Podcast Minisode 13M - AJ Hinch's Mea Ron Kulpa

MLB Umpire Ron Kulpa's ejections of Astros Hitting Coach Alex Cintron and Manager AJ Hinch drew the ire of Houston and baseball fans alike, who took offense at situation handling derived from the same impassioned ball/strike argument OBR Rules Committee Chair Sandy Alderson last month said he wanted to see return to the sport.

Gil and Tmac discuss a bottom-first Gerrit Cole pitch ruled a ball that appeared in the strike zone, as well as the main event, a first-pitch knuckle-curve from Rangers pitcher Mike Minor to Astros batter Tyler White called "strike one."

How did this situation explode and what is an umpire's role in regard to managing a heckling dugout? Is it fair to expect an umpire to ignore bench jockeying, and what happens when this brand of hounding gets to a point where a manager accuses an umpire of giving an opposing team extra calls, possibly due to the actions of an opposing pitcher or catcher? (Hint: It happened in 2018).

We also discuss two prior AJ Hinch ejections with shared elements to Wednesday's events and what happens when a manager tries to tell an umpire how to officiate (and vice versa).

And is there a lesson in there about how to argue—both on the field and online? Judging by our recent comments section, there quite possibly is a teachable moment here: be nice.

Click the below play (▶) button to listen to "Episode 13M - AJ Hinch's Mea Ron Kulpa" or visit the show online at https://anchor.fm/the-plate-meeting. The Plate Meeting is also available on iTunes (Apple Podcasts), Google, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and several other podcast apps.

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Related Post: MLB Rules Chair Wants to Allow Ball/Strike Arguments (3/29/19).
Related Post: MLB Ejections 007-08 - Ron Kulpa (1-2; Cintron, Hinch) (4/3/19).
Related Post: MLB Ejection 048 - Tony Randazzo (1; AJ Hinch) (5/27/18).
Related Post: MLB Ejection S-1 - Angel Hernandez (1; AJ Hinch) (3/15/19).
Related Post: MLB Ejection 010 - Tim Timmons (1; Torey Lovullo) (4/8/18).

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