There is no comparison I can think of in all of sports quite like an ejection in a baseball game. Sure, NBA players get the ridiculous "flagrant 2" called every once in a while, but it doesn't share the same drama. In baseball you get face to face arguing, spitting, a crowd cheering with excited anticipation, and then it is all capped off with a dramatic "you're outta here!" arm toss from the umpire. I love it.
In yesterday's Sox-Twins game, both managers and both catchers were ejected in each half of the 7th inning for completely different reasons. In the top half of the 7th, Mike Redmond, the twins catcher and 12 year veteran, was ejected for the first time in his career. Because Mauer was playing DH, the twins had to forfeit their DH spot to put Mauer behind the plate In the bottom half of the 7th, Varitek was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Beckett, pitching a gem, got heated after getting squeezed on what he felt was a third strike. Varitek stood right up and got in the Ump's face, protecting Beckett from getting the heave ho. Say what you want about Varitek, but there are some undeniable intangibles that he brings to the game. He was having a great game (2 home runs) and could have just let the bullpen finish up the inning (Beckett was nearing his pitch count anyways), but Tek is just that type of player and knows that his job is to protect his pitcher. That type of play is going to go a long way in what is sure to be a closely contested pennant race.
1 comment:
Regarding those ejections, there were a couple columnists (I can't find links right now) who wrote that no one should have been tossed from the game. It was the umps first big league game and he seemed a little trigger happy to me.
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