Ump Bump

I'm watching ATH (recorded) and just listened to all four panelists bash the home plate ump (Brian Runge) in the Mets' loss to the Mariners on Tuesday. Sure, Runge initiated the contact with Mets Manager Jerry Manuel. So, in that regard, he was probably out-of-line. However, let's not get caught up in the trees with this one.

If we look back to the play that started the incident, Runge called a strike on a pitch to Carlos Beltran that looked like a strike. Apparently, Runge didn't particularly like the way Beltran was questioning the call. But, what was Beltran doing? You aren't supposed to argue balls and strikes and it isn't that smart to get on an ump about a call in the middle of an AB anyway. I'm not sure why Beltran thought it was a ball. If it was obviously a crappy call, I'd be a little more supportive of Mr. Beltran.

So, my point is that Beltran was the instigator in this incident. He was out-of-line to complain far before Runge was out-of-line to chest bump. It doesn't make what Runge did right, but I think the Mets involved need to take some responsibility for their roles in this instead of throwing it all on the umps.

In a related matter, I saw another HR call was missed. Replay showed the ball hit off the top of the fence and came back and the umps ruled it hit something beyond the fence and came back on the field. Replay would have come in handy, so I'm glad baseball is headed in that direction. How is this related to the Runge-Beltran-Manuel incident? Some people are worried that replay will slow down games. If we can bring in replay and get rid of ridiculous arguments like the one between Runge and Beltran and Manuel and Runge ... and Runge and Beltran again ... I think we'll end up ahead.

If Beltran thought the pitch was low ... just say "I thought that was low." and leave it at that. Obviously, Runge didn't feel that way. Did anything constructive come out of the argument? Manuel and Beltran both got tossed and we're talking about inappropriate actions of an ump ... I'm sure that's the solution all parties were looking! It's a win-win-win for the three of them.