Beltre’s Ejection Exposes Problems with Umpires

In the 2nd inning of the nightcap of the doubleheader with the Seattle Mariners last night, a situation arose that represents a major issue with the MLB. After questioning a called 3rd strike, Adrian Beltre walked away from the plate and into the dugout. That should have been the end of any problems, but when Beltre came back on the field, he was ejected within moments. The reason? Young home plate umpire Dan Belino thought he heard Beltre insult him, even though the Sox 3rd baseman was facing the Seattle dugout and cleanly joking in Spanish with his friend and former teammate Felix Hernandez. With Beltre 90+ feet away and not facing Belino, he was ejected him. After Beltre began yelling, Francona proceeded to attempt and restrain him then get an explanation from Belino. When he got no explanation because fellow umpire Angel Hernandez was playing interference, Francona flew off the handle and got ejected. This situation exposes a serious problem with umpires in the game of baseball.

An umpire is responsible for making out/safe and strike/ball calls primarily, with a secondary role of maintaining order and not allowing the game to fly out of control. The problem has arisen with he final word…control. More and more umpires are trying to unnecessarily flex their muscles and put their mark on a game where it doesn’t belong by making an unnecessary call or throwing players and coaches out of games without real reason. No one knows what would have happen had Beltre not been tossed, but I promise you it effected the way the rest of the game played out. The impact was huge on the team both psychologically and just physically not having his bat in the lineup and for what? Because a young hot-shot umpire wanted to stick his head where it doesn’t belong?

"A young umpire got in the midst of something he didn’t know. That shouldn’t have happened. It’s a shame. Beltre was just having fun with Felix. He wasn’t even talking to [Bellino]. That was unfortunate. – Terry Francona on Wednesday night’s situation"

Sadly, this issue is arising more and more in baseball and is one of the reasons I adamently support full instant replay. A game that is 5 or 10 minutes longer because of a few close calls is better than a game that is filled with controversy. This season alone there have been a number of incidents where either an umpire made a poor call or stuck their nose where it didn’t belong and there is no system to check or override these occurances. I fully understand that being an umpire is a tough job and there is a human factor, but if a bad or unjustified decision is going to alter the trajectory of a game and potentially a season, something needs to be changed because it is a disgrace to the great american sport.

"If a guy’s old enough to throw you out, he’s old enough to get yelled at. I just wanted an explanation and I couldn’t get around Angel to get an explanation. – Terry Francona"

Wednesday’s situation poses another issue related to explanation of calls. The reason Francona got pissed was not because Belino tossed Beltre, but because he was not afforded an explanation of what happened. If you are a major league umpire, whether permanent or a replacement ump like Dan Belino, you need to be responsible for your actions and explain why a decision was made, especially if you are behind the plate. Earlier in the year, when Jim Joyce made the terrible safe call at 1st base to cost Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers a perfect game, there was an explanation and an apology. Although it didn’t fix the situation or reverse the call, at least he manned-up and knew he made a mistake. In this case, Belino just made the call and then had his ‘body guard’ Angel Hernandez run interference.

My final issue with this situation related the the young umpire calling balls and strikes. He is a AAA ump who is filling in for someone on vacation, why in a 3-game set is he calling balls and strikes behind the plate? Does that worry anyone else? I’m not going to bring in the fact that each game means something this time of year line that Beltre did in his post-game comments, but don’t you think the umpire ‘controlling’ (there’s that word again) the game should be more experienced? At least someone who has been in the MLB for most of the season? This issue needs to be addressed in the off-season in connection with expanding instant replay, because far too many games are being decided by bad calls. Here is my plea the the big man above…

To: Bud Selig

Hey ‘Bud’dy,

My message is very simple. Put your ego aside and implement full instant replay in the MLB. The technology is already in place, you just need to give the okay and require the umpires to use. Like the Little League World Series, each coach can have 1 challenge and can keep challenging until they lose one. Begin the new system in the post-season, because even worse than having a regular season game decided in error is a post-season game. Then, while you are chatting with the umpires, push a new review system. The World Umpires Association has their own ‘review’ process that is seemingly a joke and results in nothing, so earn your giant paycheck and push for a more comprehensive and effective evaluation process as well as added training for AAA call-ups (specifically about controlling their egos). I know I am not alone in this situation and deep down you know this is what is best for the MLB going forward.

Sincerely,

Brian Phair