MLB Umpire Phil Cuzzi Files Complaint About Postgame Altercation With Washington Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo.
by Patrick Reddington on May 20, 2011 1:26 AM EDT
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PrintWashington Nationals' Skipper Jim Riggleman was out of the dugout in a hurry and his arguments with both first base ump Phil Cuzzi and home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez about the call Cuzzi blew on a sharp grounder to third by Nats' right fielder Jayson Werth in the ninth inning of today's game were heated. Riggleman, who saw what everyone following the game except Mr. Cuzzi saw, appealed for help from the other members of the crew since Werth clearly beat the throw from NY third baseman Justin Turner to Mets' first baseman Danny Murphy, whose foot also came off the bag. Werth was looking right at the bag and saw the play clearly, waving his hands, saying, "Safe!" as he ran through first. (ed. note - "Though he was safe, no player ever calls themselves out.")
Cuzzi punched Werth out for the second out of the Nats' ninth...
Laynce Nix, who'd doubled with one down, took third on the play, but was stranded when New York closer Francisco Rodriguez got a groundout from Adam LaRoche to end the 1-0 Mets' win. According to reports which came out hours after the game, the umpiring crew has complained about a "verbal altercation" involving D.C. GM Mike Rizzo that occurred as they left the field. As New York Daily News' writers Peter Botte and Bill Madden wrote last night, in an article entitled, "Umpire Phil Cuzzi files report about verbal altercation with Nationals GM Mike Rizzo after Mets game":
"It was impossible to miss the Nationals berating Phil Cuzzi and the umpiring crew in front of the visiting dugout after the Mets' 1-0 victory Thursday at Citi Field."
Mets' outfielder Jason Bay, according to the article, joked that after the final out of the game was recorded with Nix stranded at third instead of potentially scoring on LaRoche's groundout, "...it looked like half their team was ready to jump the rail." SI.com's Jon Heyman, who was at today's game, asked Jayson Werth about his relatively subdued reaction to what Mr. Heyman himself said on Twitter (@SI_JonHeyman) was a blown call by Cuzzi:
"I told Werth he seemed pretty calm after the bad call, and he responded, "You didn't hear what I said.' Good point."
The umpires on the crew declined to comment as they exited Citi Field, referring questions to Major League Baseball. "VP of on-field operations" Joe Torre, who reportedly hadn't looked into the situations as of Thursday night told the NY Daily News' reporters, "'I'm looking forward to an interesting morning (Friday).'" The incident occurred after the Nationals' second-straight shutout loss to New York. Washington's now gone 19.0 innings without scoring a run, and after 43 games, they have an NL-worst .223/.295/.342 slash line and an even more frustating 20-23 record with the NL's weakest offense failing to support what's been surprisingly solid pitching. The frustration the team, and the entire organization apparently, is feeling appears to have boiled over today. The fallout from the arguments and the post game altercations will follow, possibly as soon as this morning. Will anything be done about the fact the Phil Cuzzi completely blew the call?
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From the replay, Cuzzi had a bad view of the bag.
So he couldn’t see Murphy’s foot come off, although he should have been able to see Werth beat the play. Either way, why didn’t he stand where he could actually do his job?
"I don't believe in luck, but it was just one of those things where it wasn't really skill, either." --Jerry, jr.
In Cuzzi's defense...
(did I just write that?) the mechanics of umpiring dictate that as the ump you should try to get on a line perpendicular to the line of the throw from the infielder, because you can then see then entire play across your field of vision, presumably. The presumption here is that the throw will be on target; if it’s not, then you should try to adjust to the extent possible — but that’s often very difficult because you can’t anticipate which way the first baseman is going to move, you can only react to it.
Rob
-- In baseball we trust.
and as we can see, the plane of the play at 1st was parallel to the 1st base line
Cuzzy was in line with with Murphy – i.e. almost the absolute worst place to see what happened. See this video for more angles of the play.
As I was trying to say
The umpire positions himself based upon where the fielder is that makes the throw. If the throw is off line, then yes he can be in a suboptimal position. The idea is to get to where he was standing then react as best as you can when you see the throw is off line. There’s no way he can move from his standard location (where he was standing) to the optimal location (where the first base coach is standing) in the time that it takes for the throw to sail wide like it did. He couldn’t even make a small adjustment because that would put him into the baserunner’s path, which is REALLY bad. Sometimes this just happens.
Rob
-- In baseball we trust.
From this angle, the 2nd base ump should have the best view...
Cuzzi was down on one knee, which may be what they’re supposed to do, but looks a little immobile…
Riggleman: "He’s all about the LR matchups, but he doesn’t seem to spend much time paying attention to the actual players involved." by d_c_guy on Apr 30, 2011
by cat daddy3000 on May 20, 2011 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions
Always found the debate on instant replay in MLB interesting
I’ve always thought that MLB and Selig don’t want to give up their human factor involved in making calls, i.e. they always want to have a say in whats going down.
With Cuzzi filing the complain it sounds like he’s saying the same, that he wants to maintain control over the game regardless of whether the calls have been falling in favor of the home or away team. Obviously being in New York (where the majority of the major blown calls against the Nats I can recall have been) probably influenced his decision about the call and then subsequently going to MLB when the Nationals were voicing their displeasure about the (blown) call.
Sports Illustrated did a study on official bias
And their study showed that home teams get a distinct advantage across all sports. This affect largely disappeared when (a) games were sparsely attended; or (2) the margin between the teams was significant. Close games with large crowds seems to be the best way to unconsciously affect the umpires/referees/officials. The Mets had the close game at home affect, although the crowd size no doubt mitigated it.
The article was in the January 17 issue; you need a subscription to view the article itself.
He should get help
Home plate ump could see that. Remember when joe west overruled 3B ump from 1B last year against us?
by UsualLine on May 20, 2011 12:36 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Huh
Even poor hitters get hits. And LaRoche’s ground ball would have scored the tying run.
Perhaps.
But there’s nothing saying that he would even hit that ground ball. In fact, I think it’s likely he would not, because KRod’s pitch selection would be different (i.e. he would be trying to strike LaRoche out, not to induce a ground out).
Rob
-- In baseball we trust.
It's not that I think the Nationals would have won the game if Cuzzi didn't blow the call
I just think they deserved the chance to win the game. We don’t know what LaRoche would have done (K, GIDP, 3 run bomb, etc) – but they did deserve the opportunity.
The umpire blew the call. He should be held accountable by the league (I don’t need to know how), and the team should move on.
I think we all should move on
it’s just how the game goes sometimes. The fact of the matter is that the Nats lost to a sub-average pitcher, …, no, a sub-average TEAM because they can’t hit the ball. To focus on one bad call is just misdirection.
Rob
-- In baseball we trust.
Lines, lines everywhere there's lines
Can the Espinosa line be the 21st century version of the Mendoza line?
Poor umpiring
The issue isn’t about whose up next but rather poor umpiring. The sad thing is the Nats will probably be fined and the f###ing incompetent umpire will not!
I have to say, Cuzzi is pretty bold & brash
It takes a lot of chutzpah to file a complaint in connection with an incident that he screwed up. I get that he doesn’t like being yelled at, but he can’t be too surprised that a team is upset when he blew the call. Sheesh.
That said, moving on. I’m really hoping that the Nats beat the O’s tonight. Sadly, the Nats lineup will be missing their best hitter (Marquis).
Let Marquis Hit! Let Marquis Hit!!
Vivian Jaffe: "Have you ever transcended space and time?"
Albert Markovski: "Yes. No. Uh, time, not space... No, I don't know what you're talking about."
by Patrick Reddington on May 20, 2011 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Has the unpire.........
seen this video?…………….Cause short of “I’ve got your mother in my trunk”, he should forget anything Rizzo said.
Quotunquot, theballmustbeattherunnertodabase....this jerk had his headuppiz*ss, and blew the damn call
This ain’t high-school or college, where it’s still a sport – it’s the bigs, where it’s a business. Blow a call, and yer f’n with somebody’s money, period. I blame Rizzo not one bit.
"Don't worry, the fans don't start booing until July." - Earl Weaver
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