It was just two weeks ago I felt compelled to post about the idiocy of MLB umpire Joe West calling a cheat sheet a "foreign substance" and confiscating the piece of paper from pitcher Austin Davis. Joe West isn't the only clown trying to make his mark on the game. A couple of his fellow brethren decided to join in on the fun this week to make umpires a bigger part of the game.
Tom Hallion
Thursday night was a rare night in the 2018 season, the Mets won. Todd Frazier hit a walk-off home run to lead his team to victory over the Marlins. As his teammates poured out of the dugout to celebrate, Frazier trotted around the bases in celebration only to find home plate being blocked by umpire Tom Hallion.
Hallion stood directly in front of home plate, forcing Frazier to stand chest-to-chest with the umpire and sneak his foot in between in his legs to tap the plate. Frazier then walked around the ump to greet his teammates as Hallion put his head down and walked off the field.
The incident was just bizarre. It was Hallion's duty to make sure Frazier touched the plate to make the home run official, but that's merely a formality. Why would he stand in the way? I've never seen anything like it before.
There are a few theories floating around. Todd Frazier has been very critical of the way balls and strikes have been called the past few seasons. In fact he was ejected from a game on Tuesday for arguing about the strike zone. He also recently admitted he tricked the umpires into making an out call on a ball he caught diving into the stands at Dodger Stadium. Turns out he missed the catch and showed the umpires a rubber ball he found in the stands instead.
Whether or not the umpires have a beef with Todd Frazier, there is no excuse for any of them trying to show him up after hitting a home run. It is their job to be impartial and enforce the rules of the game. Hallion wanted to show Frazier he's in charge of the game. He succeeded in showing baseball fans he's an ass. Joe Torre, who's in charge of overseeing MLB umpires, is expected to talk to Hallion about the incident, but I doubt we'll hear anything about it. For whatever reason, MLB refuses to call out umpires for their misdeeds.
Laz Diaz
I watch a lot of baseball games and one thing about the game I know for sure: Laz Diaz is a shitty umpire. He's lousy calling balls and strikes and is very confrontational with the ballplayers. Both of these attributes were on display Friday night during a game between the Braves and the Nationals.
Bryce Harper was upset over a pitch Diaz called a strike. He didn't say anything, but his body language told the story. Later on in the game, Harper was playing centerfield when Diaz called what Harper felt was the same pitch a ball against a Braves hitter. He threw up his arms in disgust. Big deal. Anybody who has ever played baseball has shown his contempt at an umpire in similar harmless ways.
However Laz Diaz loves to fight with ballplayers so he turned it into an ordeal. Ignoring the fact that Harper was standing more than 300 feet away from him, Diaz stopped the game to march out in front of home plate and start yelling at Harper to knock it off. Then he turned towards the Nationals dugout and told manager Dave Martinez :
"He needs to cut it out. You need to talk to him. You need to talk to him. You take care of him or I will, I guarantee you that."
Martinez did what any rational manager would do, ignored him. Diaz didn't like that, he needed to show everyone who's the boss. As the inning ended and Harper trotted into the dugout, Diaz chased after him to yell at him some more. Harper ignored him. Good for him, you can't argue with a moron.
Diaz wasn't done. When Harper next came up to bat, one pitch was a good six inches off the plate. Diaz called it a strike. I'm torn on whether or not he called that pitch in spite, he's so bad he might really have thought it was a strike. Harper stepped out of the box and made a comment. Then he stepped back in to hit, except Diaz kept arguing with him. Martinez ran out to protect his player and strangely nobody was ejected.
Martinez summed up Diaz's shenanigans pretty well after the game.
"Umpires are supposed to be non-confrontational — they’re supposed to uphold the peace on the baseball field. For me, I think MLB needs to take a look at that."
MLB does need to look at it, but as usual they won't do anything about. Like Joe West, Laz Diaz has a long history of being a troublemaker instead of an impartial umpire. Why does MLB put up with these buffoons? I don't get it.
In a day and age where every sport is finding it harder than ever to retain fan interest, MLB needs to wake up and realize no one wants umpires to become part of the show. Shut up and do your damn job.
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