Banner month for Ejections

[heyblue26]

I just read an article from the newspaper we get here the Stars & Stripes and the title was different. It was on the back page of the sports section and it was titled "The Umpires Strike Back". It was about all the ejections that have been taking place lately and they mentioned that it couldn't come at a worse time of the month of July the best month ever for ejections. Seventeen players, Managers and Coaches have been sent to cool off early. There seems to be a lot of tension between them all and all need to relax a little bit.

Could it be the rising in temperatures, the replay of videos availabe at every turn, a hand full of triple A call ups filling out the umpiring crews as vaction relief or the mounting frustration some clubs expressed as there spring training hopes fade even before the season hits the midway point. Are they just anything but just random? It is in my opinion umpires are human beings and they have to take a lot of guff, so to some extent they have maybe always been like that. I am on the umpire side and agree that they do put up with a lot of Guff and they have earned where they are today.

But I am sure its not all them (the umpires). Look at what just happened in the Boston series with Baltimore what about those players actions? And the umpires handled that situation very well. Its a two way street and maybe both need to just take a step back a little now. I am not saying for the umpires to get soft in any way because as a umpire I understand what they go thru and they are doing a hell of a job in my opinion.

[bnumpire]

It's funny that you bring this up HeyBlue.

I am a teacher and was talking with one of the players on our HS team. He asked me if I was a fan of a particular team and I told him that I was a fan of the team in blue. So as the conversation went along, I told him that everyday during the season I always go to MLB.com and search for balks, interference and ejections and I explained to him the pattern that ejections go in and this season so far has followed the pattern.

This is the pattern that I have noticed based on previous seasons. Coming out of Spring Training, there is about a 2 week "honeymoon" period where everybody is getting settled in and teams have had both their first homestand and first road trip, typically, there are either no or one/two ejections. After the "honeymoon" period through about Memorial Day, there will typically be 1-3 ejections per week usually for no brainer stuff like arguing balls and strikes. After Memorial Day, as air temperatures start to rise and teams realize that their expectations from Spring Training may be starting to fade or possible pennant race take shape, there will be an increase to about a one per day average until September. Once September hits, the teams that are out bring up the Minor Leaguers they want to look at the Major League level; while the teams in pennant races know that every game down the wire is important and every one needs to be available every day.

Like I said, that is the pattern I have noticed in the past.

[heyblue26]

After reading your post and absorbing it your conclusion and discreption is pretty much right on. Yes I my self do have a favorite team its the (Yankees). But as a real fan of the game I watch the game from the view of an umpire and most of the time I'm watching what the umpire's are doing, watching each inning each umpire and what he does. I am on the umpires side and not the players or managers.