During Wednesday’s game between the San Francisco Giants and Chicago White Sox, shortstop Tim Anderson found himself in a similar spot to Manny Machado from earlier this week and eventually was ejected by the home plate umpire.
In the third inning, Anderson was down in the count 1-2 and tried to call a timeout. However, home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn did not grant it and Giants right-handed pitcher Logan Webb proceeded to throw a pitch down the middle for strike three while Anderson was backing away from the plate thinking he got a timeout.
As always, just because a batter calls for a timeout at the plate, an umpire does not have to grant it to him. Anderson was obviously pissed off because of the strikeout and began yelling at Reyburn and possibly Webb as well.
Here is how that at-bat went down.
The White Sox shortstop was still jawing at the ump from the home dugout while Luis Robert took his plate appearance and it wasn’t until Robert was called out on a terrible strike three call that Anderson was eventually ejected by the home plate ump.
Anderson did not let up and continued to go off on Reyburn after he was thrown out of the game.
I wish I had the ability to read lips because Anderson definitely got his money’s worth after the ejection and it also looked like he was pissed off at Webb, too.
Right-handed hitting utility man Hanser Alberto came in to replace Anderson in the lineup.
We all know that the new pitch clock rules and violations are going to take players time to get used to and I do understand how umpires can be in a rough spot because they are being told to be strict and call things how they are written in the rule book, but these types of situations do not benefit anyone. I have never liked how an umpire does not have to grant a hitter a timeout if he calls for one. It can be a safety thing because you don’t want guys doing it right as a pitcher is getting ready to throw and then they get injured on the mound mid-delivery.
However, now that there are time restraints and hitters are only allowed to call for one timeout per plate appearance, you would think umpires would be more inclined to almost always grant them when it is reasonable.
As a reminder, the pitch clock resets to 15 seconds between pitches when there is no one on base. From there, a hitter has until 8 seconds to get into the batter’s box and be ready to hit, while the pitcher must begin his pitch delivery before the clock ticks down to zero. Umpire’s have a buzzer on them that indicates when a violation has taken place.
Almost the exact same thing happened with San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado during their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Machado was ejected right away for arguing with the umpire.
The only difference is that Machado struck out because of the pitch clock violation after he wasn’t granted a timeout.
If the pitcher is on a time clock stay in the damn box, it is that simple. Idiots
Webb was just starting to begin his delivery when Anderson requested time, so I understand why he didn’t give it to him. That’s a tough position to be in for the umpire. Having said that, I also understand why Anderson was upset because I don’t think he realized Webb was beginning to start his windup.
I could read his lips and after the umpire threw him out. Anderson looked at the umpire and said, “I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to that motherfucker” as he pointed to Webb.
Did TA just stepped out of box he didn’t put his hand up asking for time out? He really thinks he is bigger than the game