Call = 5).

This is the 72nd ejection report of the 2016 regular season.
This is Kansas City's 3rd ejection of 2016, T-3rd in the AL Central (MIN 5; CWS 4; DET, KC 3; CLE 1).
This is Dale Sveum's first ejection since August 28, 2013 (Lance Barksdale; QOC = N [Check Swing]).
This is Chris Guccione's first ejection since May 5, 2016 (Joe Girardi; QOC = Y [Balk]).

Wrap: Kansas City Royals vs. Chicago White Sox, 6/10/16 | Video available via "Read more"

Unringing the Bell - Replay Reversal New Wrinkle for Cards

A reversed catch/trap call turned into a Reds single, leaving Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny shaking his head as Crew Chief Jerry Meals simply listened to the complaint.

With one out and one on (R1) in the bottom of the 8th inning of a 3-2 ballgame, Reds batter Ivan De Jesus hit a fly ball to shallow right field, where Cardinals right fielder Stephen Piscotty dove in an attempt to catch the ball, ruled an out and catch by 1B Umpire Sean Barber as Reds baserunner R1 Tyler Holt retreated back to first base to tag up.

Meals and Barber await New York's decision.

Upon Replay Review as the result of a request by Reds Manager Bryan Price and Crew Chief Review by Jerry Meals, Barber's ruling was overturned: F9 Piscotty was ruled to have trapped the ball on a bounce; De Jesus was credited with a single and awarded first base, and R1 Holt was placed at second base.

What is so unusual about this play, of course, is that F9 Piscotty quickly gathered himself and threw the ball into second base, meaning that had R1 Holt continued his run, there is a chance he would have been forced out, just as there is a chance he would have beaten the play. That judgment (the Replay Official's placement of Holt at second base) is what Mike Matheny called into question.

Matheny argues runner placement with Meals.

As Cardinals Manager Matheny discussed Holt's placement with Meals, we were reminded of the "You can't unring the bell" response that first accompanied expanded video instant replay back in 2014. Even as far back as Tim Welke's ejection of Joe Girardi in 2012, the "you can't unring the bell" argument surfaced.

Succinctly, Welke appeared to have possibly signaled "Time" using the standard arms-up mechanic during a fair/foul ball situation. After Welke subsequently lowered his right arm to point "Fair," Yanks skipper Girardi was ejected arguing that Welke had already called the play dead, only to "unring the bell."

"I thought was pointing that the ball was dead."
- Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully.

Even earlier in 2012 (far before expanded replay), tmac foresaw such a problem, writing for the Majority in the UEFL Appeals Board's decision on Dale Scott's misleading mechanics/triple play call at Dodger Stadium, resulting in Bud Black's ejection: "In any case it's my belief that from a mechanical standpoint you can not kill a play like that and change your mind. It's as bad as calling a guy out on a catch in the outfield getting guys to go back to their bases and switching to a no catch call."

When Tim Timmons ejected Chip Hale last season during a pending Replay Review call, a new discussion began, conjecturing that umpires may very well err on the side of "not ringing the bell," knowing that replay can simply correct the call after the fact.

However, as the Welke and Scott plays illustrates, there are several instances in which the bell may be rung in baseball that Replay Review may not be able to satisfactorily fix ex post facto, such as the umpire's call of "Time" or dead ball, and the improper catch/out call in the outfield, such as the present play.

The only difference, of course, is that Replay Review opened up that Pandora's Box such that umpires on the field cannot simply rely on common sense to distribute fairness: Replay will simply call what the video evidence demonstrates, without regard to runners or fielders being put in jeopardy.