I saw the highlights on SportsCenter last night of the White Sox v. Athletics game. 8th inning, 1-1 score, Joe Crede clearly leans into a pitch over the plate. Hunter Wendelstedt calls Crede back--manager Ozzie Guillen goes off (supposedly) and gets tossed. Crede next pitch pops out and throws his bat, and then Wendelstedt ran him for throwing the bat.

I thought it was a good call, and a good ejection on Crede for throwing the bat. But SC didn't show what Guillen did to warrant the ejection. Did anyone out there see the whole game?

Ozzie argued the call for the Crede getting hit. He could not believe that Crede was not awarded first base. You do not see that call everyday in the Majors, so it did not surprise me that he got tossed for arguing such a play. It was the right call, but we all know these coaches really do not know the rules.

Peace

According to the paper Crede got ejected for swearing at the Wendelstedt. Crede said "I was mad at myself and I never looked in his direction" or something to that effect.

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If you'll remember, last year Guillen got dumped by Wendlestedt and then was suspended once for the incident and a second time for calling Hunter a liar in response to the incident report. It didn't seem like an unwarranted ejection, but one has to beleive he has a shorter trigger with Ozzie than with most other managers.

Given that this is PRO ball, it's also hard to tell what, if any, underlying circumstances, comments earlier in the game, etc. went on. TV never will be able to do those types of things justice.

Lawrence

I watched the game from the 6th inning on.

Great call by Wendlsteadt, Crede moved his elbow into the pitch. Guillen came out to argue for a while, Froemming came from third to participate. Just as Guillen was going back to the dugout, he let loose with a few more words for Wendlestaedt. I could not read his lips, but that is when he was ejected.

What I found very interesting were the announcers on Comcast (Chicago boys). When the play happened, one guy said that it was the wrong call because Crede never moved into the pitch. After the replay, he realised that Crede did move into the pitch, so then he went on about how umpires never make that call. They were very critical of the call and the ejections. I won't comment on the ejections since I don't what was said. But the original call was the right one.

Although that call is rarely ever made in professional baseball, I think it was clearly the correct call on this play. The rule says you need to make an attempt to get out of the way. However, the actual interpretation is that the batter will be awarded first as long as he doesn't lean into the pitch. Crede's action of sticking his left arm out in front of a very slow curveball clearly made it the correct call. However, in that situation, it is not surprising that Guillen would get run being it was a tie game in the ninth inning.

Just wondering what the call was... ball or strike? ;)

Ball

it is rarely called in the majors because the batters just don't "chicken wing" it 99.9% of the time. They usually keep the elbow in and turn the shoulder to make it look legit. That is never a keep at home call, least that I have ever seen. Great call by Hunter. Crede also deserved to be dumped I felt. Even if he did not look at Hunter because he did whip the bat and cuss. For timing of it all, Hunter could easily take it that it was meant for him. If he just cussed or just tossed the bat, he probably would not have been dumped is my quess.

ESPN covered this in detail last night. They actually said that the correct call was made and they showed over and over again how the batter moved his arm into the pitch!

Nice call Blue!

apparently only mlb umpires with the last name of Wendelstedt enforce this rule. Hunter's father Harry made a similar call which enabled Drysdale to continue his scoreless inning streak to 58 2/3. I cannot remember if I have ever seen a mlb umpire enforce this rule.