The High Court

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The Big Gavel...Yer Outta Here!

October 17, 2005

 

Move over, Doug Eddings.  In an upset bigger than Martha Stewart passing on the chance to make a buck, you may have to relinquish your title as the worst umpire in the 2005 playoffs.  That’s because Phil Cuzzi, the man behind the plate for Game Four in the National League Championship Series, decided to make himself the most important figure at Minute Maid Park on Sunday.  Cuzzi took his star turn by ejecting Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa in the seventh inning and center fielder Jim Edmonds in the eighth.  Both men were arguing balls and strikes, each frustrated by Cuzzi’s strike zone which was moving up and down more often than the special guests on a Minnesota Vikings’ lake cruise.

 

You certainly can’t blame the Cardinals 2-1 loss to Houston on Cuzzi, especially since the Astros had to live with the same maddeningly inconsistent strike zone all day long.  We can, however, blame Fox Sports’ duo of Thom Brennaman and Steve Lyons for bombarding us with some of the most moronic drivel in broadcasting history.  Brennaman initially attempted to suggest that Cuzzi had no business ejecting Edmonds in a playoff game (next time stick with your first thought, Thom), but backed down when Lyons interjected that Edmonds should know better than to get himself ejected.  They then, in tandem, proceeded to tell us how terrible it was that Edmonds had done such a thing.  They then piled on the crapola by suggesting that Cuzzi had a consistent zone all day.  The entire exchange was so wrong you could almost picture Bob Brenly looking as mortified as Mike Myers sharing a stage with Kanye West.

 

Not only was Cuzzi’s strike zone inconsistent, it was so inconsistent that two Cardinals were ejected arguing over pitches in almost the exact same spot.  Now clearly, LaRussa’s frustration with Cuzzi was not over just one pitch.  But when he came unglued on Lance Berkman’s four-pitch walk in the seventh, Berkman had just taken a pitch just off the inside of the plate and letter-high.  When Edmonds got the gate on a 3-1 pitch just off the inside corner and letter-high, it was called strike two.  Same spot, two different results.  That is the definition of inconsistent.

 

But my real problem with Cuzzi has nothing to do with his strike zone.  Guys can be brutal behind the plate all the time.  That’s just part of it.  But his decision to make himself a deciding factor in a contest of such great magnitude was an error even more egregious than the “dropped” strike three debacle that Eddings touched off in Game Two of the ALCS.  Eddings may have made the worst call of these playoffs, but Cuzzi exhibited the worst judgment and did the worst umpiring job of these playoffs.  You do not throw players out of high-stakes games unless contact with an umpire is made or you have a beanball/brawl issue.  To illustrate that umpires do have such a concept in their minds, realize that no team had lost two of its members to ejection in the postseason since 1998, when Cleveland Indians manager Mike Hargrove and pitcher Dwight Gooden were tossed from the same game.  And I think we all know that the intense nature of these playoff games leads to more confrontational behavior between managers, players, and umpires.  But since everybody understands what is at stake, very few participants are run from the game.

 

Outside of the Cuzzi family, how many people do you think were at Minute Maid Park or watching on television just waiting to see Phil Cuzzi go to work?  I am guessing none.  But I do expect that everybody watching was interested in seeing each squad compete with their best available bodies on the field.  Seriously, what can Cuzzi be thinking?  What can Edmonds, or even LaRussa for that matter, have said that requires their being ejected.  Yeah, I know you can’t argue balls and strikes, but if you know the game very well you know conversations about balls and strikes are being held with the home plate umpire all the time.  Do the guys behind the dish toss somebody every time something nasty is said?  Nope.  So why then?  Why with a full count on the Cardinals second-best player in the eighth inning of the most important game of the year?  Cuzzi was flat-out wrong, and he should know it.

 

And by the way, before I forget our Fox Sports’ geniuses, Brennaman and Lyons are both correct in saying that Jim Edmonds should know better than to get himself tossed in such a huge situation.  Lyons, though, knows better.  As a former player (albeit not a very good one), Lyons understands the intense nature of the moment.  Edmonds and his teammates are battling for a trip to the World Series.  Cuzzi is umpiring for his check and his reputation.  Neither of those was going to be reduced because Jim Edmonds yelled at him about his strike zone.  But we know what Cuzzi was tired of losing on Sunday afternoon, don’t we?  His pride.  He wasn’t going to let another Cardinal berate him in front of a national television audience as LaRussa had done a half-inning earlier.  So Edmonds was shown the door.  And it happened simply because Cuzzi, just as much as Edmonds, lost control of his emotions.  He lost his temper and the Redbirds lost their center fielder.  That is not exactly a fair trade for fans in St. Louis.

 

I won’t sit here and try and absolve LaRussa and Edmonds of blame in this situation. They used poor judgment and got themselves removed from a game in which the Cardinals could ill-afford to be without them.  But Cuzzi’s behavior warrants some sort of examination.  I have a great deal of faith in the job that Major League umpires do, but they begin to lose credibility with me when they hide behind the rules and refuse to admit that they made a mistake.  That was my biggest problem with the Eddings’ controversy in the ALCS.  Eddings hid behind his “mechanics” of making a call and crew chief Jerry Crawford.  What would be wrong with simply admitting that you may have gotten the call wrong?  Being honest seems to be more credible to me than trying to spin whatever happened in your favor.  I watched the press conferences following Game Two’s controversial ending, and I had to wonder if Karl Rove was behind the curtain pulling the strings of the umpires on the dais.  Lots of smoke, lots of mirrors, no straight answers.

 

Like I said, though, Eddings’ call, while awful, was not premeditated.  It was a bang-bang non-call that featured a relatively inexperienced umpire (in big-game situations at least) locking up in the moment.  Cuzzi, on the other hand, had ample opportunity not to throw Jim Edmonds out of the game.  He made his decision, and the baseball public paid the price for it.  And I don’t need Major League Baseball to give a win back to the Angels or replay the Cardinals game.  Just tell me one time…just once…that you got it wrong.  I might be more inclined to admit when you get it right.

 

There’s an old adage, one that you all know.  When you don’t notice the umpires, they have done a really good job.  On Sunday, I noticed Phil Cuzzi.  And I think you know what that means…

 

 

You can reach The Chief at chiefjustice@thehighcourtofsports.com.

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