2B Umpire Mike Muchlinski ejected Cardinals shortstop Ryan Theriot for arguing a safe call in the bottom of the 6th inning of the Cardinals-Reds game. With one out and one on, Reds batter Joety Votto hit a ground ball to Cardinals second basemen Skip Schumaker to Theriot. Reds R1 Zack Cozart was ruled safe at second. Replays indicate that Theriot did have his foot on second prior to gaining possession of the ball, however had lost contact of second base before he finally gained possession, the call was correct. At the time of the ejection, the Cardinals were leading, 1-0. The Reds ultimately won the contest, 3-1.
This is Mike Muchlinski (76)'s third ejection of 2011.
Mike Muchlinski now has 15 points in the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (10 Previous + 3 AAA + 2 Correct Call = 15).
Mike Muchlinski was not drafted in 2011.
This is the 122nd ejection of 2011.
This is the 58th player ejection of 2011.
Prior to his ejection, Theriot was 0-3 in the contest.
Wrap: Cardinals at Reds 7/17/11 Wrap
Video: Muchlinski ejects Theriot
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13 comments :
That was a great call by Muchlinski. What took Tony La Russa so long to get out there? If he gets out sooner, he may save his player the probable suspension that is coming, since it appears he bumped Muchlinski.
Kinda funny how we've been talking up Muchlinkski... He's been up quite a while now and has shown very well for himself. Extremely well handled under tough circumstances. All three of Mike's EJs have been correct calls and handled appropiately.. THOUGH the throw takes the fielder away from the bad and he may have nicked the bag with his foot.. that is a nutcutter call.
Good call by Mike; even better rodeo clown job by....wait for it.....GOOOOOOOOOCH!
I agree, good call by Mike. The call was emphatic and immediate. Nice to see Chris Guccione jump right in there too. Pujols looked like he wanted to help out, but I bet Guccione said "I got this"
good trigger length there. He let Theriot yell a little bit and blow off some steam. the ejection didnt happen until they bumped caps
I like this call a lot. Muchlinski has great position to see very clearly the way that Theriot's foot is off the bag. Afterward, Theriot's reaction is beyond shameful. There is absolutely no reason for him to completely lose it like that.
Notice how Muchlinski keeps him in until contact, and then tosses him, and then does what he can to walk away. Great handling there. And kudos to the rest of the crew to get in there fast and keep the peace. If the other players had fed off of Theriot, this could have been really ugly.
I agree that Muchlinski handled the situation correctly. He kept him in as long as he could, and then tossed him when appropriate.
That being said, I don't think the call was correct. If you pause the replay video at 1:42, you will see that Theriot has possession of the ball and his right foot is touching the bag. Notice that the second base bag comes up from the ground a little bit. In real time, it definitely looks like he is off the bag. Slow it down though, and it's a different story.
Bottom line, I can't fault Mike for the call he made. As someone on this chain previously stated, it was a "nutcutter call." Some calls are straight up kicked, but this one definitely wasn't "kicked"
I could see that going into the "neighborhood" call category -- something that happens alot in MLB
"Neighborhood" is for a simple middle infielder moving across the base to make a throw to first. It's reasoning is that it would be an obvious out, and thus you are not going to make the middle infielder stay in the direct line of what could easily be an injury. It does not apply to a play where the throw is THE reason that the infielder came off the bag. That is a mistake by the defense, the penalty... a safe call.
Major League Baseball has suspended Ryan Theriot two games. Theriot is appealing the suspension.
That suspension is good news. It's nice to see MLB actually stick up for their umps occasionally.
@anonymous 2:29am-
That is the best explanation of the neighborhood play I've ever herd. I've tried for many years to explain it different ways, but you have found gold in your comments.
I was told if the play is wide open (anywhere) and for safety reasons, the fielder need NOT have the bag. For example, if a fielder (anywhere) can catch and come of any bag before the runner touches, it's called an out play. As you can see by my terrible wording, I usually ended up arguing with the person I was trying to explain it to. You however, like I said, have done what I couldn't do. thanks!
@anon 3:08am from anon 2:29am - Thank you much and my pleasure! I find it helpful to think of many things in the same structure that OBR is written (even though it is horribly constructed). What happened on a certain play... and thus what is the penalty. A penalty for throwing the ball out of play on the first throw by an infielder is two bases from the time of the pitch. A penalty for this, even though it is not written, is a safe call. This is also why you have wide open plays with a fielder missing the tag by a couple inches still called out. If a runner is making an attempt to avoid that tag by making an acrobatic slide or the fielder gets lazy and just doesn't feel like doing his job, that's a different story. Remember, at the professional level, you could be saving millions of dollars by keeping someone from an injury.
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