Pages

▼

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Drought: Five Days with No Ejections Most Since July 2011

Through Thursday, MLB has experienced five consecutive days with no ejections, the most recent occuring on Saturday, September 22 with Ejection 175: Ed Hickox (2), Robin Ventura's dismissal for arguing a balk call.

More meetings, shuffling of the crews and...less ejections?
The UEFL has been here before. After Marty Foster ejected four Red Sox and Orioles on July 10, 2011, no ejections were recorded until Cory Blaser's dual dismissal of Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta and Manager Jim Tracy over a safe call on July 16. Dedicated observers will be quick to note the 2011 All-Star Game was played on July 12, which correctly suggests that the current drought of five consecutive playing days with no ejections has surpassed all playing day droughts from the 2011 season, not withstanding Opening Week, with no EJs recorded from March 31 (Opening Day) until Tim Tschida's ejection of Nats pitcher Todd Coffey on April 6.

As for mid-season, the most recent six-day (with at least one game played each day) drought occurred from June 8-13, 2011, between Eric Cooper's ejection of Oakland batting coach Jim Skaalen on June 7 and ending with Larry Vanover's ejection of then-Padres catcher Yorvit Torrealba on June 14.

If you're thinking of a long-haul week of peace, the most recent seven-day (with at least one game played each day) drought occurred from August 27-September 2, 2009, bookended by Todd Tichenor's ejection of then-Twins shortstop Orlando Cabrera (8/26/09) and Jim Wolf's ejection of legendary Braves manager Bobby Cox (9/3/09). Cox would also be ejected the very next night (9/4) by umpire Brian Gorman.

Though at the current rate of 175 ejections per 2340 games played—or one heave-ho every 13.37 games—the 2012 regular season is projected to finish with 182 ejections, 17 shy of the 199 mark reached in 2011 (down from 201 in 2010), 2012 already has surpassed the '09 season's 165 ejections, though 2012 is on pace to become a season with the second-fewest ejections since the AL/NL merger in 2000, a year which owned 225 ejections of its own. On the opposite side of the spectrum, 2003 holds the 21st century record for single season ejections with 289, followed by 2001 with 243 and 2005 with 227.

All above information is available for reference as part of the UEFL Portal's Historical Data spreadsheet.
at

11 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 28, 2012 at 3:59 AM

    Maybe they have stopped taking their Viagra and PED's.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MattABSeptember 28, 2012 at 9:10 AM

    We need at least one more good old-fashioned meltdown before the regular season ends. The kind where a player goes nuts, then the manager gets up in the ump's face, and won't leave the field, no matter how many times the crew chief tries to guide him to his dugout. Just one more please!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 28, 2012 at 11:24 AM

    on a friday night, the last of september, there will be an ejection, trust me!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. UmpsRuleSeptember 28, 2012 at 5:13 PM

    Could this be a UEFL curse?

    ReplyDelete
  5. RussSeptember 28, 2012 at 6:45 PM

    No ejection, but congratulations to Ed Hickox on calling his second no-hitter. Homer Bailey of the Reds did it Today. Bailey only had 1 walk and had a great command of the strike zone. From what I saw, Hickox had a solid zone as well.

    ReplyDelete
  6. tmacSeptember 28, 2012 at 7:54 PM

    I think MLB dos an excellent job making sure the Call-ups are not on important series and often putting a 2nd CC on a "big" series.... That coupled with less PEDs and most teams in relax mode cause a lessening of EJs this late in the year. As much as many of the bashers hate to admit it.. Umpires are kindly and gentler!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousSeptember 28, 2012 at 9:16 PM

    heres the plot of Ed Hickox's on Homer Bailey's no-hitter what do you guys think of it

    http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/zoneplot.php-pitchSel=all&game=gid_2012_09_28_cinmlb_pitmlb_1&sp_type=1&s_type=7.gif

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousSeptember 29, 2012 at 4:40 AM

    I was wrong no ejection but maybe this weekend

    ReplyDelete
  9. TroySeptember 29, 2012 at 8:08 PM

    Interesting article in the NY Daily News. I normally take anything in this rag with a grain of salt, but is there truth in this?
    Who is he talking about?
    "This summer, three of the consistently lowest rated umpires were quietly let go by MLB, not for their performance but for off-the-field personal issues. Another crew chief, I’m told, was allowed to go home after being involved in numerous blown calls and complaining that he just couldn’t take the pressure — but will reportedly be brought back next year to go through the minors as an evaluator!"

    http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mlb-umpires-strike-article-1.1170059

    ReplyDelete
  10. UmpsRuleSeptember 29, 2012 at 9:25 PM

    What an awful article. The umpiring in MLB is fine, can't say the same for the sportswriters. I am curious as to what umpires have been let go, unless that part was just made up.

    ReplyDelete
  11. RussSeptember 29, 2012 at 11:03 PM

    Woops, look like we had a duplicate post. I posted this in the Dan Capron thread. You can read my full thoughts there but I think Madden is exaggerating. In short these 3 Umps who were "fired" I doubt were actually fired. My guesse were Rapuano, Wendlstedt and Dimuro as they have been missing for awhile and the latter 2 usually do rate pretty badly. I still don't believe him though. No way would Rapuano get all of the sudden fired.

    ReplyDelete