Losing in itself is bad enough, however a blatantly blown call doesn't help. Kevin Millwood allowed three runs in the first inning, and that was pretty much the ballgame seeing that the Orioles couldn't score. However with JJ Hardy on first base in the seventh inning, catcher Craig Tatum appeared to have him picked off in no-man's land between first and second. When the throw came back to first base, Ty Wiggington applied the tag...and Hardy was called safe by umpire Gary Darling (the crew chief). What followed was a virtuoso performance on the part of Ty Wiggington for the fans sitting by the first base camera well. Wiggy blew a gasket and absolutely lost it with Darling. Justifiably so in my opinion, as not only are the Orioles struggling, but they have to put up with calls like that.
I purposely waited to write this article because until this morning (as opposed to as this unfolded last night) because I at least wanted to give the umpires some time to see if they wanted to comment on the play. To Gary Darling's credit, he admitted he blew the call. However he said that in the moments that followed Ty Wiggington bumped him, which will probably result in a suspension. Wiggy said he never bumped Darling, and in my opinion replays seemed to back that up. I'll be very honest, it was good to see someone finally lose it like that, because as I said it's bad enough to see the team struggle, but the perception is that there's no respect around the league. I've read numerous message boards since this happened last night, and the attitude of a lot of the fans is that the Twins seem to "matter" more than the Orioles, so they got the call. (And ultimately Hardy scored in the inning, a run that shouldn't have counted.) I have to admitt that I did ask myself if Mark Texeira or Kevin Youkilis would have gotten the out call had they been playing first there.
But wait...there's more. After Hardy came into score in that inning, Juan Samuel came out to make a pitching change. According to home plate umpire Bill Hohn, during that process pitching coach Rick Kranitz did something on the bench to warrant an ejection; Juan Samuel subsequently lost it with Hohn, and was tossed himself. (Incidentally Samuel gave another virtuoso performance with flashes of Earl Weaver.) So in the span of five minutes, three guys got ejected. Kranitz said after the game that he applauded sarcastically towards the umpires since Hardy never should have remained on base, and thus never should have scored. That's hardly something that warrants an ejection. So is there something to the argument that the Orioles don't get respect...?
...perhaps. But moreso than anything else I think that teams' reputations precede them. I notice a lot of check swing appeals down the bases go against the Orioles. The O's have a reputation as a team that swings freely, so I think that it's safe to say that in some situations other teams get the benefit of the doubt. In this case, it was just a blown call, and a blatantly blown call at that. It didn't cost the Orioles the game, but that's really beside the point. Furthermore, I have no problem with people getting in officials' faces when they screw up. As MASN's Jim Hunter said after the game (in a post-game rant which made me stand and applaud), Chris Tillman's a triple-A because he couldn't get the job done, Gary Darling will be behind the plate tonight after his mistake. Guys' jobs are at stake in games, and if someone blows a call that could be the difference between triple-A or the majors. I'll give Darling credit for admitting the mistake, but baseball needs to institute some form of replay to remedy these calls, because the Orioles got hosed. I'll leave it at this...any player or coach who protests a call like that to an umpire or ref will ALWAYS have an ally in me.
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