Seattle Mariners catcher Tom Murphy was ejected from Tuesday night’s game against the New York Yankees after a rookie umpire decided to flex his muscles.
Murphy was facing Yankees reliever Michael King with a 1-1 count in the bottom of the sixth inning. King threw a breaking ball in the dirt that Murphy thought about chasing, but the catcher clearly checked his swing. Home plate umpire Brian Walsh appealed to first base umpire C.B. Bucknor, who somehow thought Murphy went around.
Murphy was very unhappy, and rightfully so. Replays showed that he did not come close to losing control of the head of the bat. Murphy made his feelings known with a few choice words, which earned him an almost immediate ejection from Walsh.
Mariners catcher Tom Murphy gets tossed by home plate umpire Brian Walsh after arguing a blown check swing call
It's only Walsh's second game as a home plate ump in the majors pic.twitter.com/xJV5ZdXkrM
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 31, 2023
Mariners manager Scott Servais came out of the dugout to protest the ejection, and he too was tossed.
Walsh is in his first season as an MLB umpire, so he was probably trying to make a statement. The YES Network announcers noted that Walsh may have been trying to protect Bucknor and did not like what he heard.
Jimmy O’Brien of Jomboy Media made an interesting observation about the ejection. He noted that Murphy appeared to say, “F—ing CB, you’re f—ing terrible,” which made things personal. That could be why Walsh felt Murphy deserved the boot. Beware that the clip below contains inappropriate language:
Tom Murphy said “fucking CB you’re fucking terrible” and the home plate ump tossed him pic.twitter.com/h3T6O6uGog
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) May 31, 2023
Bucknor has been criticized by players and managers in the past for some of his horrendous calls, and the one on Murphy was the latest.
