Comments on: Brett Lawrie suspended for four games for his helmet toss

By: El Bravo

El Bravo — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:55:15 +0000

Fantasy purposes. That said, I don’t have to explain myself to no steeeeenking Pheeelies phan.

By: worldchampsbaby

worldchampsbaby — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:57:25 +0000

Dafcon,

You just said it umps stick together,he’ll never see a walk.That is what is wrong with giving umps absolute power.They do what they want without being held accountable.Call the freakin game HONESTLY and since you are older and supposedly more mature don’t react when you PERCEIVE you are being shown up.Another words do your job nothing more.

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:44:48 +0000

We may not know what Lawrie said, but it is evident that it was along the lines of “Good sir, I believe you hath mistaken yourself”. Or something like that.

You get ejected for arguing 3rd strike. I don’t like the rule either, but that is the rule.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:39:58 +0000

Interesting, but we have no idea of what was said by either person. Lawrie was right to be upset at the call and the ump was wrong to toss him because the ump made 2 bad calls in a row.

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:01:11 +0000

Check here

http://www.nesn.com/2012/05/brett-lawrie-freaks-out-after-being-called-out-on-strikes-may-have-suspension-coming-video.html

30 second spot, he is turned around saying soemthing, takes one step and get a hook. It was a quick hook, no debate there

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:42:12 +0000

The above tape does not show Lawrie being tossed out.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:18:49 +0000

True. He should not have thrown his helmet. On the other hand the umpire should not have screwed him. If Lawrie is disciplined, MLB should also come down hard on the umpire.

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:16:58 +0000

And lets be clear, it was not a long argument, but Lawrie had fully truned around and was saying soemthign prior to the ejection. Wathc the tape.

You want to say it was a quick hook – fine. As I said, I am not crazy about the “no argue 3rd strike” rule either. But lets be clear, he did argue the 3rd strike and was ejected for that reason. Watch the tape

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:13:55 +0000

Your defense of your player is admirable. But at soempoint you have to face reality – you can not thorw objects

Guys get ejected fromn games all the time. We are only talking about this one because Lawrie threw his helmut. I don’t think anyone ever agreed with an ejection – everyone has lost there cool when ejected. What made this unique was throwing the helmut. There is no justifcation for it.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:09:11 +0000

He did not argue. All he did was to start to run to first base because both pitches were out of the strike zone. As there was no verbal element, he did not argue balls and strikes. The umpire abused his authority when he invoked that rule.

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:02:44 +0000

You didn’t expect a well reasoned argument to get you anywhere, did you

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:56:51 +0000

Sorry, meant automatic ejection, not suspension

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:55:55 +0000

You can not argue 3rd strikes, it is an automatic suspension. You may not like the rule – I am not crazy about it myself – but it is the rule. Again, happens a lot

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:54:48 +0000

The suspension is fine? Then why do you want him to appeal?

El Bravo – May 16, 2012 at 5:16 PM
Please appeal.

Reply
El Bravo – May 16, 2012 at 5:16 PM
oh he is. sweet. carry on.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:54:35 +0000

The ump wrongly tossed Lawrie from the game prior to the helmet throw. The ump made 3 bad calls in a row. If that had happened to you, I doubt that you would be calm and collected.

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:52:55 +0000

It is 7 games using the Metric system, but as long as the games he sits out are played in the U.S., Lawrie only needs to miss 4

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:49:00 +0000

So let me get this straight….the ump telling the pitcher to stop yapping is evidence that he “decided to call the next pitch a strike”?

The ump made a wrong call. Happens everyday. Even taking your assumption that the Ump felt shown up and wanted to assert himself – again, happens everyday. It does not change the facts: you throw something, you better gall dang make sure you don’t throw it anywhere near ANYONE or you are going to get suspended

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:05:14 +0000

The umpire made several mistakes while Lawrie only made one. First of all the ump wrongly called pitch 5 a strike. He wrongly called pitch 6 a strike. He wrongly tossed Lawrie out of the game for arguing balls and strikes. Assuming that because a pitch was high and was ball 4, and consequently starting to run to first base does not constitute arguing balls and strikes. Assuming that Lawrie was trying to show you up because he started to run to first on a pitch that was clearly ball 4 is no reason to toss anyone out of a game.

Miller had made several mistakes before Lawrie finally lost his temper. Miller was the cause of this commotion and should be the person who is disciplined, not Lawrie.

By: boltfansmith

boltfansmith — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:25:22 +0000

Did the ump have pics of his wife in the nude?

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:19:11 +0000

Tonight, Sportsnet showed more video of the events leading up to the incident. Pitch 5 was clearly outside and Lawrie began to run to first. This is not unusual as Lawrie always hustles. Miller then called the pitch a strike. Lawrie composed himself and walked back to home. This is where the video gets interesting. Rodney began jawing at Lawrie because he went to first base. Miller then signaled to Rodney to be quiet and pointed to himself indicating that he would take care of Lawrie. A reasonable person viewing the video, has strong reason to believe that Miller had already decided to call the next pitch a strike. Pitch 6 was high and Lawrie once again began to run to first. After the strike 3 call, Miller tossed Lawrie out of the game for questioning balls and strikes calls. Lawrie naturally got angry and threw his helmet at the ground. He did not threaten Miller.

By the way, the video shown above does not show Lawrie being tossed out of the game because he threw his helmet. He had already been tossed out because he thought that both pitches were balls and had run to first.

The integrity of the game is at issue here. There is strong circumstantial evidence that Miller thought that Lawrie was trying to show him up and predetermined to call him out on strikes. Miller clearly let his ego get in the way. Both calls were wrong and tossing Lawrie because he ran to first was wrong. Miller should be fined and suspended for his actions.

By: dafc0n

dafc0n — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:06:17 +0000

Hey Lawrie, Next time stay in the batters box and let the ump make the call, there ain’t an ump in the league who’s gonna let you take control of the game by you heading to first before he calls the pitch. You’re in for a rough season too, cause umps stick togethor, and thy’re gonna teach you a lesson, from now on anything thats within a foot of the plate is gonna be a strike, the only way you’re gonna get a walk is if you get hit by a pitch, better grow up in a hurry!

By: rcali

rcali — Thu, 17 May 2012 02:42:35 +0000

Roid Rage?

By: craigmaitland

craigmaitland — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:11:46 +0000

Please post a gif of the strike call. That wouldn’t have been called a strike in slow pitch. It was clearly an intentional screw job by the umpire that shouldn’t be tolerated either.

By: ugglasforearms

ugglasforearms — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:06:21 +0000

I’m trying to figure out how getting suspended for 4 games is helping his teammates.

By: charlutes

charlutes — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:00:06 +0000

I like this blog before I realized its mostly about being judgmental. Hater baseball talk.

By: spindervish

spindervish — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:04:09 +0000

It’s not really that many people. It’s basically just one shameless homer with a ridiculous blind spot.

By: worldchampsbaby

worldchampsbaby — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:14:33 +0000

NO you are the idiot

By: hiltonandastoria

hiltonandastoria — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:38:19 +0000

3.9 games

By: Lukehart80

Lukehart80 — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:37:11 +0000

The ump messing up does not excuse Lawrie’s actions. I don’t see how any reasonable adult can argue otherwise.

And while ntent should be a factor in determining one’s punishment, it doesn’t entirely negate one’s culpability for their actions. If I angrily (or absent-mindly) run through a stop sign and hit a child, my not having intended to run the child over doesn’t mean I don’t deserve a punishment.

By: schlom

schlom — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:37:04 +0000

The problem is that other than the fifth pitch you’d have a hard time convincing anyone (except for a Blue Jays fan) that the sixth pitch was called a strike for any other reason than the umpire thought it was a strike.

It seems that the common view is that the umpire was upset that Lawrie showed him up by running towards first base on the previous pitch so he was calling the next pitch a strike. However if you look at the pitch/fx data the pitch looks close enough to the strikezone that it’s not a particularly bad call. I guess most people think the pitch/fx is wrong?