The Miami Marlins got screwed out of a win against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night because of a new rule. As you know, Major League Baseball has banned home plate collisions in order to improve player safety. The new rules also prevent catchers from blocking the plate, otherwise there would be no way to score without running through them.
With the Marlins leading 1-0 in the eighth inning, Giancarlo Stanton made a perfect throw to catcher Jeff Mathis to gun down Zack Cozart, who was trying to score on a sacrifice fly. Reds manager Bryan Price challenged the call, arguing that Mathis had blocked the plate. After a review that took more than six minutes, the call on the field was overturned.
Marlins manager Mike Redmond, a former catcher, immediately went berserk on the umpiring crew when the ruling came in from New York. He stopped just short of stripping all of his clothes off on the field in protest of the call.
“My job is to pump these guys up, to keep these guys going every day,” Redmond told reporters after the game, as transcribed by USA Today Sports. “To look them in the face and say we just lost the game on a technicality is (expletive). Absolute (expletive).
“You love this game, you respect this game so much. This game has been a part of my life forever. But to lose a ballgame tonight on that play is a joke. It’s an absolute joke. I don’t think anybody who plays this game can feel good about winning this game, and I would say that if (the situation) had been reversed. “That guy was out by 15 feet. It was a great baseball play. (Outfielder Giancarlo Stanton) threw a strike to (catcher Jeff) Mathis.”
The Reds went on to score two more runs and win the game 3-1. Unfortunately, Redmond was arguing with the wrong people. You can understand why he was furious, but the umpiring crew had nothing to do with the reversal of the call. The rule needs to be amended, and MLB has already acknowledged that.
The statement from Major League Baseball: pic.twitter.com/nVuwhxlVqf
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) August 1, 2014
Redmond is right. Anyone who watched the play at the plate would tell you Cozart was out. Whether Mathis blocked the plate or not has nothing to do with the fact that Cozart was out by several steps.
“I’m just disgusted,” Mathis said. “That’s a tough way to lose a game. … For it to be decided like that, it’s just disgusting.”
You can expect MLB to make some sort of adjustment to the rule. We don’t know what it will be, but imagine if that same play affected the outcome of a playoff game? Something has to be done. The full audio of Redmond’s postgame comments can be heard below.
