As I was watching Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, watching the Cards squander another opportunity for a sweep, I saw something that I hadn’t seen from a Cardinal hurler all season. I saw Kyle Lohse stick up for someone on his team. Granted, it was himself he was sticking up for, but he showed some moxie nonetheless.
Edinson Volquez had buzzed Lohse in the top of the fifth, high and tight under the chin, and it was clear Kyle didn’t like it, glaring out at Volquez. Edinson, for his part, played the role he’s supposed to in that case, stomping around like he was upset with himself for losing the pitch up there – he didn’t intend to do it. And he’d have a good argument – Volquez is among the league leaders in HBP. He walked four just in this game as well.
Whether he meant to come in on Lohse or not, Volquez quickly saw a very similar pitch from Lohse when leading off the bottom of the fifth inning. Said Lohse after the game:
“Same spot,” Lohse noted, referring to his reply pitch. “Wasn’t trying to hit him, though.”
Umpire Greg Gibson quickly popped out from behind the plate, warned both dugouts, and the game went on.
“Well I’ll be danged” I muttered to myself. All too often this season, opposing pitchers have taken liberties with Cardinal hitters, all-too-conveniently plunking them after a St Louis home run or clutch hit. For all of the reputation that LaRussa has as a head-hunting manager, I sure haven’t seen any proof this season. Even in this instance, I don’t believe LaRussa was behind it. Whether you see it every outing or not, Lohse does have a competitive fire in his stomach, and I’m virtually certain that this buzzer to Volquez was all Kyle’s idea.
So, no harm no foul, the game plods on to the top of the seventh inning. That’s when Volquez got too far inside on Felipe Lopez and hit him in the small of the back. While half-way expecting (and hoping for, because Volquez was cruising) an immediate ejection from home plate umpire Gibson, he made what I still to this day believe was the right call. The pitch was not intentional. Lopez took his base, Tony argued a little bit (but you’ll note not much, as you’d think he would if he really believed Volquez wanted to hit him), Volquez remained in the game, and they went on. The funny thing is that not once did I think to myself “he was throwing at him, he should’ve been tossed.” And I can admittedly be an over-reactive type, when it comes to things like that.
So, at the end of the day, the Cardinals took a loss, Lohse stood up for himself, and the umpires had gotten it right. Cooler heads had prevailed. Or so I thought.
The news came down yesterday that Bob Watson, vice president of on-field operations for MLB, had suspended Lohse for five games.
Um, what?
So for once this season (in the midst of heated battles between ownership and the umpires’ union over replay) your umpires had played their cards right, had let the game be decided by the players and not their rash decisions, and now you’re suspending a guy who wasn’t even kicked out of the game? Come again?
Lohse, upon learing of his suspension said:
“My intent wasn’t to hit anybody. My intent was to make the opposing pitcher feel as uncomfortable as I did the at-bat before. The way they interpreted it, it seems like they feel I was trying to hit him.”
For a guy who has only 39 walks this season and has hit only two batters, I don’t think I’m too naive to believe that Kyle could have that sort of command of his pitches. Throw it high and tight, don’t hit him. To his credit, Volquez responded in kind:
“I don’t know if he really tried to hit me,” he said. “Maybe he was trying to take me out of the game a little bit, and mess with my concentration on the game.”
An excellent deduction. Volquez was cruising, and Lohse had the ultimate spot and reason to fire off that pitch. More from Volquez:
“I don’t want to hit a pitcher,” said Volquez, who received no discipline. “If I’m going to hit somebody, it’d be position players. In that situation, that wasn’t on purpose. I had two men on base and two outs. If I hit him, I have to face the No. 9 batter. I just tried to throw inside and the ball went up close to him. I think he got ticked off. That’s part of the game.” [bolding is mine]
Two things strike me here: First, he’s right, he had nothing to gain by hitting Lohse, and I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, based upon his statistics indicating he can get wild, that he wasn’t trying to hit Lohse. However, he also says that he thinks Lohse got upset with the pitch regardless, and (at least the way I read it) understands why he might have seen a similar pitch in the bottom of the inning.
That’s part of the game. Even Dusty Baker was surprised:
“Five games and they didn’t even kick him out of the game. Wow,” Baker said. “The umpires don’t kick him out but the league suspends him. That’s a first, isn’t it? I haven’t seen that.”
Well, apparently not the way Bob Watson sees it. So in a situation that was completely diffused by the players’ behavior and the calm rationale of the umpiring crew that day, Watson has stepped in and handed down his sentence on Lohse. Five game suspension and an undisclosed fine.
Of course, Lohse will appeal, and I have to believe that the suspension will be reduced. SInce he is a starting pitcher, the suspension is likely to have little to no affect on his regular turns in the rotation anyway. In my mind, that is beside the point. If Lohse deserved this penalty, Volquez deserved at least the same. Again, the umpires did not see fit to eject anyone from the game, yet Lohse gets five games and Volquez nothing. It’s almost as if Volquez is being rewarded for often being wild and having a track record for hitting batters. Yet I should reiterate, I don’t believe that either player really deserved punishment, but how can you single out one and not the other as well?
Richie Sexson went bonkers earlier this season, charging the mound and throwing his helmet and several punches at a pitcher. He got six games that was later reduced to five. How in the world does Lohse’s *almost* hitting a batter come even close to comparing to Richie’s inexplicable display? Fascinating.
As I said earlier, this will likely (hopefully, assuming that more intelligent heads prevail during the appeal process) be reduced and have little effect on Lohse at all, save for the fine taking a chunk out of his pocketbook. But the precedent or example being made here is wrong. Bob Watson needs to let his umpires make the decisions on field, using the knowledge they have of game situations and being in the heat of the moment itself, not by watching on video in his cushy office three days later.
This time the umps got it right. Maybe they should use instant replay for determining who should be in charge of doling out the suspensions.
{ 4 comments }
I definitely agree. The one thing that I thought about at the time, and something I didn’t agree with, was that Lohse got the ball dangerously close to Volquez’s head. I thought the message could have been sent with a low tight ball just as easily. True, the one that Lohse ducked out of the way from was around the head too, but I’m not as sure that was intended to be so high.
Just look at what happened to Mitch Maier. I heard someone say that when Maier squared to bunt that the pitcher lost his target and the ball got away from him. I’m more of the mindset that when the player squares to bunt, the pitchers are more often throwing at the batter as an intentional pitch to force a defensive foul ball or pop up. In this case the ball was up and right in the nose resulting in 3 broken bones.
I don’t agree with a 5 game suspension since there was no brawl, no ejection, and the pitch was even a strike! I don’t agree with throwing near a batter’s head on purpose either though. You miss just a few inches and the batter doesn’t quite get out of the way then you could have a very serious injury.
That’s certainly a valid point – and undoubtedly the reason for the suspension being doled out, as MLB tries to protect its players.
If that’s the case however, Lohse should’ve been thrown out of the game. The umpires certainly have the ability and the MLB-given power to determine if a pitcher is throwing at someone’s head and to immediately eject them.
Gibson apparently didn’t think that was the case. I still can’t believe I’m in such agreement with an ump…
“a situation that was completely diffused by the players’ behavior”
That’s the frijoles of it, isn’t it?
Nothing else happened. There was no fighting, no more conflict (unless you count the ball Lopez took to the back), but somehow MLB decided that an example needed to be made.
A stand-up organization like the Cards’ does not need a lot of outside monitoring. It’s not like we’re getting into throw-downs every other week with the visiting club. Sheesh!
ps-Thank YOU for the link! I can’t believe anyone reads me!
Exactly Sarah-bug.
It was almost a ‘harken back to old days’ kind of moment. The players understood what was happening, no one charged the mound, no one got out of hand with their behavior, and the game finished without incident. It’s not as if Lohse continued throwing at Volquez until he finally plunked him.
There was a message pitch sent and message was received. I should also give kudos where due to Volquez for dealing with the situation like a true professional. The more I see of that kid, the more I really like.
As I’ve mentioned several times, I thought it was handled quite well by the umpire. Why Bob Watson thought it was necessary to go any further is beyond me.
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