Is MLB Catching on to Joe West?

Managers like Joe Maddon won't be double-teamed anymore
by umpires Angel Hernandez, center, and Joe West.

It doesn't go far enough, but Major League Baseball has at last taken a little action against Joe West and Angel Hernandez, the two worst umpires in the game. To start the second half of the season, the two are no longer on the same crew.

It's far short of the firing both have long deserved, but at least their incompetence will be watered down some by working with three other umpires.

Besides the fact that West and Hernandez have an endless capacity for making bad calls, they both seem to revel in the power their position gives them. Photos of the two double-teaming to argue with managers are all over the web.

Once the screaming starts, they are too stubborn to walk away to defuse the situation. They'd rather get in someone's face and then toss the "offender" out. Just ask Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers who was ejected after his manager had pulled him for a new pitcher. Some lip readers say he said "horrible" to an ump on his way off the field. Touchy, touchy.

The old saying goes that the best umpires are the ones you don't notice. Joe West and his former running buddy Hernandez make too much news. Let's hope 2011 is the end of the line for both.

Umpire Out for the Count

We have a new entry in the race for the title of worst umpire in baseball. Phil Cuzzi, who was already under consideration, added to his credentials on Saturday night when he allowed a batter a walk on just three balls.

This is the same ump who called a Joe Mauer double foul during a 2009 playoff game between the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees. That call was so bad it led to the addition of instant replay, which had long been kept out of the game because of the objections of purists.

Purists don't mind grievous errors by umpires because that's the way it was always done. That's just not a good enough reason to allow poor calls to stand.

Now, back to Saturday night. Cuzzi lost track of the count during a seven-pitch at bat. Cameron Maybin of the San Diego Padres took his base and came around to score the only run of the game. No one on the Seattle Mariners' bench protested. The Mariners' catcher didn't seem to notice. The fans didn't howl.

It reminds of me of the "Fifth Down" game when Colorado defeated Missouri in a key 1990 Big 8 (yes, it was long ago). The Buffaloes used the extra snap to score the wining touchdown.

Padres' Manager Bud Black says he knew what had happened, but wasn't going to argue about it for obvious reasons. Cuzzi's crew chief, Tom Hallion, was quoted as saying Cuzzi thought it was only ball three, but since the scoreboard had it as ball four, he figured he was wrong.

Say what? Cuzzi ceded his job to the scoreboard operator. It's past time for Major League Baseball to get rid of umpires who can't do the job. Joe West and Phil Cuzzi should be handed pink slips.

Joyce & Galarraga Team Up

Jim Joyce made the wrong call a year ago,
but now he has a book out
with pitcher Armando Galarraga.

Maybe now I have seen it all. Umpire Jim Joyce and pitcher Armando Galarraga have teamed up to write a book about Joyce's blown call that cost the hurler a perfect game. I know Galarraga famously accepted Joyce's apology, but I never imagined a day when a player would be co-author with an ump who messed up.

I'm not against anyone peddling his story for a buck (I'm a laid-off journalist who wishes he had a great story to sell), but "Nobody's Perfect: Two Men, One Call, and a Game for Baseball History" opens the kinds of issues that baseball seems to have trouble dealing with.

In this case, ESPN reports that Joyce will not work any games in which Galarraga pitches. That's fine. For now, it won't matter; Galarraga has been sent to the minors by the Arizona Diamondbacks (his gem last year was tossed for the Detroit Tigers). But is it so easy to ensure that bias doesn't enter Joyce's calls?

Suppose Galarraga makes a triumphal return to Phoenix and helps keep the D-Backs in the division race. If Joyce works any of the team's games, is it unreasonable to think he might be unconsciously pulling for his writing partner to get to the playoffs? After all, they have a relationship that goes beyond the field, and the more attention Galarraga gets the more books might be sold.

By all accounts Jim Joyce is a very good umpire. The players voted him the best, and that was after he blew the call last year. I don't think he'd intentionally make calls based on his business deal. But I do believe baseball has opened a can of worms by allowing an umpire, who is supposed to be impartial, to go into business with a current player.

This is not the first time baseball has fallen short when it comes to the appearance of impropriety. When Randy Wolf, lefty starter for the Milwaukee Brewers, pitches, his brother, Jim, an umpire, is not allowed to call ball and strikes.

But somehow baseball has decided it's OK for him to work the bases in those games. That means he could have to make a call on a close call involving his sibling. Baseball really doesn't see a problem with that?

If it were up to me, Jim Wolf would work only American League games. That way there'd be no suggestion of bias. Baseball likes to take grand stands against perceived bias. Pete Rose was banned for betting on his team. That's all well and good. But it needs to be consistent in making sure any hint of bias is quashed.

In these cases involving umpires it has fallen well short of the goal.

Managers Ready to Rumble

Lou Piniella on a rampage.

I thought it was only fair to follow up yesterday's post about Joe West, baseball's worst umpire, with a look at some of the managers who have caused the men in blue to reach for the Rolaids.

In recent seasons, Bobby Cox, who retired after last season as manager of the Atlanta Braves, was king of the tirades. In fact, he's the career leader in ejections. For my money, Ozzie Guillen is the king now. He's bombastic on the field and seems to have no filter between his brain and mouth off the field. Lou Piniella's tirades were scary, if only because you feared for his health as the veins popped out of his head.

There have been a lot of managers who enjoyed kicking dirt, throwing bases and caps and generally making a spectacle of themselves. Leo Durocher is the first I remember who was celebrated (or castigated) for his fiery temper. Leo the Lip had a somewhat checkered career that included stops as a shortstop with teams including the St. Louis Cardinals' colorful Gashouse Gang and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

As a manager he was set to lead the Dodgers during Jackie Robinson's inaugural season. But the commissioner suspended him for "the accumulation of unpleasant incident" deemed "detrimental to baseball" just before the regular season started. Some see the suspension as the result of a feud Durocher had with Larry MacPhail, a New York Yankees' executive. Either way Durocher will be remembered for his temper and "nice guys finish last" mentality.

In the 1960s and 1970s, managerial tirades brought to mind two men: Billy Martin and Earl Weaver. Both were winning managers and both were famous for arguing their cases vociferously. Weaver is a YouTube hit. Martin was bombastic back in his days managing the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers. He could be caustic off the field. When he was fired and rehired by George Steinbrenner during their long-running soap opera, it was like watching a train wreck. You wanted to look away but just had to keep watching.