Do the Umpires ever realize that its the players that should decide the games not them. Well it was so clear today that they didnt get that message. In today's 4-3 loss to the Grey's the Fraser Faithful got to witness 3 of the worst calls ever seen at Fraser, more on this later. Today was another hot and humid but sunny day at the old ballpark. Since the game was added late to the game the crowd was a light one, but they did get into it at times especially during the awful calls that happened later. The scoring started in the top of the 2nd inning when Alex Trezza smacked all ball to right and out with a man aboard to give the "away" team the Spirit a 2-0 lead. But unfortunately for Spirit Starter Ken Ray the lead didnt last long cause in the bottom of the 2nd inning with 2 outs the Grey's Brad Hargreaves also hit a 2 run homer to tie the game at 2. Before we get to all the controversy, I want to salute a webgem by Alex Trezza in the 5th inning, there was a little pop up behind the plate and Alex went after it and made an incredible diving catch, one of the best plays I have ever seen by a catcher. Now to the fun in the 6th inning there apparently one pitch in the 5th inning that the Spirit bench thought was a strike, but was called a ball, which started the conversation. Then in the 6th there was a pitch that was inside and the spirit batter even flinched like it was inside, but the umpire amazingly called that one a strike and John Kennedy wasnt happy with that call and let the home plate umpire know that and was subsequently thrown out of the game. Besides that episode the game had been a pretty well pitched and played game except the offense in the second. Then in the 8th inning the Spirit got a runner on third and there was a squeeze play at home. And the ball got in before the runner, but the catcher didnt tag the runner until he was already safe with the go ahead run, but the home plate guy incredulously called the spirit runner out at home an absolutely atrocious call. In the ensuing mayhem Spirit 3rd base coach Tom Donahue argued the call and also got the early call to the showers. Now to the top of the 9th the game remained tied at 2-2 and Travis Oglesby got on with a walk, he was replaced by Garrett Weir as a pinch runner. There was a wild pitch and Weir moved to second. Then Stephen Carter bounced a ball up the middle scoring Weir and giving the Spirit a 3-2 lead. But in the 9th inning with Vic Davilla now at first replacing Travis the Grey's first batter in the top of the 9th inning Larry Best bunted down the first base line, Vic appeared to make the tag as Best went by but the first base ump called Best safe either because the tag wasnt made or Davilla pushed him off the base path. Vic as you might expect didnt like the call and got a quick ejection from the game.
Editor's Note- At this point I left the game just absolutely disgusted with those 3 calls, so any other information about the game comes from the North Shore Spirit Site.
With 2 outs in the 9th Alex Garcia plated a single which scored Best to re-tie the game.
The Grays put the game away in the eleventh. A Yuri Sanchez error allowed Willie King to score the game-winning run to give the Grey's a really lucky 4-3 victory.
Those were three absolutely terrible calls and all of them helped to cause us the game and thats just wrong to have the umpires take control of the game. Nick Lopardo was absolutely livid about these calls and thought they were terrible, and I go to agree with him. He also said the Home Plate umpire was the same one who cost us the championship last year, I dont know about that but these guys today were a disgrace to all umpires and hope I dont have to see these guys again, but I'm sure we will see this crew again, just hope they are better next time.
Joe we missed you a lot today the place wasnt the same with out you, and this post wont even compare to your epics
SPIRITFANS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Alex Trezza (2)
Dave and I decided on this choice, he was great hitting a homer in the 2nd and with that webgem behind the plate.
Jack
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Today was the craziest and worst-called game I will probably ever see at Fraser Field! The umps sucked, it was too hot, and the crowd was dead! I will try to fill in the blanks Jack left. I say TRY because after that point in the game I got soooo confused by position changes (ejections and pitchers hitting) and some other things that my scorecard came out messed up!.... I’ll begin during the top of the 9th, we took the game momentarily with an RBI single from Carter with an error by the SS to advance the runner. Yuri had the chance to bring home the win, but he grounded out to the 2nd baseman. The call at first was actually an alright call, but there was no need for Vic to be ejected (These umps had VERY short fuses). The next batter was Brad Hargreaves who grounded out 4-3,followed by ANOTHER ejection. Gearld came in to pinch-hit for the 2nd baseman and was ejected when he got a call of a strike. The ball was clearly a ball and he argued for a considerable amount of time before getting ejected, after which I got the crowd chanting "Na-na-na-na..." (something extraordinary in and of itself, seeing as Joe AND Eric weren‘t there). Shawn Tarington then came in and struck-out, followed by an RBI single from Garcia to tie the game again and a Greg Srickland 6-3 groundout ended the inning. Into the 10th we went, with a miracle for the umps...NO EJECTIONS FROM THEN-ON-OUT!!! Marcos got a single, but then he tried to steal the base. THIS WAS CRAP, he was called safe at first, then got called out a minute later. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?!?! Anyway, the inning ended with two straight stirke-outs by Andy Howdeshell and Vic DaVilla. At this point in the game the DH rule was thrown out and the pitchers actually batted! The Grays next went down 1-2-3 with a fly out, awesome caught lineout and another fly out. Into the final inning we then went! Peter Soteropoulis actually hit a single, followed by a 1-3 groundout by Brian Macchi. Andy Trezza then walked, the second straight intentional one for him, then two fly outs from Fischer and Carter to end the inning for the Spirit and any chances of a win. The pitchers keep hitting good, the Grays pitcher at the time, I believe it was Lenny Carter, hit a no out double, pretty much sealing the win. Unfortunately, the game ended on the same not of the whole game, crappy and terrible!!! Willie King sealed the win with a soft-roller through to second with Yuri charging for it. E6!E6!E6!E6!E6!E6! Yuri doesn’t get the ball and it rolls into the outfield where Rob gets it, but it’s too late. By the time Rob got and threw the ball the Grays had gotten out of the dugout and started to celebrate a hard-earned win. If the umpire crew was better it would’ve been a spirit win, but hot tempers and bad eyesight prevailed in a Gray win (no pun intended there). Like mentioned, Trezza was the player of the game with amazing production (hitting a 2-run homer and getting walked a few times) and an amzing pop-up ctatch behind home plate. Not only was Nick livid, but so were many fans. As many left the park thunder rolled in the distance, it signaled the end of a home series that went terribly wrong. In the distance, however, you could see the sun, signaling new hopes for a road trip against Quebec.
FOR CORRECTION PURPOSES....LIKE I SAID, "I got soooo confused by position changes (ejections and pitchers hitting) and some other things that my scorecard came out messed up!". SO IN THE 10th INNING WHEN I SAID VIC STURCK OUT I WAS WRONG. ERIC STORYE BECAME 2nd BASEMAN AFTER VIC GOT EJECTED IN THE 9th INNING. SORRY FOR ANY INCONVINIENCE!
A few possible corrections from my own scorecard (which is also hard to read...):
I think Marcos might have been called out on interference in the 10th, not caught stealing (regardless of what the box score says...) - it's the only call that even remotely makes sense to me, not that I should expect sense after that game.
King (now playing 3B) hit the double in the 11th, with Best (now playing 2B) driving him in on the E6. I do kind of think it was fitting that the game ended on an E6 though...
Thank you for your input! Now we know we can write an article without "The Almighty Joe", lol :)
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