Even when Major League Baseball umpire Joe West gets it right, he gets it wrong.
West rightfully overturned a call by third base umpire Chris Guccione in the Florida Marlins’ 3-1 win over the Padres on Monday night.
Guccione called a line drive by Hanley Ramirez fair in the seventh inning; replays showed it was barely foul and West made the right call in overturning Guccione.
Then West did what he does best; he made the wrong call with his overly aggressive actions.
As soon as Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez came out to argue, West put up his hands up as if to tell Gonzalez not to come out. Within five seconds of arguing, Gonzalez was ejected by the hot-headed West.
Great umpires over history such as Doug Harvey let managers have their say and don’t eject people right away for arguing overturned calls. Ones like West think they are the show; and they are only too willing to prove they are the boss, such as West did Monday night.
“To me, that’s when an umpire tries to get a little bigger than the game,” color analyst Tommy Hutton said on the FSN Florida telecast. “That’s not his job.”
Hutton’s comments were right on.
If anybody needed to be ejected, it should have been West for trying to be bigger than our National Pastime; which he’s not!
West rightfully overturned a call by third base umpire Chris Guccione in the Florida Marlins’ 3-1 win over the Padres on Monday night.
Guccione called a line drive by Hanley Ramirez fair in the seventh inning; replays showed it was barely foul and West made the right call in overturning Guccione.
Then West did what he does best; he made the wrong call with his overly aggressive actions.
As soon as Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez came out to argue, West put up his hands up as if to tell Gonzalez not to come out. Within five seconds of arguing, Gonzalez was ejected by the hot-headed West.
Great umpires over history such as Doug Harvey let managers have their say and don’t eject people right away for arguing overturned calls. Ones like West think they are the show; and they are only too willing to prove they are the boss, such as West did Monday night.
“To me, that’s when an umpire tries to get a little bigger than the game,” color analyst Tommy Hutton said on the FSN Florida telecast. “That’s not his job.”
Hutton’s comments were right on.
If anybody needed to be ejected, it should have been West for trying to be bigger than our National Pastime; which he’s not!
