Tag: Ejections

Alex Cora unleashed a wild tirade on the umpires after getting ejected for arguing an interference call

Alex Cora was HEATED.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora might’ve had some NFL games to watch on Sunday because his afternoon at Fenway Park ended just in time for the early kickoff.

Heading into the season, MLB made interference calls around the bags a point of emphasis for umpires. Basically, the league wanted to legislate out of the game fielders blocking the bag with their legs. Still, it’s a seldom-called rule, and the selective enforcement understandably doesn’t sit well with most managers.

That’s exactly what happened during the first inning of the Red Sox-Twins game.

With the speedy Byron Buxton on second, Nick Pivetta threw over to the bag for a pick-off attempt. The play wasn’t close with Buxton returning safely. But Vaughn Grissom somewhat impeded Buxton with his leg.

Second base umpire Dan Merzel didn’t make the interference call, but a conversation with Alan Porter at third base had the crew ruling interference. Buxton was rewarded third base on the play, and Cora went into full tantrum mode.

No manager wants to get ejected in the first inning, but if it’s going to happen, might as well put on a show. Cora certainly did that.

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Mets pitcher Jorge López furiously tossed his glove into the stands after getting ejected in 8th-inning meltdown

The Mets are a MESS.

There isn’t a team that can manage to find a new low quite like the Mets. They can make a late-game meltdown look like an art form, and that was certainly the case on Wednesday afternoon.

After dropping the first two games of their series with the Dodgers, the Mets went into the eighth inning tied at 3-3. Reliever Adam Ottavino struggled, allowing two runs, and he was replaced by Jorge López. That was when everything really fell apart for the Mets.

The Dodgers added four more runs in the inning, which included a two-run shot from Shohei Ohtani. López was understandably frustrated with the outing, but that seemed to carry over into a conversation with third base umpire Ramon De Jesus. In the middle of Freddie Freeman’s at-bat, De Jesus ejected López from the game.

At that point, López was so heated that he tossed his glove over the netting and into the stands before heading to the clubhouse.

It was unclear why López was upset with De Jesus as the umpire actually saved López from a throwing error earlier in the inning. But something was clearly said that got De Jesus — who is notoriously quick to eject players/managers — to toss López in the middle of an at-bat.

If that sequence doesn’t sum up the Mets’ season, I don’t know what does.

Alex Cora threw a weird tantrum and was ejected over a correct call from umpire Pat Hoberg

He’s baseball’s best ump for a reason…

When teams see umpire assignments, they know right away that they’re in for a long night when certain umps (i.e. Angel Hernandez, Brian O’Nora, Laz Diaz …) are scheduled to work behind the plate. Pat Hoberg is not one of those umpires.

That’s what made Red Sox manager Alex Cora’s tantrum on Tuesday night so strange.

While no human umpire can compete on a daily basis with an automated strike zone (ABS or robot umps), Hoberg is the one umpire to have a perfect game behind the plate … and he did so in he World Series. He’s not going to be perfect every night, but he has the credibility to call games as he sees it.

So, if a manager is going to freak out on Hoberg, he best be certain that Hoberg missed the call. Or else he’ll end up looking like Cora did here:

During the seventh inning, Cora was furious when Mauricio Llovera’s 3-2 pitch to Alex Bregman was accurately called a ball. He came storming out of the dugout and drew a line around the plate to argue with Hoberg. Cora was quickly ejected. And though the frustration might not have been about that single pitch, Hoberg hadn’t missed a call in that half of the inning.

The Red Sox broadcast tried to frame the exchange as if Hoberg was having an off night, but his scorecard — though not his best performance — showed that his missed calls were borderline. He was consistently calling the lower edge of the zone as a ball, but otherwise, it was a fine outing that actually favored the Red Sox.

No wonder fans were perplexed by the whole tirade. It didn’t make sense.

Mics clearly picked up David Ross’ fiery insult to the umpire after his first-inning ejection

The ump didn’t even miss the call!

Chicago Cubs manager David Ross seemed ready to get an early start on his All-Star break because, well, he didn’t stick around for very long at all on Sunday.

Ross was ejected five pitches into the bottom of the first inning after he took exception with a ball call from home plate umpire Alex Mackay at Yankee Stadium. He also might’ve been annoyed with Mackay calling Kyle Hendricks for a pitch clock violation to start the inning. But either way, it was especially hilarious to see Ross so upset because Mackay hadn’t missed a call yet in the inning.

That didn’t matter to Ross, though, because he emerged from the dugout after the ejection and brought some heat for Mackay. We heard it all, thanks to the YES Network microphones. (Warning: NSFW language)

We could hear him say as he got into Mackay’s face:

“You got one goddamn game before you get a break and you’re that (expletive) bad already?”

That material was top notch, but again, Ross wasn’t even right.

If you’re going to get ejected in the first inning, at least be on the right side of the argument. Ross must’ve had somewhere to be.

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Brewers manager Craig Counsell getting ejected came with a perfect broadcast play-by-play

If your team’s manager is going to be ejected, you might as well get a laugh out of it.

While the Cincinnati Reds had a wonderful Saturday at the ballpark, the Milwaukee Brewers saw their manager get ejected for seemingly decrying a call from umpire John Tumpane.

During the top of the ninth inning, Brewers pitcher Abner Uribe got called for a balk by Tumpane, the second balk called during the game at that point.

Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell seemingly said something about Tumpane’s call that the umpire didn’t like, and he ejected Counsell for the rest of the game.

Counsell looked a bit bewildered by the ejection and walked up to Tumpane to discuss the decision, and the FOX Sports 1 broadcast crew gave some very humorous and insightful narration to the two’s interaction.

Some possible NSFW language to follow. 

Baseball fans have a historic distaste for umpires, and there’s undoubtedly plenty of Brewers fans at home who had no idea why this ejection happened in the first place.

At the least, we got a great breakdown of what was possibly going on between Counsell and Tumpane (with a few good zingers tucked in for good measure).

Buck Showalter went off on the umpires after a botched HBP call led to another Mets meltdown

NOTHING is going right for the Mets.

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen held a press conference on Wednesday as he hoped to address the frustrations about the team’s dreadful season thus far. But when it came time to actually play the game on Wednesday, it was more of the same.

Seriously, nothing seems to be going right for the Mets, and a 5-2 loss to the Brewers was another example of that.

With Joey Wiemer up in the eighth inning with two on and two outs, a high-and-inside sinker from Adam Ottavino caught Wiemer right on the hand. It looked in real time that Wiemer swung through the contact to his hand, and replays confirmed that. It was swing — like, a full swing.

First base umpire Ron Kulpa, however, incorrectly ruled that Wiemer held up his swing, so he was awarded first base instead of a painful strike. Mets manager Buck Showalter was already frustrated about the call. But when Christian Yelich hit a two-run single three pitches later, Showalter lost it.

He came out to argue the call with Kulpa and was subsequently ejected. It was his second ejection in four days as the season continued to go off the rails for the Mets.

After the game, Showalter said that he was surprised how both the home plate umpire Carlos Torres and Kulpa at first base missed the call.

MLB fans echoed that sentiment: It was a terrible missed call. But it was the exact kind of thing that would happen to the struggling Mets.

Nats manager Davey Martinez had NSFW meltdown over a bad call and the broadcast mics picked up all of it

The comedy cannot be topped here.

When umpire Doug Eddings mentioned that he could hear everything coming form the dugout on Thursday, it turned out that he really meant it.

Nationals manager Davey Martinez found that out the hard way, but at least he got his money’s worth.

As the Diamondbacks and Nationals played a make-up game in front of a small crowd at Nationals Park, it become quickly apparent that the microphones were picking up clear conversations on the field. That led to a funny exchange in the first inning with the D-backs dugout. But the real fireworks happened in the bottom of the fourth inning when a low pitch was called for a third strike on C.J. Abrams.

That had Martinez absolutely furious from the dugout, and we could hear the exchange unfold clearly as it led to Martinez’s ejection. (Warning: Some NSFW language)

The argument started with Eddings saying, “Really, you’re gonna go there?” Eddings initially let Martinez get some words in, but he didn’t tolerate the Nats manager saying, “Get it right! Get it (expletive) right!”

“OK, you’re done,” Eddings said. “You’re gonna cheap shot me?” That led to Martinez putting on a show and brushing dirt on the plate.

Just a spectacular display all the way around. I wish we could hear every argument with umpires because it made for excellent television.

Yankees No. 1 prospect Anthony Volpe got ejected right as he crossed home plate on a HR

That’s a new one.

It’s been an interesting weekend for home run trots across the minor leagues.

On Friday, newly promoted Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Henry Ramos got ejected when he tossed his helmet at an opponent to start a brawl during his game with the Reno Aces. He’d get called up to the big-league club two days later.

On Sunday, it was New York Yankees No. 1 prospect Anthony Volpe’s turn to get in on the home-run trot shenanigans — though I’d probably pin this incident on an oversensitive umpire.

During the fourth inning of the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades’ game against the Greensboro Grasshoppers, Volpe extended Hudson Valley’s lead with an opposite-field, 3-run home run. But keep an eye on the umpire as Volpe crossed home plate.

With zero hesitation, home plate umpire Tyler Witte ejected Volpe for something he said while rounding third. It’s unclear what Volpe said — or what he was upset about given that the calls went his way during the at-bat — but Witte had an active game tossing players. Left fielder Elijah Dunham was ejected by Witte an inning earlier after a groundout.

Despite losing the best prospect in the Yankees organization for half the game, the Renegades broke out a ridiculous 14-run ninth inning (with two grand slams!) to win, 23-4.

Excellent video shows what Aaron Boone said in his ejection after an atrocious balk call

Boone was fired up.

The Yankees and Royals had themselves a wild one on Monday with New York blowing a lead four times in the seventh inning or later. It still ended in an 8-6 Yankees win, but manager Aaron Boone wasn’t around to see much of that action.

Boone was ejected in the seventh inning after home plate umpire Pat Hoberg called Yankees pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga for a balk — a call that was definitely missed. Loaisiga had already thrown away a pick-off attempt, which let Jarrod Dyson advance to second. Then, when Loaisiga stepped off the rubber, Hoberg immediately called a balk.

Boone understandably lost it. The call was awful. And thanks to another great breakdown video from Jomboy Media, we have an idea of what was said during the tirade. (Warning: NSFW language).

Hoberg seemed to think that Loaisiga was moving towards home plate, but really, he was just stepping off the rubber to re-collect himself. Boone came out to argue the call, returned to the dugout and came out again to get ejected.

The umpire apparently told Boone that he didn’t want to throw him out, which isn’t something that too many umpires admit. But Hoberg did toss Boone because Boone wouldn’t stop.

Dyson would end up scoring after all that to tie the game. The Yankees, though, won in 11 innings.

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An excellent breakdown video showed what was said in Joey Votto’s fiery first-inning ejection

Have to blame the umpires for that one.

Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto was ejected in the first inning of Saturday’s game against the Padres after a dispute over a checked-swing, third-strike call turned into an extended argument with the umpires.

Odds are that you saw how Votto’s early exit disappointed a young Joey Votto fan at her first big-league game, and both the Reds and Votto worked to make it right for her.

But man, it’s tough to ignore just how fired up Votto got over a checked swing that sort of looked like the correct call. And now we have a better idea of what was said.

As they’ve done so well over the years, Jomboy Media showed off their lip-reading skills and posted a breakdown video from Saturday’s fiery scene. (Warning: A LOT of NSFW language)

It’s pretty clear that home plate umpire Ryan Additon needlessly sparked the entire altercation by taking issue with Votto’s harmless disagreement with third base umpire Chris Guccione. All Votto said was, “I didn’t go,” which clearly wasn’t inflammatory at all.

And then the crew went for more by ejecting David Bell after everything had already calmed down.

Just a weird scene all the way around, especially after seeing what Votto said at the start.

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