With 15 ejections in the first five days of the month, Major League Baseball may have seen more ejections in July than Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens may have seen over any entire season. Yeah those are different injections but you get the picture.
After starting out with five heave-hos on July 1st, the total for the month hit 15 after two players and a manager were given the boot in the Detroit Tigers game in Anaheim yesterday.
After Angels’ DH Bobby Abreu struck out in his first at bat, he argued with home plate umpire Angel Campos and was sent to the showers; according to our references it’s the first ejection in his career.
By game’s end, Tigers starter Justin Verlander and manager Jim Leyland were booted by first base umpire Joe West to make it a trifecta. For the record, West, taking a play out of Jim Joyce’s book, made a blunder on the call at first that led to the lone run in a 1-0 Angels’ win and the Tigers’ ejections.
With three in one game and 15 in less than a week we have to imagine MLB’s Three Blind Mice might be at it again. This rekindles the ongoing debate on the poor officiating in MLB and you have to wonder if it’s way past time for the league to make some type of move expanding instant replay, even in the regular season.
Considering how willing players and managers are to make a case arguing balls and strikes while knowing they’ll be sent home early, it may also be time to advance into the world of technology. With all the technology in today’s world, when are we going to see a computerized strike zone that is set precisely to a zone that guarantees an equal playing field?
While some may argue that taking the “human factor” away would hurt the game, when that human factor determines outcomes of playoff games and changes history then it may be time to develop it.
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Used with permission of the author.
Jay Donetelli is a Tampa-based freelance sportswriter and contributor to Sports Climax. With an opinion sharper than an Ovechkin skate blade with the sting of an Ali jab, Donetelli has a loyal cult of readers who have found a way to love him.
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