Even the Brewer reporters are getting testy:
So, hitting coach Dale Sveum gets suspended three games for "inappropriate and aggressive" behavior toward umpires after the game Sunday in Cincinnati.
When did it become illegal to argue with umpires? Didn't that used to be a part of the game? Does Lou Piniella get suspended every time he throws his hat and kicks dirt? Did Billy Martin?
And what about that vacation replacement umpire, Kevin Causey, who didn't have a clue about what was a ball or a strike that day? Did he get suspended? Was he sent back to umpiring school to learn the strike zone?
And who asked umpire Brain Runge to butt in Sunday and give his two cents worth? He was just as aggressive toward Sveum as vice versa. Why do umpires get to be aggressive and coaches can't be? Did Runge feel he had to baby-sit poor little Causey and get in Sveum's face?
And three games? Really? One game wouldn't be enough for yellling at umpires? It has to be three? Coaches can't appeal their suspensions like players can, so Sveum has to take the three games without any rebuttal.
This system is a joke. Umpires can stink and make bad calls and be the aggressors, but managers, coaches and players get suspended if they are "inappropriate." Bob Watson, who dispenses these punishments, should look back to when he played the game and how much arguing there was with umpires, without suspensions being levied. Earl Weaver would have been suspended for years at a time under this policy.
If Causey didn't stink so bad with his strike zone, Sveum wouldn't have said anything. He's not exactly a vociferous person. Pretty laid back and quiet, actually. I'd like to see MLB just once announce that action was taken against an umpire for stinking.
What about Derryl Cousins blowing that call at second base on Sunday, saying Jerry Hairston caught the ball on a force and was merely taking it out of his glove to throw it? That was pathetic. Hairston never caught the ball, which replays showed quiet clearly. Prince Fielder followed with a home run, so why wasn't Cousins suspended for three games for blowing an easy call that cost the Brewers a run?
So, some not-ready-for-prime-time umpire continually calls out players on pitches out of the strike zone and the hitting coach sticks up for his players and complains, and he gets suspended? Nice system.
Congratulations, MLB and Bob Watson. You're supposed to be running a baseball league here, not a tennis tournament.
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/51333222.html