Sveum suspended 3 games for arguing with ump after loss in Cin

[gobrew23]

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[wibadgers23]

This team is falling apart!! Not really, but it's ugly right now. First Randolph gets suspended, we almost had a brawl last night, Sveum gets suspended, the pitching staff is in shambles, and you never know what you're going to get from the offense. Ahhhh!

[Thurston Fluff]

I think this whole team needs to stop looking everywhere but themselves. Have a little accountability.

[Teatoe993]

Three games seems a little bit harsh. Not that I think his absence is gonna hurt the team in any way.

[Invader3K]

I think this whole team needs to stop looking everywhere but themselves. Have a little accountability.

I agree. The pitchers and offense are both accountable right now for the current struggles. Time to step up and make the coaching staff and manager look good for a change.

 

I think Sveum's suspension is rather bunk though. I'd like to see what kind of review happens to that ump for his terrible calls.

[Thurston Fluff]

He was a replacement ump. I don't understand why umps need vacation time when their season has 3 1/2 months of off time built in.

[pretendastronaut]

I think this whole team needs to stop looking everywhere but themselves. Have a little accountability.

 

We have no real way to know what kind of accountability they're taking personally. Arguing with umps can be an expression of frustration, not a demonstration of a lack of accountability.

[Crew2323]

TH goes off on the Sveum suspension. This might be one of the first times I actually agree with one of his rants.

 

Sveum's suspension a joke

By Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel

July 21, 2009 2:24 p.m.

So, hitting coach Dale Sveum gets suspended three games for "inappropriate and aggressive" behavior toward umpires after the game Sunday in Cincinnati.

When did it become illegal to argue with umpires? Didn't that used to be a part of the game? Does Lou Piniella get suspended every time he throws his hat and kicks dirt? Did Billy Martin?

And what about that vacation replacement umpire, Kevin Causey, who didn't have a clue about what was a ball or a strike that day? Did he get suspended? Was he sent back to umpiring school to learn the strike zone?

And who asked umpire Brain Runge to butt in Sunday and give his two cents worth? He was just as aggressive toward Sveum as vice versa. Why do umpires get to be aggressive and coaches can't be? Did Runge feel he had to baby-sit poor little Causey and get in Sveum's face?

And three games? Really? One game wouldn't be enough for yellling at umpires? It has to be three? Coaches can't appeal their suspensions like players can, so Sveum has to take the three games without any rebuttal.

This system is a joke. Umpires can stink and make bad calls and be the aggressors, but managers, coaches and players get suspended if they are "inappropriate." Bob Watson, who dispenses these punishments, should look back to when he played the game and how much arguing there was with umpires, without suspensions being levied. Earl Weaver would have been suspended for years at a time under this policy.

If Causey didn't stink so bad with his strike zone, Sveum wouldn't have said anything. He's not exactly a vociferous person. Pretty laid back and quiet, actually. I'd like to see MLB just once announce that action was taken against an umpire for stinking.

What about Derryl Cousins blowing that call at second base on Sunday, saying Jerry Hairston caught the ball on a force and was merely taking it out of his glove to throw it? That was pathetic. Hairston never caught the ball, which replays showed quiet clearly. Prince Fielder followed with a home run, so why wasn't Cousins suspended for three games for blowing an easy call that cost the Brewers a run?

So, some not-ready-for-prime-time umpire continually calls out players on pitches out of the strike zone and the hitting coach sticks up for his players and complains, and he gets suspended? Nice system.

Congratulations, MLB and Bob Watson. You're supposed to be running a baseball league here, not a tennis tournament.

[CWSOmaha]

I thought TH rant was excelllent and to the point!

[dayzedcrewfan]

I gotta say for one that I do agree with TH. The team does need to take some accountability for the struggles, but it doesn't help when you have a replacement ump whose calls are all over the place and can't establish anything resembling a consistent strike zone. And that Derryl Cousins call was a bit ridiculous. Three games is a lot for arguing balls and strikes, and I would love to see at some point MLB umpires taking the high road and publicly saying they screwed up in any certain situation where a call is blatantly bad. I seem to recall an out call at first base last year that was HORRIBLE. Don't remember the game but if I recall it right the runner was almost a full step past first base and he was called out.

[Invader3K]

You have to agree with everything Tom said there.

 

I really wish Selig and MLB would get serious and do something about umpiring in general. The general bad calling and lack of umpire accountability has been way out of line this year.

[Nottso]

The only thing in Haudricort's rant I can disagree with is the part about Earl Weaver. Earl would not have been "suspended for years at a time." He would have been imprisoned for years at a time after killing at least one umpire, possibly several.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Nice rant TH. The difference is the umpires have a union, the players have a union and the coaches don't.

 

The umpires union should be de-certified, they should all be canned and allowed to reapply for their jobs or even better, replaced with computers. Umpires are an overpaid relic of the game that just shouldn't exist.

[bani1717]

The only reason I can say that umpires get vacation is because they are ALWAYS on the road. Players at least are home for half the time. Umpires are definitely not at "home" for half the games they call. I think that putting up with that as well as putting up with simply being the generally unappreciated person in the stadium would wear on anyone.

 

And do you guys really think that the umpires don't have calls reviewed by the league and aren't evaluated? Just because it doesn't happen publicly doesn't mean it's not happening at all.... my guess is that Causey won't be umpiring too much more in the MLB in the near future.

 

Besides this, does it accomplish a whole lot to suspend umpires? If you do that, theoretically all you do is replace them with more "replacement" umpires who are most likely not full-time MLB umpires for a reason.

[Thurston Fluff]

Gotta agree with bani. The umps are evaluated all the time. The Hardricourt rant was off base in that mistakes are not the same as arguing mistakes. You don't suspend players for errors so umps shouldn't be suspended for blowing a call. If they really suck they get fired just like everyone else. As far as Runge getting involved he was doing the exact same thing TH was defending Sveum for. Sticking up for his guy. The dude was a replacement ump clearly in over his head. He shouldn't have been there but he was and he was there for both sides. I still think it is more Brewer whining about anything not perfect instead of focusing on their own flaws. All this does is distract from the real issue of crappy play. Distractions and excuses are the last thing this team needs now.

[Teatoe993]

I thought I heard Rock mention in last nights game that Sveum had sunflower seeds in his mouth during the altercation and that the ump was hit with some of those seeds. He didn't state if they were spit out intentionally or if it was an accident. Either way, the three game suspension doesn't seem as harsh as it did before.

[jeffy]

Yes, I heard him say something like that. Didn't catch that it was seeds, I just heard him say something about spitting or spraying the umpire while yelling at him.