This is Phil Cuzzi (10)'s third ejection of 2011.
Phil Cuzzi now has 0 points in the Umpire Ejection Fantasy League (-4 Previous + 2 MLB + 2 Correct Call = 0).
Phil Cuzzi was not drafted in 2011.
*This call is correct per UEFL Rule 6.ii.b. (Miller Rule).
---- Confidence Interval, Pitch #2: (0.918, 1.097) / Pitch #3: (0.911, 1.090)
----- Per UEFL Rule 6.ii.b. (Miller Rule), if the CI generated above includes only numbers greater than |1.000|, the correct call must be a ball. If the range partially or completely includes numbers less than |1.000|, the correct call may be a strike. Both callable pitches fall into this latter category and were correctly called strikes.
This is the 179th ejection of 2011.
Video: SOON
Pitch f/x courtesy Brooks Baseball
Why did Cuzzi not eject Butterfield on the strike two pitch? After he called that first strike for strike 2, you have a third base coach yelling from the dugout, Cuzzi engages him, why not toss him then? He obviously is doing enough to merit attention from the home plate area at that time. Then the very next pitch is in the same spot, and Cuzzi's mechanic indicates he's frustrated; he knows it's a strike, and he knows that because he didn't address the issue on the previous pitch, he's going to have an ejection because Butterfield or Farrell or whoever in the dugout is going to argue about pitch location again.
ReplyDeleteThird base coach from the dugout?
ReplyDeleteThe Blue Jays were batting at the time. The K was on the third out of the inning, so the ejection came as Butterfield was going back to the dugout. Makes a difference in the whole situation.
Let me help out as I was there (albeit in the outfield with the bleacher bums). After the strike two pitch, someone was yelling from the dugout, I don't know who. Cuzzi in turn turned to talk to whoever was yelling in the dugout to basically tell them to knock it off and shut up. While the third base coach was going back to the dugout, when he got there, the dugout was still yelling at Cuzzi - it was more than just one guy. At that point, Cuzzi turns and motions for someone to go. I don't know if it was because he specifically knew it was Butterfield who needed to go or otherwise, but at the end of it all, Butterfield was evidently the one as he was the one who reacted to it.
ReplyDeleteBut again, the issue did start with Wakamatsu and some of the other guys in the dugout. It wasn't any one coach. Butterfield just looked like he continued to ride Cuzzi after Butterfield got back to the dugout. That's why he was gone. Wakamatsu came out briefly to talk to Cuzzi, but it doesn't look like Wakamatsu was arguing anything. Looks like whatever happened, not only Cuzzi, but Wakamatsu too agreed that Butterfield needed to go home.
That's the third ejection we've had this season for arguing strikes right at the top of the "official" strike zone. Are the umpires starting to call these pitches more often, when in the past the top of their zones might have been not much higher than the belt? Just curious...
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that Cuzzi has always called the high strike more frequently than most other MLB umpires. Many players are not used to the pitch being called.
ReplyDeleteButterfield is the son of the late Yankee vice president of scouting and player development Jake Butterfield. So, who do you think drafted him in 1979. Yep, the Yankees. Wonder why? After 5 years in the minors he was given the job of minor league roving infield instructor with the Yankees no less. He moved over to minor league coaching then to 1st base coach of the Yankees. Went to Arizon then back to Yankees and was fired from AAA Columbus before going to the Toronto Organization.
ReplyDeleteSince this is the former team that dumped him, it makes since for him to be whining with the umpires against his former employer. What a crybaby.