HP Umpire Brian Knight ejected Tigers Manager Jim Leyland for arguing a check swing call in the bottom of the 3rd inning of the Tigers-Mariners game. With two out and one on, Mariners batter John Jaso attempted to check his swing on a 1-2 curveball from Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander. An appeal was made to 3B Umpire Wally Bell, who ruled no swing.* Replays indicate that Jaso successfully checked his swing, the call was correct. At the time of the ejection, the Tigers were leading, 5-3. The Tigers ultimately won the contest, 6-4.
This is Brian Knight (91)'s first ejection of 2012.
Brian Knight now has 3 points in the UEFL (0 Previous + 2 MLB + 1 Correct Call [Crewmate] = 3).
Crew Chief Mike Winters now has 1 point in the Crew Division (0 Previous + 1 Correct Call = 1).
*Wally Bell is considered the calling umpire and Brian Knight secondary under UEFL Rule 6-2-c-1.
UEFL Standings Update
This is the 23rd ejection of 2012.
This is the 15th Manager ejection of 2012.
This is Jim Leyland's first ejection of 2012.
Wrap: Tigers at Mariners 5/8/12
Video: Leyland yells from the dugout over check swing call, Knight warns and ejects
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22 comments :
The argument seemed to be a continuation of an argument about a called ball that was clearly a strike and should have been the third strike to Seager before he drove in 2 runs the batter before. Incidentally, a similar pitch that was even more over the plate should have been a called third strike to Jaso and was called a ball - leading to Knight trying to pick a fight with Verlander.
That umpire had no idea where the strike zone was all night long.
He had no business ejecting anybody other than himself.
SteveJ, you are quite perceptive
Knight was not very good in this game including several key misses when Verlander was pitching... I'll let you judge for yourself.. Please have a barf bag handy!!
http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/zoneplot.php-pitchSel=all&game=gid_2012_05_08_detmlb_seamlb_1&sp_type=1&s_type=7.gif
Wow Knight had a small zone going tonight. Not good.
It only would have been strike two in the Seager AB.
A good ole fashion fake pitch out with a 100 mph fastball down the middle could always persuade a home plate umpire not to act so tough.
southpaw, that's about as idiotic a comment I've ever seen in these parts. Congratulations.
I believe it also could persuade a jury to lock up a pitcher for a very long time.
The video is up and it also includes Verlander's confrontation:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=21281083&c_id=mlb
The ejection was a little quick, but Leyland was arguing balls and strikes so he can't complain.
However, Knight ripping his mask off and yelling at Verlander was quite unprofessional. It never looks good when an umpire has to be restrained by a player. I wouldn't be surprised if Wally Bell informed Knight as much after the game. Umpires should be above showing up players, even if a player shows them up like Verlander did. Tell him to shut up, just be more subtle about it. It's not like Verlander was pulling a Zambrano and going nuts or anything either, he was just frustrated.
Southpaw...I don't detect even a hint of attempted humor in that post. You're one sick individual.
The ejection was quick, but you can't argue balls and strikes. With that being said:
So far this year there have been some glaring examples of umpire unprofessionalism. Looking at the pitch plot, its amazing that Verlander managed to stay in the game. I'll give Knight credit for not dumping Verlander, but that's about it. Not a MLB quality umpiring performance...
Burn the tapes on this one...
Watch where Laird sets up -- off the plate, inside. That *would* be a strike in most games, but if Knight had been "small" all night, I can understand the call.
That said, Knight probably overreacted, & could have sent Laird out to calm Verlander down.
tough night for Brian Knight.
He definitely had a small strike zone and just by looking at the graph, it doesn't seem like he was too consistent either.
I guess Leyland had to go because he was arguing balls and strikes, but the confrontation with Verlander looked bad.
Of course I don't know what was said but it just looks unprofessional on the vid.
This is the second time this year I've seen an umpire try to show up a pitcher. Doug Eddings, who has a history of doing this, barked out to Tim Hudson a week or two back. Knight's incident is more egregious because he ripped his mask off and basically charged the mound. At least Eddings kept his mask on and didn't approach Hudson until he walked off the mound.
I think if you look at Knight's expression at the end of the video, you get a sense that maybe he realized what he had just done didn't look so good.
One thing I hate about this site getting popular is all the stupid comments from people that have no idea on anything about umpiring. I liked it a lot better last year when the site was pretty much just full of umpires and we didn't hvae to read all these stupid comments about how MLB umpires dont know what they are doing among other things.
@ anon 12:01
I couldn't disagree with you more..what I enjoy about this site is the opinions... you have knuckleheads everywhere!! I think there is usually thought out intelligent discussions about plays, situations, and judgement. IMO this site is as fair as they come... There is nothing wrong with calling out an umpire where they might make a mistake especially if the mistake is a recurring theme.
There are some who say the MLB umpires are the best 68 umpires in the world... If you really believe say there isn't one umpire doing college baseball or say that got released in AA that isn't better then any one MLB umpire I would disagree but i wouldn't say you're stupid for thinking it... as it's one's opinion...
Gil and Jeremy and many others remember the umpire bashers in the past that would come onto the left field corner site and just crush the umpires... What makes this site good and often bad is the anon aspect as it allows MILB umpires to lurk and even post without anyone knowing who they are.. But unfortunately it also allows knuckleheads to be knuckleheads!
Don't allow one person to ruin your day anon 12:01!!
Seems to me that Verlander's argument is limited. Yes, Knight failed to give him at least a half dozen pitches at the bottom, and a couple on the inside. But he also gave Verlander at least that many completely ridiculous pitches on the outside. That's the kind of corner I would expect in a freshman game that no one wants to play.
That said, Knight did look very bad arguing with Verlander like he did. He may be young in MLB years, but it's not like he's 20 or something. He is, in fact, 37 to Verlander's 29, and has over 800 MLB games under his belt. He needs to act like it.
Thanks for that post tmac. I was anon 12:01. I do agree with everything you said but I was in a crappy mood when I made that post. I also would like to add that there is no way they are the best 68 in the world. There are some that probably didnt make it past umpire school that are better but they didnt do a good job of sticking out for those 5 weeks. Plus to make it to mlb you not only have to be good but you have to be lucky and it helps to know the right people. Hunter Wendelsted and Paul Runge are good examples and I'm sure there are more of them.
Brian Gorman's dad was an MLB ump. But Gorman has clearly shown that he belongs here. Mike Dimuro's dad was an MLB ump as well.
On Intentional Talk yesterday, Rose discussed Justin Verlander going to Brian Knight after the game and apologizing for the altercation. Seems they are on good terms now.
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