The argument against robot umpires taking their jobs isn't doing themselves any favors because the MLB's umpires are milking their last few minutes of relevance. Triple A isn't testing out arobo-ump at the moment, but maybe they should because what happened to Madison Bumgarner on Wednesday was the epitome of entitled behavior. Dan Bellino felt the need to inspect Bumgarner's palm for a foreign substance after he had thrown the first pitch. Bellino ran Bumgarner for taking issue with the inspection that looked more like a staring contest. Bellino is trying to look at the pitcher's hand while he looks at Bumgarner. Bellino resembles a teacher who caught a student plagiarizing a term paper.
It seems like the umpire got what he was looking for when he ejected the first baseman. Bumgarner didn't know that the fans who showed up for the games in Miami and Arizona didn't want to see him pitch, but rather wanted to see the game.
There is no overseer of rules as thirsty for attention as an MLB umpire. Scott Foster is the reigning winner of the Joey Crawford award, which is given annually to the most self-serving NBA ref, and he would like an honorable mention. Done. Scott, keep ruining Chris Paul's chances at an NBA title, and maybe one day they will create an award in your honor.
Bumgarner's ejection was the most egregious of the week and, yes, I'm assuming that Max Scherzer got tossed for arguing balls and strikes from the dugout. It wasn't the first time he'd been kicked out of a game while being outspoken, as it happened when he was a member of the Detroit Tigers. He was arguing balls and strikes.
The new pitch clock is cutting down on the length of games in the minor leagues. It still gives umpires another rule to interpret or misinterpret. The batter didn't get back in the box fast enough to be struck out.
I guess the home plate umpire wasn't satisfied with the readiness of the RockHounds infielder, because he was timed under the new rule. He called strike 3 on a 2-2 count even though he didn't see the pitch that was thrown to him. If a guy's bat is still twirling, you can't be too strict with the strike zone. Good lord.
If we've learned anything from endless reviews and challenges, it's that refs and umpires can't be fused with technology.
I'm not advocating to remove sports from tech. Quite the opposite. Let the revolution begin. A computer won't throw anyone out of a game for getting mad at it.
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