Orioles manager Buck Showalter and first baseman Reynolds were ejected after a call on Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta was reversed, ruling Reynolds’ foot to be off the bag. The initial ruling by first-base umpire Jeff Kellogg was out but, the call was overturned several moments later after Peralta argued and Kellogg conferred with home-plate umpire Tim Timmons.
Reynolds spiked his glove and was immediately ejected, then was pushed aside by an angry Showalter, who was also tossed. Reynolds didn’t hold back in his post-game interview. Here’s what he said..
[on the play] “First of all, Manny made a hell of a play. Tough throw and I stayed on the bag and that’s why I got so upset. I don’t understand how an umpire can miss a play at home plate that’s right in front of him and see that play from home plate at first base. It’s embarrassing that they would overturn a call that obviously has an impact on the game in the middle of the pennant race. Obviously by the way I acted, it’s very frustrating. I’ve never seen it in my life an umpire reverse a call after the right call is made. And it’s obviously on the replay I kept my foot on the bag. I was pretty mad.”
[shocked?] “Definitely. I’ve never in my life seen someone reverse a call. The guy in Colorado, the guy was off the bag by three feet. And my foot was on the bag and they reversed it. And it’s a shame they don’t have accountability. They don’t have any, if they make a bad call it’s like, ‘Ho-hum, next day is coming.’ If we have a bad couple of games we get benched or we get sent down. They have nobody breathing down their throats. They have nobody, they are just secure in their jobs. And they are probably over there right now laughing about it because they don’t worry about it. This game is way too important right now, where we are in the season, for these kind of calls to happen. And it’s very frustrating.”
[on being ejected after spiking his glove] “That’s terrible. Vic [Carapazza] has no authority to throw me out right there. all I did was an equipment violation, it’s a fine. You are supposed to point at it and the league offices decide what to do there. He just threw me out right there. I didn’t do anything wrong. If I go up to him and say something to him, that I shouldn’t say. That’s fine, throw me out there for that. But you can’t throw me out for throwing my glove. What’s the difference between a guy throwing his helmet after a bad call? It’s just part of it and everybody goes on their way. He had no right to throw me out there. There’s just so many words I can’t say on this camera right now.”
[on how tough this was to handle] “It’s almost like screw the Orioles by the umpires. I mean Jonsie was obviously safe at first base the other day, cost us a run against Boston. There’s got to be some kind of replay for this. It’s to the point where all these calls that get missed, cost people runs, cost people outs. Cost [starter Tommy Hunter] extra pitches. I can’t say how I really feel but it’s pretty obvious.”
And here’s the umpire reactions
Jeff Kellogg (First base umpire and crew chief)
[on the play] “I went to the home plate umpire, who was coming up the line – Tim Timmons – I knew he was going to have a look at the edge of that bag coming up the line.”
Tim Timmons (Home plate umpire)
“From when I saw the throw coming across, I knew that the throw was going to pull the first baseman that way. And at that point, that’s when I actually stopped and dropped anchor and looked for the foot. And when I saw the foot come up, the heel and the toe was on the bag. .. At the time he was going to glove the ball, when I saw the bottom of the whole foot and the foot dropped down onto the ground and I had daylight, I had him off the bag.”
“We just want to get the play right and that’s what we did there,” Kellog said. As to why he originally looked to Timmons, “The runner said something, the first base coach said something, [Tigers manager Jim] Leyland came out there.”
http://brittghiroli.mlblogs.com/2012/08 ... e-umpires/
Gotta love it.
