2012-07-07 Brewers (Greinke) at Astros (Rodriguez), 3:05 PM CDT [Brewers lose, 6-3; Greinke ejected after four pitches]

[packfan79]

He wasn't close to the umpire, his back was to him and he never said a word. I can't believe that he got the hook for that...

[markedman5]

I can....guys get tossed all the time when they throw their helmet down after getting called out on strikes.

 

Umps will always assume you are trying to show them up when you make a spectacle of yourself.

 

I'm not saying it's right or wrong but it's not unusual. I think what's unusual about this situation is how often does the starting pitcher lose his cool and spike the ball at first base in the friggin first inning?

 

Not sure I've ever seen that exact siutation before.

 

He wasn't close to the umpire, his back was to him and he never said a word. I can't believe that he got the hook for that...

[TURBO]

Braun's not hitting worth a lick right now. When he's cold, the offense is cold. He's got a couple of homers, but he's about to dip below .300.

 

It's because he is off the juice.

[markedman5]

Zach said after watching it on replay "I understand why the umpire did what he did"....."It wasn't my intention to be mad at the umpire but it looked bad"

[logan82]

Wow, just watched the game recorded. I was shocked Greinke was ejected. I am not upset he was but I don't think he should have been. Bad call but I can see why he was ejected. I don't think Greinke was upset with the umpire. Guys get ejected for spiking their helmets. Pretty similar situation.

 

There is zero reason to put Gomez in the top of the lineup. Gomez is a defensive specialist. Weeks or Hart would be a much much better option. Gomez is a 6-8 guy. No OBP skills. His skills play much better as a small ball guy.

[pebadger]

Even if it looks bad, even if you might interpret it as "being showed up" a good ump doesn't toss a guy there, four pitches into a game with nothing having happened between him and Greinke to that point. The ump had numerous options there. He chose the nuclear option. It's just poor officiating and it had a impact on the outcome of the game disproportionate to whatever the infraction was. That makes it the worst kind of poor officiating.

[TURBO]

 

There is zero reason to put Gomez in the top of the lineup. Gomez is a defensive specialist.

 

 

yup...and that is all that really needs to be said about the subject. That about covers it.

 

[bacon06]

I find it funny all these scouts from other teams came to see Greinke pitch, and then he gets ejected after 4 pitches.

[logan82]

Yeah that's great for his trade value. Super for us.

[markedman5]

The honesty of Greinke on full display

 

As for Greinke's ejection, here's what he himself had to say about the play that ended with both he and Roenicke being tossed by first-base umpire Sam Holbrook:

 

"I threw an away cutter to (Jose) Altuve, I thought he hit a ground ball to second base so I didn’t think about covering first at the beginning. Then I realized what was going on, ran over real quick and knew Altuve would get to first quick, so I already knew I had to get there really fast.

 

"He beat me to the bag and I got real mad at myself because it was a mental mistake and I think that’s probably the first time I’ve never covered first on a ball hit to that side. So I was just really mad with myself. I don’t know why I threw the ball down. I never make mental mistakes like that. I guess I was really upset with myself.

 

"I don’t blame the umpire for what he did. I didn’t mean it towards him; I thought the guy was safe. But I shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it, but then after looking back at it I was like, ‘Oh crap, that definitely didn’t look good. Definitely didn’t look like how I meant it.’

 

"I put the umpire in a bad position and he had to make a decision. I wish he didn’t make it that way, but it’s tough."

 

Greinke left no doubt he regretted how things transpired.

 

"I was pretty much just embarrassed by how it happened, and it kind of put us in a tough situation, the whole team," he said. "The relievers have no plans – that happens once a year, where a reliever has to get ready in the first inning if something happening. But you’re never completely ready for it.

 

"I put Livan in a tough situation and he did the best he could. It kind of put everyone on our whole entire team in a bad situation today, and then Wandy went out and pitched really good himself. So that made it tough too."

 

Greinke said it was the fourth time he's been ejected in his career. The last time was on Aug. 3, 2008, when he was pitching for the Kansas City Royals against the Chicago White Sox.

 

" Four times now. Two for throwing at guys and one time yelling at the umpire from the dugout," he said. "Today was probably the only one I’ll look back at and regret what I did. The dugout one really didn’t matter. I was just mad at the umpire. It didn’t really cost our team anything. The other ones are just part of baseball.

 

"This one was just me not acting how I should act on the field."

 

As for taking the loss and dropping to 9-3 on the season despite throwing just four pitches, Greinke had no problem with it.

 

"I deserved it," he said. "I threw four pitches, two hits and didn’t cover first. And then threw a tantrum on the field. All in four pitches I did all those things wrong. It wasn’t good."

[chadomac]

You have to start greinke again tomorrow, right? He threw four pitches.

[DHonks]

You guys that hate on Gomez act like there's a better option to lead off or bat #2. Name someone, please? I'd love to hear it. WEEKS/HART ARE NOT, I REPEAT ARE NOT LEAD OFF HITTERS. They are 5-7 hitters in good lineups that drive in runs. Get over it.

 

So Gomez...who should be hitting 9th on AAA teams, hits leadoff in the majors and you defend it?

 

Hopefully he turns a corner and becomes adequate. But he hits worse than a catcher. Here's hoping Morgan continues his OBP increasing so that he shows he's the best option in CF.

[RightFieldCoder]

Good lord. I saw the box score with Greinke being removed after 0.0 IP and almost had a heart attack. Would have been just the Brewers' luck that our biggest trading chip in years would get injured a couple weeks before the deadline.

I had the opposite reaction. I looked at a boxscore during the bottom of the 1st and saw that Livan was in. I thought Greinke got pulled because he was traded. I rushed to a computer to check BF.net to see who we got back. Oh, just an ejection.

[logan82]

You guys that hate on Gomez act like there's a better option to lead off or bat #2. Name someone, please? I'd love to hear it. WEEKS/HART ARE NOT, I REPEAT ARE NOT LEAD OFF HITTERS. They are 5-7 hitters in good lineups that drive in runs. Get over it.

 

So Gomez...who should be hitting 9th on AAA teams, hits leadoff in the majors and you defend it?

 

Hopefully he turns a corner and becomes adequate. But he hits worse than a catcher. Here's hoping Morgan continues his OBP increasing so that he shows he's the best option in CF.

 

He is except against LHP. When there is a LHP on the mound Morgan is almost/as bad at hitting as Gomez is. Gomez provides better defense though. Gomez is a 4th outfielder if you have a right handed CF that can hit at all.

[adambr2]

Yeah that's great for his trade value. Super for us.

 

I really doubt that some bogus ejection in the 1st inning with scouts watching is really going to have much of an affect on Greinke's trade value or way or another.

[Baldkin]

Greinke got the loss for throwing 4 pitches.... almost as bad as the time Brian Shouse got the loss for coming in and IBBing one hitter, only to have Coco blow the save in STL.