Tag: Joe West

Fans crushed MLB umpire Joe West after his horrible missed call changed the Yankees-Red Sox game

That call could change the playoff race.

The Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays are in a dead heat for the American League wild card spots. And if Boston ends up missing out on a postseason appearance, it’ll be tough to overlook the horrible night that umpire Joe West had on Sunday.

He very well may have impacted an entire playoff race.

The Red Sox took the lead in the seventh inning after Yankees outfielder Joey Gallo dropped a fly ball in left field. With the two teams tied in the standings, this game had major postseason implications, and the Red Sox had all the momentum — briefly.

The game would swing in the top of the eighth when Aaron Judge should have been called out on a caught foul-tip third strike. Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez caught the ball and as he was reaching for it in his glove on the transfer, the ball fell out.

West just straight-up missed the call, giving Judge new life.

Astros fans ripped umpire Joe West after his dreadful strike call ended a 9th-inning rally

Robot umps now.

When the MLB world collectively complains about an umpire, they’re usually talking about Angel Hernandez — who is dreadfully bad. But longtime MLB umpire Joe West isn’t too far behind.

The Houston Astros certainly have reason to be upset.

The Padres and Astros played a wild game on Sunday — which included Manny Machado making a catch in deep right field — that ended on a walk-off home run by Jake Cronenworth. But in the top half of the ninth inning, the Astros had a golden opportunity to take a late lead. West just didn’t let that happen.

West already had a shaky start to the inning when he called a pair of strikes on pitches well off the plate with Yuli Gurriel hitting. Gurriel was visibly frustrated. But later in the inning, Aledmys Diaz faced an 0-2 count with runners at the corners and two outs.

John Kruk absolutely lost it on the Phillies broadcast over Joe West’s controversial call

He was MAD.

There are several big-league umpires who baseball fans dread seeing on the schedule to work their games. Obviously, Angel Hernandez is at the top of that list, but Joe West isn’t too far behind.

Even when West makes the right call, he does it in a way that enrages baseball fans. It had Phillies broadcaster John Kruk throwing a tantrum on the air.

West was the first base umpire for Game 2 of the Phillies’ doubleheader with the Nationals on Tuesday when he made a controversial interpretation of MLB rules to cost Philadelphia a stolen base in the eighth inning (extra innings in this seven-inning format).

According to West, the Phillies’ Alec Bohm made contact with Kurt Suzuki’s leg on his backswing, which negated Roman Quinn’s attempt at stealing third.

Neither Quinn nor Bohm were called out, which could have been the case in an interference scenario. West applied MLB Rule 6.06(c) to this situation, calling a strike on Bohm and forcing Quinn to return to second. Here’s the rule:

If a batter strikes at a ball and misses and swings so hard he carries the bat all the way around and, in the umpire’s judgment, unintentionally hits the catcher or the ball in back of him on the backswing, it shall be called a strike only (not interference). The ball will be dead, however, and no runner shall advance on the play.

So, technically, this was the correct call. But the spirit of the rule applies to contact that affects the catcher. At most, Bohm tapped Suzuki’s knee pad and didn’t impeded with the throw. West also made this call from first base instead of leaving it to Vic Carapazza who was two feet away.

Kruk’s outrage was probably misplaced if you’re going by the rules, but West’s application of that rule from 90-plus feet away certainly warranted some frustration.

Bohm would later walk in the at-bat, but the Phillies would strand the bases loaded and lose, 8-7.

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Umpire Joe West on ejecting Nats GM: ‘If it was Donald Trump, I’d eject him, too’

A weird ejection from a game on Sunday.

Veteran umpire Joe West has already made headlines in 2020 for his views about COVID-19 — in July, he spoke about how he thought the statistics about the virus weren’t “accurate.”

On Sunday, he was once again in the news for a bizarre ejection during a Washington Nationals loss to the Atlanta Braves: he tossed Nats general manager Mike Rizzo, who was sitting in a luxury suite.

Initially, it was thought that he ejected Rizzo for not wearing a mask while sitting in one of Truist Park’s upper deck, but it turns out that West had heard enough of Rizzo’s remarks that he could hear in a mostly empty stadium.

From the Associated Press:

The 67-year-old West, on track to set the record for most games umpired in big league history next year, said the crew told the commissioner’s office Friday that Rizzo was hollering at umpires earlier in the Nationals-Braves series.

“We informed the office that if it continued we’d stop it,” West said. “And we did.”

West also had this to say, which has ignited all kinds of opinions on social media: “I wouldn’t take that from a player. I wouldn’t take that from a manager. If it was Donald Trump, I’d eject him, too. But I’d still vote for him.”

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Accidental bat to head bloodies umpire Joe West

Veteran MLB umpire Joe West was bloodied and had to leave the Nats-Blue Jays game after being hit in the head on a backswing of a bat.

Joe West is probably the one umpire who spends the most time in the headlines. The veteran added another one Thursday, one he would certainly rather forget.

While behind the plate in the Nationals-Blue Jays game, West took a shot to the head off the bat of Bo Bichette.

Everyone reacted with speed and panic as the blood started to stream down the side of West’s head.

Gators News: July 7, 2020

Continuing to delve deeper into the summer doldrums the ugly head of COVID-19 continues to pervade areas of our society, including sports. 

As we continue to delve deeper into the summer doldrums, the ugly head of COVID-19 continues to pervade all areas of our society, including sports.

For the time being, the powers that be have every intent on moving forward with a college football season this fall, but many are becoming more and more skeptical. Some believe that time is running out for the season to begin as scheduled and others just do not think the season is going to happen — not for a lack of trying, however.

Professional sports have also been struggling to get their protocols perfectly implemented as well as dealing with the “human factor” with some among the game who may not be reliable in complying with safety measures or may pose potential threats themselves. For Major League Baseball, once such example appears to be umpire Joe West.

However, alluding back to the earlier topic: if you want college football (or any sports), please wear your masks and practice social distancing. If we all work together as a team, we can get through this pandemic and have our sports again.

Around the Swamp

It’s great to be a Florida Gator!

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