Ryan Howard Tossed: Why the MLB Needs to Rein in Its Umpires

With two outs in the 9th inning, the Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins homered to tie Houston at 2-2.

With two outs in the 16th inning, and two men on, Ryan Howard should have been in a position to win the game 5-4.

But Howard had long hit the showers.

Why?

He was tossed from the game several innings earlier by third base umpire Scott Barry, a minor league replacement ump.

—See the worst calls in sports history—

Howard’s crime?

Disagreeing with two appealed check swing calls in the same at bat, the latter resulting in Howard striking out (and going 0-7 on the night).

The first check swing, Howard put his hands on his hips, which Barry mocked right back.

“Unprofessional,” is how Phillies color analyst Larry Anderson described it on the radio.

The second check swing, which was a TERRIBLE call if you’ve seen the replay, garnered almost an immediate ejection after Howard’s reaction.

Howard charged Barry and had to be restrained.

The Big Guy was HOT, pointing at the home plate umpire saying, “Don’t you try to stop me.”

This is the same ump that tossed the Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman after throwing his bat to the ground on a swinging strike three (foul tip). The same Ryan Zimmerman that had NEVER been ejected from a game.

The Nats’ Rob Dibble was apoplectic.

“I shouldn’t know these guys’ names,” he fumed, referring to the umpires.

So instead of Howard standing in with a chance to redeem himself for an 0-7 night, Roy Oswalt got pressed into duty. As a left-fielder no less.

This marked the second night in a row that the the Phillies were on the wrong side of an umpire “judgment call.” 

First base umpire Greg Gibson ruled Monday night that Michael Bourne did not run out of the basebath after a bunt attempt, nor did Ryan Howard apply the tag. 

Replays showed both calls were suspect.

Houston would push what proved to be the winning run across the plate with two outs in the inning. A run that would not have had a chance to score had Bourne been ruled out at first.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel would eventually be tossed. According to the Phillies radio broadcast, it wasn’t the first time this particular ump had ejected Manuel.

He then cited MLB regulations saying he wouldn’t talk about the call. (Funny how Jim Joyce was able to)

So, two consecutive games. Two consecutive controversial losses.

Perhaps it’s karmic retrobution for the Phillies extra innings win over the Florida Marlins on August 6, when earlier in the game third base umpire Bob Davidson called Gaby Sanchez’s line drive down the third base “foul.”

Replays showed the ball was clearly inside the third base bag, yet Davidson was defiant afterwards, saying he called the play correctly.

There are two problems here.

First, the drumbeat for instant replay is growing louder.

Purists can claim “human element” all they want. I consider myself a baseball purist, and the game needs replay.

More time is wasted with managers arguing the call instead of just looking at the play and making a determination.

The Little League World Series is using replay, and a close play at first base between Chinese Taipei and Saudi Arabia was reviewed and overturned this past weekend.

It was quick. It was decisive.

It was correct.

The second issue is the attitude problems some of these umpires have. 

Maybe Barry was looking to make a name for himself. He is a replacement, afterall.

Davidson could have asked for help from the home plate umpire on the Bourne play.

He did not.

Nor could the other umps intervene.

Gibson had to ask for help.

He chose not to.

NFL refs huddle when another sees a play differently. They discuss it. And try to get the call right.

And replay is there for the occasions when they get it wrong.

MLB needs to get handle on those that handle the rules.

Because these moments will get replayed-on SportsCenter and other highlight shows.

Over and over and over again.

The game would be better served if those highlights showed its officials getting the call right.

One way or another.

 

 

 

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The Phillies and Brad Lidge: It’s Time We Start Seeing Other Closers

Breaking up is always hard to do, even when it’s for the best.

You start reminiscing about all the good times you’ve had, the places you’ve traveled together.

It’s even harder when you live together.  All their stuff is in your place, and everywhere you look are reminders of the good thing you had.

But sometimes it has to be done, even if you don’t have another special someone waiting in the wings.

You don’t stay with someone just because you’ve always been with them, hoping that things will get better.

Sometimes, it’s just no longer working and you need to start seeing other people.

For the Phillies and Brad Lidge, that sometime should be now.

There’s a give and take in every relationship.  Last night, the Phillies took the lead in the top of the ninth against the Nationals.

And Brad Lidge gave it away.

It was clear from the start the inning would end badly.  Lidge had no semblance of the strike zone last night.

Even the untrained eye could see he was struggling just to put the ball over.

A typical Lidge outing these days is enough to make your heart race–although not in a good way, like in the old days.

The year was 2008, and Brad Lidge was perfect. Not one blown save.

Not in the regular season.

Not in the postseason.

Lidge came out of that bullpen, and you knew it was game over–for the good guys.

Not any more.

Sure there are sparks of what made you fall in love with the guy in the first place.

The fall-off-the-table slider.

The sizzling fastball.

But when one of the traits starts to fade and you look a little deeper, you realize that there’s not much else there.

Lidge is a two-pitch pony. When one isn’t working, he has to lean on the other to get by.

Even this casual baseball writer can see it.

So what do you think happened when a professional hitter named Ryan Zimmerman stood in against Lidge in the bottom of the ninth with two on, trailing by one?

Lidge got smacked around.

Hard.

He sent that ball deep (and I mean deep ) to straightaway center field.

You square away on a ball like that, you knew what was coming.

Really, we all should have seen what was coming.

Perhaps someone (say, Charlie Manuel) should have seen how wild Lidge was and prevented the abuse that was to follow.

If a starting pitcher was that wild, he would have signaled for the bullpen.

But in baseball these days, it’s the closer’s job to get it done.  And in general, managers stick with those closers until the game is either won or lost.

Even if it’s obvious that a guy just doesn’t have good stuff on a night, he’s left out there to do his job.

The problem that Manuel is facing is that he really doesn’t have anyone else in the ‘pen who has shown he can do the job.

And unfortunately, the clock just struck midnight, ending the annual ball that is the trading deadline, with nary a maiden with closer stuff going home with our handsome prince.

So the Phillies leave the party with the same date they brought. Never showing any signs of checking out the other options there.

While it does speak to their loyalty, it doesn’t do much for the long term happiness of the team…and its fans.

Maybe things will get better. 

Maybe Lidge will find that spark that made him the best closer in baseball two years ago.

Maybe.

But most broken marriages don’t get better without counseling.

Perhaps Lidge can learn a new pitch, like Cole Hamels did in the offseason, so he isn’t walking so narrow a tightrope should he not have his best stuff on a given night.

Maybe they just need a “cooling off period,” so Lidge can focus on him, because we all know we can’t contribute to a relationship unless we’re comfortable in our own skin.

All I know is that this marriage between Lidge and the Phillies appears to be broken, and their friends are worried about it.

We Phillies fans know you have been through a lot together, and we hate to choose sides.

But like in most splits, you end up sticking with the friend you’ve known longer.

Sorry, Brad.

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When Did the Philadelphia Phillies Become the New York Yankees?

 

“All things considered, I’d rather be in Philadelphia.” – W.C. Fields

This quote not withstanding, it wasn’t all that long ago that NO ONE wanted to play in Philadelphia.

The franchise, founded in 1883, was closing in (and has since surpassed) 10,000 losses. It had but one world championship to its name (1980), and not even a sniff of a pennant since 1993.

Hardly a winning tradition.

Not only that, but some of the players themselves didn’t even think the management cared about winning. Hard to blame them when team president Bill Giles said the Phillies—which play in the fourth largest TV market—were a “small market team.”

So, Scott Rolen forced his way out of town to the “Baseball Heaven” of St. Louis.

Curt Schilling wiggled his way out, too.

J.D. Drew sat out an entire season just to re-enter the draft so he wouldn’t have to play for the Phillies.

In Veteran’s Stadium, they had a run-down, multi-purpose doughnut with a carpeted-concrete playing surface, and rats that were bigger than the cats.

In essence, it was a dump. Ah, but it was our dump!

 

Then, in 2002, things started to change.

Jim Thome signed as a free agent with the Phillies after the team, the city­—and the fans—put on the full court press to woo him.

With him in town, excitement started to build as fans began to look toward the opening of their new ballpark.

And on April 3, 2004, on a chilly, raining afternoon, the Phillies opened their brand new ballpark.

And lost.

Surprise, surprise.

But with the new stadium, and a core of young talent—Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins—the Phillies began to put together the building blocks of a competitive team.

Over time, with the increased revenue from the new ballpark, the Phillies began to spend money.

Then, before and during the 2007 season, they signed free agents like Jayson Werth, and Adam Eaton. Made shrewd waiver wire pickups like Greg Dobbs and J.C. Romero.  Made trades for big names like Freddie Garcia.

And made Chase Utley very, very rich, signing him to an $85 million extension.

Then at the trade deadline, Philadelphia found themselves only three games out. For a change, the team was a buyer and not a seller.

They added Tadahito Iguchi to fill in for an injured Utley. They added Kyle Lohse to shore up its rotation.

Granted, not all of these moves panned out (see Garcia, Freddie), but it seemed to mark a philosophical shift in Phillies’ management.

We can actually win here.

That year, aided by a historic collapse by the New York Mets, the Phillies overcame a 6.5-game deficit to clinch its first division title since 1993.

A quick three-and-out at the hands of the Colorado Rockies left a bad taste in the team’s mouth, and fired up the organization for a run at the title the next year.

That off-season, they brought in So Taguchi, Jeff Jenkins, Chad Durbin and Pedro Feliz.

At the deadline, they got Joe Blanton.

After the deadline, they got Scott Eyre and Matt Stairs.

And in October of 2008, the Philadelphia Phillies won only its second World Series title in 125 years. 

Fast forward to last year’s trading deadline, and the Phillies are in the running for two of the top pitchers in the game: Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.

 

Toronto wanted too much for Halladay, so the Phillies traded for Lee, who ended up helping lead the Phillies to its second consecutive National League pennant.

But the Phillies eventually got their man, as the team traded for Halladay this past offseason before signing him to an extension—saying he wanted to come to Philadelphia all along, wishing it was him on the mound instead of Cliff Lee during the World Series against the Yankees.

Ironically, Lee—who was traded to Seattle in the offseason before getting traded again to Texas last week—has stated he never wanted to leave Philadelphia.

It took more than a century of primarily bad baseball, but suddenly Philadelphia is a desirable place to play—and get paid, as Ryan Howard’s five-year, $125-million contract extension will demonstrate. 

In fact, the Phillies payroll has increased five-fold over the last decade, from $27.3 million in 1999 to an estimated $143 million this year.

But when Citizens Bank Park has had 90 consecutive sellouts, you can afford to be a little more loose with your payroll. 

Which leads us to today, where the Phillies once again got the best available pitcher at the trading deadline in the form of Houston’s Roy Oswalt.

 

The two-time defending NL champs will now throw a potent 1-2-3 at the top of their rotation of Roy Halladay (perfect game this season, 2003 AL Cy Young winner), Roy Oswalt (2005 NLCS MVP), and Cole Hamels (2008 NLCS & World Series MVP).

It used to be that only the Yankees were the ones that swooped in at the deadline and during the offseason to get the big names.

Growing up in Philadelphia, you hate anything that’s good for New York. Anything .

Having a father whose childhood was marred by the 1964 Phillies’ collapse, I’ve heard countless times the cynicism of “don’t worry, they’ll blow it.”

No longer.

Now, it’s Philly making the moves.

Now, it’s the Phillies spending the money.

With little more than 48 hours left before the trading deadline, the Phillies have served notice that they will not let Atlanta take the division without a fight.

Because they’re the Philadelphia Phillies.

And that’s how they roll. (Now.)

 

Statistics from Baseball-Reference.com and Philly.com

 

 

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