Larry Brown Sports

The debut of baseball’s one-game wild-card playoff format was marred by a mess that would make the NFL’s replacement refs cringe.

The Braves-Cardinals game Friday night was delayed in the eighth inning after Atlanta fans began littering the field with debris in protest of a call that went against their team.

With the Braves trailing 6-3 with one out and men on first and second, Atlanta’s Andrelton Simmons hit a pop fly to left that fell between Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma and left fielder Matt Holliday. However, left field umpire Sam Holbrook called the infield fly rule right before the ball dropped — halfway out into the outfield.

Instead of bases loaded and one out, Atlanta was left with men on second and third with two outs. The fans were so upset they began littering the field with debris, causing an 18-minute delay. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez protested the call. Atlanta’s next batter, pinch-hitter Brian McCann, walked to load the bases, but Michael Bourn struck out to end the inning, and the Braves went on to lose 6-3.

Tough way for Chipper Jones’ career to end, especially after he railed against the one-game playoff format last month. Braves fans won’t forgive the umpires for this call anytime soon.

Here’s the official definition of the rule per MLB rules:

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The Nationals are fighting to maintain the lead in the NL East and top spot in the NL for the playoffs, so they can hardly afford mistakes by their players, much less ones by the umpires. But that’s what they dealt with on Wednesday night.

The Dodgers were up 5-0 in the bottom of the 4th and had runners on second and third with two outs. Hanley Ramirez grounded a ball to third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who tagged out Adrian Gonzalez who was going from second to third. Zimmerman tagged out Gonzalez for the final out before Matt Kemp, who was on third, reached home plate, as you can see in the image below:

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Nationals manager Davey Johnson earned his first ejection of the season after arguing an awful call at first base by umpire Marvin Hudson on Saturday.

Braves left fielder Martin Prado was leading off the bottom of the sixth and hit a come-backer to pitcher Edwin Jackson. The ball went off Jackson’s glove, but he recovered and threw to first to get Prado by a step. Or so we thought.

Umpire Marvin Hudson called Prado safe at first, leaving the Nats in disbelief. He apparently ruled that first baseman Adam LaRoche’s foot wasn’t on the bag, which not only was incorrect, but also a difficult call for him to make based on where he was standing:

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The Yankees-Orioles game ended in controversy Saturday thanks to a badly blown call by umpire Jerry Meals that cost the Yankees the game.

Mark Teixeira was up in the 9th inning with one out and the Yankees trailing the Orioles 5-4. Teixeira grounded a ball to second with men on the corners, and the Orioles attempted to turn two. They got Nick Swisher out with a force at second, and then J.J. Hardy threw to first to try and get Teixeira on the double play. Even though Teixeira clearly beat the throw, he was called out by Jerry Meals to end the game.

Had Teixeira rightfully been called safe, Chris Dickerson crossing home would have counted as a run to tie the game at 5. The Yankees would have had Alex Rodriguez up with two outs, a man on first, and the game tied 5-5. Even if A-Rod made the last out of the inning, the game would still have continued to the bottom of the 9th tied.

Below is a video of the play:

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Umpire Greg Gibson left Wednesday’s Angels-Indians game after being spiked near the eye by Torii Hunter on a freak play.

Hunter was attempting to score from first on a double by Kendrys Morales in the bottom of the fifth. As he went diving into home plate, he angled his body away from home plate to try to avoid the tag from catcher Carlos Santana. Hunter’s right leg flew into the air and his cleat caught home plate umpire Greg Gibson in the side of the head.

Gibson began bleeding near his left eye immediately after being spiked by Hunter’s cleat. He was treated by a medical team and exited the game, leaving the umpiring crew down a man. Umpire Manny Gonzalez moved from first to home to replace Gibson.

Angels announcer Victor Rojas said on the telecast that Gibson received stitches for the cut and that he was taken to the hospital for precautionary X-rays.

We frequently get on umpires for making horrible calls like this one, but Wednesday’s incident is a reminder that the job — especially for umpires behind the plate — has its hazards.

We knew umpires could be a sensitive bunch, but who knew they were this sensitive?

Home plate umpire Mario Seneca ejected two members of the Daytona Cubs (Single-A Cubs) staff on Wednesday night after the nursery rhyme “Three Blind Mice” played over the stadium’s sound system following a questionable call.

MLB.com’s Danny Wild described the scene at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona:

After a questionable play at first base, [Cubs manager Brian] Harper argued the call with infield umpire Ramon Hernandez. Daytona first baseman Taylor Davis appeared to pick a ball in the dirt thrown by shortstop Tim Saunders, but it came out of his glove when he turned to toss it around the infield. Hernandez ruled Davis had bobbled the ball rather than dropping it on the transfer and declared Fort Myers’ Andy Leer safe.

Cubs music intern Derek Dye then played the nursery rhyme, prompting a harsh reaction from the umpire, who reportedly pointed at the press box and shouted “You’re done!” to Dye and the team’s public address announcer. He also ordered the team to stop playing music for the rest of the game.

Dye is worried that Seneca will be umpiring Thursday’s game, but he seems to be taking the whole situation well:

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Umpires argue with managers and players all the time. It happens every day in the majors, but very rarely do we see an instance where multiple umpires are engaged in entirely separate arguments simultaneously. On Sunday, three of the guys in blue found themselves arguing separate calls at the same time.

With the bases loaded and the Brewers leading the Nationals 3-2, Milwuakee’s Norichika Aoki dropped down a squeeze bunt that was picked up by Washington pitcher Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez’s throw to first nearly pulled Steve Lombardozzi off the bag, but the replay showed he was able to maintain contact long enough to get the out. The ump called the runner safe, and that’s where argument number one began.

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