The Chris Moeller Archives

The Phil Cuzzi Show, starring Phil Cuzzi. Also starring, some baseball players

The eighth inning of tonight's game was a complete travesty. I don't know what to even say about it. Wait, it's coming... You have an umpire throwing an All-Star slugger out of the game in the eighth inning with two outs for arguing ball four on a 3-1 pitch, the tying run already at first, and the best hitter in the world due to bat next.
The call, by the way, was utter garbage, as anyone could attest. Baseball wants its players to be emotional and play to win, and you have an umpire stepping in and essentially giving the Astros the win in the eighth inning. And for what? Questioning a call? Sickening. The umpires have completely marred the 2005 season. Baseball is (again) going to deliver the match-up FOX wants-- market #4 vs. market #3, the Black Sox Curse vs. Clemens and Pettitte. I feel like a sucker.

10:50pm update: How does Cuzzi respond after the game? He doesn't. He fails to appear in the interview room, and baseball declines to send a pool reporter into the umpire's room. MLB president and CEO Bob DuPuy: "It doesn't matter if it's a playoff game or a regular-season game. (You can't argue balls and strikes.) Tony (the Cards manager) was warned twice, and when he didn't do it, he was thrown out. It's a shame, but those are the circumstances."
DuPuy acknowledged that the ball to Edmonds may have been out of the strike zone, but why was there not more latitude shown at that point in the game and the season? No explanation offered, only "The four pitches that got LaRussa tossed were all balls." We'll wait for Cuzzi to appear. At least Doug Eddings had the balls to face the media after he blew the American League Series.

posted by CM @ 10:36 PM