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One of the great things about baseball is that the game allows the players to police themselves. You go 'in' on our guy, we'll go 'in' on your guy. You steal a base while up seven runs after the sixth inning...someone is getting plunked. It's great, it has a karma feel to it, it's like life in a nutshell. That is, until the umpires get involved with their irrational behavior.
The Cubs/Braves game last night was a perfect example of that. On Friday night, Alfonso Soriano hit three bombs to lead the Cubs to victory. Soriano hits leadoff so he comes up on Saturday and is plunked.....on the first pitch of the game. Immediately both teams were warned, which meant the Cubs couldnt pitch inside the rest of the game for fear of being tossed. They lost and it wasn't because of that, but you get my point. In Saturday's game, Edgar Renteria went off on the Cubs to lead the Braves to victory. He comes up to bat on Sunday night, on ESPN, and is plunked with two outs in the first inning. He takes a step or two towards the mound and the home plate umpire immediately warns both teams. Ok, that's cool. It's the same thing that happened the night before......but then.....the dugouts emptied, the bullpens guys came screaming in and Ted Lilly was ejected from the game. Ten pitches into the game.
As benches and bullpens started to empty, Cubs manager Lou Piniella asked home plate umpire Jim Wolf why he ejected Lilly.
"He threw at him," said Wolf who was miked for the ESPN broadcast.
"How do you know?" Piniella said.
"I knew he was going to do it," Wolf replied. "I was waiting for it."
If anything, a warning should have been given to both teams before the game. This would have justified the ejection. That didn't happen and the Cubs were left shorthanded for the rest of the game. It's a shame when umpires take the game into their hands and play a large part in what the outcome will be.
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I have no problem with Soriano being hit, although the Fox News Sports guys had a good point (I can't believe I just wrote that) that maybe Hudson should've hit the Braves pitchers for throwing meatballs to Soriano.
Throwing Lilly out was a bad call by the home plate umpire. Everyone new Renteria was going to get hit, either issue a warning before the game starts then eject Lilly when it happens or warn the teams after he gets hit. Then to eject Lilly and not Renteria for his obvious blow to Fontenou's(spell check)face is rediculous. I think some disciplinary action should be taken against the homeplate umpire and maybe even fine Renteria for his malicious attack. Good job Fontenou on not reacting to getting hit and getting himself killed by Renteria
I haven't been able to find video of the Renteria/Fontenot mix-up. Was it pretty blatant?
oh yeah...i was skeptical at first but when they played the video there was no doubt.
Hmm...I wonder if that had something to do with why Renteria was pulled out in the 4th inning. I'm pretty sure Marmol is crazy enough that he would have hit him again.
I'm pretty sure he had an AB between the time he got hit and the time he was pulled? Find that video and take a look, he hit him pretty good!
I think that Marmol should have plunked the first batter he faced just to get a point across. Then he should have done the whole point to the head, cause I'm a crazy guy, ala Pedro. The whole Renteria attack on a rookie was classless and he should have been thrown out for that. I think Pinella would've had to keep him on the team if he clocked Renteria though.
Wolf's comment that, "I was waiting for it." should indicate that he had preconceived notions about how the game was going to be called, and while I understand that an ump goes out there with a gameplan in his head, the arbitrary nature of that whole fucking game was ridiculous. Renteria did take a shot at Fontenot's head, though, plain as day. He came in, not in a slide but in a sitting position, and when the tag was coming in he clearly bring his elbow up to the kids snothorn. He should have been tossed. To be absolutely honest, though, I am tired of seeing people get tossed for acting stupid. real tired
So, Renteria because he was hit and the pitcher was tossed should mean the end of the situation? Doesn't this fall back on the whole notion of policing themselves? Renteria sliding into second and throwing up an elbow could simply be him saying, "Don't fucking throw at me." Saying that it is classless because it was against a rookie is simply ignorant to say. Welcome to the big leagues kid, you play up the middle, which means you are going to get spiked every game and taken out all the time...this is your job, get used to it. Fontenot could have easily respond like Pedroia did, "I know who he is, and maybe the next time he is sliding into second, maybe my armslot will be a little bit lower next time..."