2B Umpire Jeff Nelson ejected Yankees Manager Joe Girardi for arguing a safe call (Unsportsmanlike-NEC) in the top of the 8th inning of the Tigers-Yankees game. With two out and one on, Tigers batter Austin Jackson hit a 1-1 sinker from Yankees pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to right field, outfielder Nick Swisher throwing to second baseman Robinson Cano in an attempt to retire Tigers R1 Omar Infante after he rounded second base. Replays indicate Cano's tag preceded Infante's return touch of second base, the call was incorrect; however, because Girardi was ejected during a pitching change following an ensuing RBI single by Avisail Garcia, Quality of Correctness is irrecusable. At the time of the ejection, the Tigers were leading, 2-0. The Tigers ultimately won the contest, 3-0.
This is Jeff Nelson (45)'s sixth ejection of 2012.
Jeff Nelson now has 7 points in the UEFL (4 Previous + 3 MLB Post-Season* + 0 Irrecusable* = 7).
Crew Chief Jeff Kellogg now has 9 points in the UEFL's Crew Division (8 Previous + 1 Irrecusable* = 9).
*Umpires receive 3 postseason base points pursuant to UEFL Rule 4-3-a. See 6-2-b-5 for irrecusibility.
Nelson said the following quote postgame: "The hand did not get in before the tag ... The call was incorrect."
UEFL Standings Update
This is the 179th ejection of 2012 and 1st ejection of the 2012 Postseason.
This is the 82nd Manager ejection and Joe Girardi's 5th ejection of 2012.
This is the Yankees' 6th ejection of 2012, T-3rd in the AL East (BOS 13; TB 7; NYY, TOR 6; BAL 4).
This is Joe Girardi's first ejection since September (Tony Randazzo; QOC = Correct).
This is Jeff Nelson's first ejection since October 2 (Freddie Freeman; QOC = Incorrect).
Wrap: Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees, ALCS Game 2, 10/14/12
Video: Omar Infante ruled safe at second base attempting to return after rounding on single to RF Swisher
Video: Nelson ejects Girardi during Boone Logan/Joba Chamberlain pitching change
Video: MLB Exec VP of Baseball Operations Joe Torre fields reporters' questions post-game
Video: Girardi pleads with professional baseball to expand instant replay beyond home runs
Well thats what happens when you're out of position and moving to make a call head steady easy call head moving and who knows what you'll end up thinking you saw!! Tough one to watch!!
ReplyDeleteEven the great umpires miss calls!!
This has nothing to do with why he got it wrong... but what is that stupid key hanging out of his back pocket? Probably to the umpire lockeroom but why is it dangling out like a stop watch???
ReplyDeleteYankees have just been collapsing as of late, with Jeter's broken ankle they lose their captain and need something to get fired up and start hitting. On the verge of two consecutive shouts after an absolute gem by Hiroki Kuroda and then this call happens. Rough and a good ejection there by Girardi.
ReplyDeleteToo bad it wasn't A-Rod getting thrown out. NYY has a better chance to win without Rodriguez
ReplyDeleteHe was clearly out! Bad call.
ReplyDeleteRobby Cano (don't ya know) can't buy a call when he's involved. Manager saved a player there
ReplyDeletesince nelson had no other plays between the call and the EJ, I would argue that it is CLEAR what is being debated and the QOC should be incorrect.
ReplyDelete@ anon 4:06 you are 100% right
ReplyDeleteYou know, you anon guys really need to get a life...why the focus on the the lanyard? It most likely IS a stopwatch, as the second base umpre is supposed to time how long the pitcher taks bewteen pitches and issue a warning for game delay when there are no runners on base. The stop watch is also used to watch the time in between innings so it always seems they a ready to play when the network is coming back from commercial.
ReplyDeleteThere, you have your answer. Do not bring it up again.
Shutout again, forget bad calls - Yankees can't buy a simple base hit period!
ReplyDeleteOh great, here comes Craig Sager and the TBS instant replay review video bandwagon.
ReplyDeleteNelson just cost the yanks the series
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable. We need instant replay to get things right. All the hard work can go down the drain on a bad call.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it when umpires get a full time contract in the bigs they atomatically think they can just throw out everything they had to do at umpire school and all there impovements through the minor leagues. I think he did get this call wrong because he was moving to get into position. I think if he stays still he sees the tag easy.
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:17
That call did not cost the yankees the series. If they lose the series its because they cant hit the ball.
"even the great umpire miss calls!!!"
ReplyDeleteJeff Nelson is very overrated. Not saying he is a bad umpire, but he is far from great. Just an absolutely horrific call.
"very overrated"...please, you need to stop drinking.
ReplyDeleteJeff Nelson-5 DS (2000-01, 05, 08-09); 5 LCS (2002, 04, 10, 11, 12); 2 WS (2005, 2009)
I think most MLB guys would like to be that "over rated".
He missed it...plain and simple. And the first person to know he missed...Jeff Nelson.
you know, part of this could be because Joe Girardi's dad just passed away but then again I could be wrong
ReplyDeleteHey, Josh7377: Your wish finally came true in regards to the Yankees being on the wrong side of a controversial call in the postseason.
ReplyDelete"Oh great, here comes Craig Sager and the TBS instant replay review video bandwagon."
ReplyDeleteYeah, no kidding! We need it and we need it now. The ONLY people who don't want it are umpires and people afraid of new technology (in this case, very old technology).
video is up
ReplyDeletehttp://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25410089&c_id=mlb
Are you serious? You were probably laughing your ass off when Jeffery Maier robbed Baltimore in 1996. Count yourself lucky because if it was not for Ibanez, Game 2 of the ALCS would have been in Detroit and the Yankees would not be in the visitor's dugout.
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAHA for arguing a close call at second.
ReplyDeleteHey, 4:55 Anon...
ReplyDeleteJust reported you dumbass comment to MLB Security...your posting IP address will be checked, and you'll be hearing from someone soon. Have fun with that.
Where is the like button? Well done
DeleteThe umpires, as a whole, aren't against instant replay. Most of them would welcome expanded instant replay with open arms. It would make their job easier. Management are the ones hesitant to impliment instant replay, they are worried about the "flow of the game".
ReplyDeleteI have heard this as well. The problem however is how encompassing would replay be? Maybe experiment with plays on the bases to begin.
DeleteANON 4:11 PM
ReplyDeleteGet a clue bro... I know what a stop watch is used for - I happen to use one in my games. Also, my eyes may not be the best but I can certainly tell the difference between a stop watch and a key :0
Bad call/positioning by a very good umpire but it did NOT decide the game. It's not the umpire's fault the yanks only got four hits the entire game. Cano, A-Roid & Granderson are batting a little of 100... but hey, if you want to put it on us, we got big shoulders
ReplyDeleteANON 5:05 PM
ReplyDeleteYou are exactly right... the umpires are NOT the ones stopping/delaying the implemenation of expanded replay. EVERY MLB stadium has to have the same # of cameras in the same exact positions so that every venue has the same replay options available. This takes time and money but I think they can't afford to wait much longer. I would expect some type of flag system, similar to football, to be instituted by the start of the 2013 season. And trust me, the umpires will be the first ones to support the new technology... as long as it's implemented/used in the proper way.
The Yankees are always getting screwed by the umpiring.
ReplyDeleteI nominate this statement for the UFEL's equivalent of a Razzie award. Seriously, thanks for making me laugh.
DeleteAgreed. The Yankees weren't even on offense for Nelson's blown call, so it's not as if Nelson contributed to them getting shut out. He is the reason they lost by more than just one run, but the Yankee bats were silent when it counted and that's the bigger deal for New York. A-Rod simply is pitiful this postseason and should be on the bench as should Swisher (ironic that he made this play we're talking about right now, though) and the others that can't put the bat on the ball. Nelson is just the scapegoat, but that's just because Alex Rodriguez costs too much money to bash completely off the team.
ReplyDeleteThe Yankees are getting screwed by lack of offense
ReplyDelete@SJR---yes i'm thrilled. Never thrilled to see a bad call, but at least this one should start to chip away at the long list I posted yesterday. It won't erase the memories of the last 16 seasons, but it's a start!
ReplyDeletehttp://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/14/jeff-nelson-made-one-of-the-worst-safe-calls-youll-ever-see/related/
ReplyDeleteLet's just say the author of this article is a moron.
I haven't even looked at the article, but agree with you based solely on the fact it's NBC.
DeleteNelson better be absolutely humiliated by that blown call. There is only one way he calls that safe, Nelson made up his mind as the play is developing instead of going through the play and then calling it. Infante's hand did not even make it to the bag! I am a non umpire anon who has really been siding with the umps lately. I still plan to in most cases, but when you miss that, you deserve what you get. Pathetic. And I hate the Yankees.
ReplyDeleteGive me a break about that "irrecusable" nonsense. Just another example of hiding behind "rules", instead of using common sense.
ReplyDeleteI am weary of the "how will we do this so the game won't take too long" nonsense. Mr. Torre, stop over thinking it. Give each manager one "challenge", if they come out to argue, they waive the right to challenge. If they challenge and then come out to argue after the challenge is decided, they are gone immediately with a hefty fine. IT IS NOT THAT HARD. Nelson blew it but let's take some pressure off him.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you're going to see any more than fair foul down the lines and catch/trap calls for 2013.
ReplyDeleteCatch/trap scares me. Let's say R1 no outs. Ball hit to short right-center ruled a catch, runner doubled up @1st. Changed to "trap"...Do we have R1, R2? Who's to say if was originally ruled a trap the OFer couldn't force R1 @2nd?
Torre was on target with his comments regarding instant replay, "It always seems we want the [expanded] replay to be of the last thing that happened." "We have to make sure we don't have any knee-jerk reaction. We've settled this tag play at second base and all of a sudden, something else comes up and the game goes on forever and ever."
ReplyDelete@Anon 6:30: Common sense tells me that if the manager arguing the call didn't work the first time, it's definitely not going to work the second time.
ReplyDeleteIt's the key to the bullpen in his back pocket.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the next guy in right field who didn't make that catch a girl could make over at the right field wall. Just like the idiot who dropped the ball on the next play after Denkinger's call that everyone conveniently forgets about. It's still a 1-0 game without the call, no questions asked end of argument.
Why was he more or less set up like you would in a 2 man system on the 3B side rather than at the edge of the grass on the 2nd base looking right into the tag without even having to move.
Ball beats runner, tag goes down to ground or almost to ground (not just waist or knee level), automatic out like the old days, until you now have to worry to the Nth degree of some guy just maybe sneaking his hand in by a quarter inch somehow, rather than penalize his boneheaded play and not worry that he sneaks his pinky around the tag before the tag is applied right in his face. You get what you ask for.
BAPACop
ReplyDeleteWhat does that have to do with the fact that Nelson blew the call and it should count against him? We all know why he ejected Girardi.
Girardi came back out after seeing a replay and rubbed it in Nelson's face. That's unsportsmanlike conduct and will get you an early shower every time.
ReplyDeletePeople seem to forget that Nelson's out there on the field all the time, without benefit of seeing the replay until the game is over. People assume that because everyone watching the game knew he blew it, that he did, too, and that somehow that excuses bad behavior.
Really, Girardi got tossed to try to fire up his moribund team, but that fell flat.
ANON 4:06 AM
ReplyDeleteGood points - all these camera angles and super slow mo get's in the umps' heads sometimes. They seem to overthink things because they're worried that the camera from the blimp may show the tip of the runner's spike actually touched the base before the tag. One classic example of this is Jerry Meals call at the plate in the 17th inning of a game last year. The ball and tag beat the runner by a mile but Meals called him safe cuz it appeared the tag was a little lazy and came up too soon. (I think it was in Pittsburg).
anon 4:06:
ReplyDeletethat's a GREAT point.... the ESPN generation of get EVERY call right takes a No brainer call for a game that isn't on TV and turns it into a "i don't think he tages his belly button i better call him safe and overthink this no brainer call that should be out all day except now you can't miss any calls even when i guy is tagged on his stomach oh what the ehll SAFE"
all those thoughts in 1.2 seconds
By the was if you're doing an amateur game or a game that isn't on TV and runner doesn't do anything special to avoid the tag like that and the ball is in the neighborhood of in front of the bag... PLEASE call him out. TV games are a different animal!!
It's kind of like the old Questec days where some stadiums had the cameras and some didn't... pitchers felt they were getting squeezed in the parks that had Questec. The joke was "that pitch may be a strike, but it's not a questec strike"
ReplyDeleteI can tell you from the limited experience I have working televised games (ESPN U, BTN, etc), my zone is definitely smaller when that little red light comes on from the CF/LCF camera. That is why I don't like the animated box used in the CWS - it is just not practical for the college game because we don't call that tight of a zone during the regular season (when most of the games are NOT televised).
It's less of a concern on the bases because the smaller networks don't have as many replay camera angles but I would be lying if I said that it's not in the back of my mind. Ofcourse, this could be because I'm not used to working televised games every day but I can't even imagine the pressure of working games on NATIONAL tv w/ 50,000 people :0
So Nelson is my primary umpire, why is it still showing 4 points instead of 7?
ReplyDeleteStandings should now be updated.
ReplyDeleteThere is some umpires not at spring trining, i.e. Dreckman, Emmel, Runge, Cousins etc
ReplyDeleteWhy is that?
ReplyDelete