Joe West has an agenda

[Jordan4life_2007]

Joe West just keeps digging himself a hole.....

 

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5225554

 

You can hear his 11 minute interview on 670 The Score, and at around the 2:30 mark he starts talking about how he did not want to eject Buehrle because he is a fast working pitcher.......

 

"As soon as I kicked him out of the game I was thinkin, "Aww, this is great, now how long is this game going to take?", so you know, we aren't looking to kick him out of the game"

 

Seriously Joe? You ACTUALLY think to yourself that you shouldn't eject a guy because he makes the game go by quicker? Wow. He is just scum. I wonder how many plays he calls the guy out just so the game does not take too long....

 

lol. Are you serious? Any criticism Joe West deserves most certainly doesn't come from that quote.

[zenryan]

I'm willing to bet that West went into that game knowing he was going to call a balk on MB.

[zenryan]

Joe West just keeps digging himself a hole.....

 

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5225554

 

You can hear his 11 minute interview on 670 The Score, and at around the 2:30 mark he starts talking about how he did not want to eject Buehrle because he is a fast working pitcher.......

 

"As soon as I kicked him out of the game I was thinkin, "Aww, this is great, now how long is this game going to take?", so you know, we aren't looking to kick him out of the game"

 

Seriously Joe? You ACTUALLY think to yourself that you shouldn't eject a guy because he makes the game go by quicker? Wow. He is just scum. I wonder how many plays he calls the guy out just so the game does not take too long....

 

 

Actually that quote is pretty funny and almost redeems himself from this situation.

[Quin]

Actually that quote is pretty funny and almost redeems himself from this situation.

 

If anything, it makes me think he tossed Buehrle to prove his point about long games.

 

[southsider2k5]

Regardless of whether it was a balk, tossing your glove like that will get you tossed 100% of the time. So, MB deserved to get tossed for his actions.

 

To those of you who think a letter high strike should be called...wow. You want 1-0 baseball games and .200 averages, you got it. You can't hit 95 MPH pitches at the freaking letters. There's a reason that's not called. You can drop your hands and have a better chance hitting a knee/below the knee pitch than you do anywhere up there. That's ridiculous thinking.

 

Plus, over the history of the game, with all the changing of the strike zone via the rule book and the strike zone, every year the MLB average has been around .260.

 

Seems like they know that they are doing in that regard.

 

 

 

This couldn't be further from the truth. You may not like a call or two in a particular game, but all the stats, now that you have Questec, says they are all calling about the same zone, day in and day out. Most umpires score over 95% every game. Those who aren't don't stay around very long. If anything, you used to have control over "your" strike zone back in the day. Anyone else remember Eric Gregg/Livan Hernandez? You don't see anything close to that whatsoever right now. That's not way back in the day, granted, but it's still before Questec.

 

The whole premise here is stupid. We are steps down the chain by the time he tosses his glove. If West actually knew what a balk actually was, he never calls Buehrle for a balk, and Buehrle never gets a chance to get tossed. Its either that or he has some sort of irrational problem with Buehle, Ozzie, the White Sox, or whatever. Either way, he is being unqualified to do what he is doing. Picking out just Buehrle's actions here is completely missing the big picture.

[southsider2k5]

I'm willing to bet that West went into that game knowing he was going to call a balk on MB.

 

This is 100% obvious to me as well.

[StrangeSox]

The whole premise here is stupid. We are steps down the chain by the time he tosses his glove. If West actually knew what a balk actually was, he never calls Buehrle for a balk, and Buehrle never gets a chance to get tossed. Its either that or he has some sort of irrational problem with Buehle, Ozzie, the White Sox, or whatever. Either way, he is being unqualified to do what he is doing. Picking out just Buehrle's actions here is completely missing the big picture.

 

It goes back to umpires being little tyrants of the baseball field. They can do whatever they want, and players and managers have no real recourse during the course of a game.

[bighurt574]

MLB is investigating the incident according to ESPN. Not that it matters, umpires punishments and fines are never reported, so we will never know if anything happens.

 

Per the Tribune and Yahoo Sports, "MLB Bringing the Hammer Down on Joe West"

 

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/...mpire-west.html

 

[Balta1701]

Per the Tribune and Yahoo Sports, "MLB Bringing the Hammer Down on Joe West"

 

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/...mpire-west.html

There's such a thing as the "World Umpires Association"?

 

Just another case of international law screwing over the U.S.

[IlliniKrush]

No apples and oranges being compared here.

 

Rule 9.01 (d)

 

 

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2008/off..._the_umpire.pdf

 

The example i gave with lilly sure as hell fits the description of unsportsmanlike conduct, regardless if the umpire was the reason the glove was thrown or not.

It is apples to oranges. In both cases they weren't tossed for obvious reasons. Could they have? If the umpire really wanted to, I guess so. But it wasn't in relation to them, so they didn't really care. One's automatic, you have to look at the context or you could have ejections everywhere (think everytime AJ throws his bat down).

 

The whole premise here is stupid. We are steps down the chain by the time he tosses his glove. If West actually knew what a balk actually was, he never calls Buehrle for a balk, and Buehrle never gets a chance to get tossed. Its either that or he has some sort of irrational problem with Buehle, Ozzie, the White Sox, or whatever. Either way, he is being unqualified to do what he is doing. Picking out just Buehrle's actions here is completely missing the big picture.

Makes no difference what happened before it. Like I said, his actions got him tossed, balk or not. In Joe West's opinion, it was a balk. Buehrle reacted poorly and that's the reason he got tossed. To put it simpler if you want, two wrongs don't make a right. Just because he doesn't like the call doesn't mean he can throw his glove. He doesn't do that, he's still in the game. Easy call.

[Leonard Zelig]

There's such a thing as the "World Umpires Association"?

 

Just another case of international law screwing over the U.S.

 

Yes, Joe West is the President.

[southsider2k5]

It is apples to oranges. In both cases they weren't tossed for obvious reasons. Could they have? If the umpire really wanted to, I guess so. But it wasn't in relation to them, so they didn't really care. One's automatic, you have to look at the context or you could have ejections everywhere (think everytime AJ throws his bat down).

 

 

Makes no difference what happened before it. Like I said, his actions got him tossed, balk or not. In Joe West's opinion, it was a balk. Buehrle reacted poorly and that's the reason he got tossed. To put it simpler if you want, two wrongs don't make a right. Just because he doesn't like the call doesn't mean he can throw his glove. He doesn't do that, he's still in the game. Easy call.

 

There is step one of the problem. If Joe West knows the rules to his own game, Buehrle is still in the game. Its either that or he really does have an agenda. Either way, he needs to not be an umpire, because he isn't qualified.

[IlliniKrush]

There is step one of the problem. If Joe West knows the rules to his own game, Buehrle is still in the game. Its either that or he really does have an agenda. Either way, he needs to not be an umpire, because he isn't qualified.

Look, we all know Joe West can be a prick. His hand gesture and what he supposedly said is what to take issue with more so than the call (even though it was clearly questionable). But don't question whether or not he knows the rules, because he clearly does. If he didn't and wasn't qualified, he wouldn't be in the game for this long. Maybe he had an agenda, maybe he "got balked' himself, maybe he legitimately thought he had a balk - we don't know, we can speculate. Even Ozzie said he's one of the best umpires in the game. Ozzie wasn't even arguing the balk call, he was upset with the actions between him and Mark, then him and Ozzie.

[StrangeSox]

If he thinks that's a balk, he clearly does not.

[hogan873]

I'm willing to bet that West went into that game knowing he was going to call a balk on MB.

I agree. And if West was any kind of umpire, deciding that Buehrle's move is a balk (which is BS by the way), he should have told Mark after the first balk, "Hey, I'm going to call that move a balk every time."

[WCSox]

"West is always promoting something. His country music CD. His line of umpiring gear."

 

 

 

West Vest Equipment

 

http://www.umpirejoewest.com/products.htm

 

 

[Steve9347]

By definition, those weren't balks by Buehrle. West made a bad call, twice, and in turn his horrible calls got a manager and a one of a team's top starters tossed in the early goings of a game.

 

He also made no apologies.

 

He should really be fired and then he can focus on selling country albums.

[vandy125]

Look, we all know Joe West can be a prick. His hand gesture and what he supposedly said is what to take issue with more so than the call (even though it was clearly questionable). But don't question whether or not he knows the rules, because he clearly does. If he didn't and wasn't qualified, he wouldn't be in the game for this long. Maybe he had an agenda, maybe he "got balked' himself, maybe he legitimately thought he had a balk - we don't know, we can speculate. Even Ozzie said he's one of the best umpires in the game. Ozzie wasn't even arguing the balk call, he was upset with the actions between him and Mark, then him and Ozzie.

 

Actually Ozzie stated that he didn't argue the balk call because he is not allowed to do that.

 

I wasn't asking about the balk because you're not allowed, anytime you go out there to ask about balk or whatever. The thing I went out to ask him about was why he was embarrassing Buehrle. I'm not going out to argue about the balk because the rule

Ozzie vs Joe West

[scenario]

I'm willing to bet that West went into that game knowing he was going to call a balk on MB.

 

Hmm... Interesting thought... hadn't considered that.

 

But he is such a self-promotional SOB that I wouldn't put it past him.

 

Baseball doesn't need umpires who manipulate the outcomes of games for their benefit. That's a recipe for disaster. (See Donaghy, Tim)

 

I say put his a@@ on a lie-detector, ask him the question, and if he fails... fire him.

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2010 by scenario

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Actually that quote is pretty funny and almost redeems himself from this situation.

 

How does that redeem him? Making decisions about things based on how long the game will take? That's horses***. Eject a guy because he deserves it, not because he works slow on the mound.