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Ejection Inspection, Week 10: Alan Porter Dumps Three from the Oakland Athletics

Alan Porter

Alan Porter Dumps Three from the Oakland Athletics

Welcome to Week 10 of Ejection Inspection! The premise and ground rules are detailed here. The condensed version: each ejection from the previous week (Thursday through Wednesday) is listed in a table. The author – a former player/coach/umpire – analyzes each ejection and assigns it an entertainment rating of one to five Weavers in honor of late Orioles manager Earl Weaver.

(For a list of every article in this series, click here.)

There were only three ejections in Week 10 – two players and one manager – running the season total to 72. All three ejections came in the same series from the same team — the Oakland Athletics — and from the same umpire – Alan Porter.

Date Team Opp Inn. Name Pos Umpire Pos Reason
1 Sat 6/1 OAK HOU T6 Marcus Semien SS Alan Porter 1B Arguing fair/foul, insulting/abusive language
2 Sun 6/2 OAK HOU T11 Stephen Piscotty RF Alan Porter HP Arguing balls/strikes
3 Sun 6/2 OAK HOU T11 Bob Melvin Mgr Alan Porter HP Arguing balls/strikes

 

Marcus Semien, Oakland Athletics Shortstop

When

Saturday, June 1, vs. Houston Astros, between the fifth and sixth

Umpire

Alan Porter (1B)

Description

In the bottom of the fifth, Houston led Oakland, 3-1. Semien came to the plate with runners on first and second and two out. On 2-2, he sliced a liner down the right field line. Astros right fielder J.J. Reddick dove to make a catch but came up just short. The ball hit near the outer edge of the foul line. First base umpire Alan Porter called it foul, drawing the ire of the Athletics.

When the ball landed, some grass flew up. A tiny amount was colored white. More white grass kicked up as Reddick’s knee slid by. This, along with the lack of a straight-down-the-line camera angle, complicated the video review.

After a lengthy review, the call stood. Athletics manager Bob Melvin asked how it could be called that way when chalk flew up. He then vented a little bit of frustration before saying he knew that he couldn’t argue and would go back to the dugout.

Two pitches later, Semien grounded into an inning-ending force play at second. As he ran by Porter at first, he yelled an f-bomb in frustration. He then yelled another sentence. Most of what he said was unclear, but in the middle of his sentence, he yelled, “because you (expletive) it up!” As he turned to hand his helmet to the first base coach, Porter tossed him.

Understand the frustration?

Yes, because that was a potential game-tying double.

Was the ejection justified?

Yes. No player can say that to an umpire and expect to stay in the game.

Entertainment Rating

One Weaver. Semien was livid and had to be restrained afterwards. It got fun for a little bit.

A Rule Explanation…

 

Stephen Piscotty, Oakland Athletics Right Fielder
Bob Melvin, Oakland Athletics Manager

When

Sunday, June 2, vs. Houston Astros, top of the 11th

Umpire

Alan Porter (HP)

Description

In the bottom of the 10th, with the score 4-4, a runner on first, and two out, Piscotty took a 2-2 fastball low for ball three. The next pitch was near the knees as well, but it wasn’t quite as low, and it clipped the strike zone. Alan Porter correctly rang him up. A frustrated Piscotty asked him about the pitch and was dumped (for the first time in his career) before he even finished a sentence. Melvin jogged out of the dugout and protested the quick ejection. Porter gave him the heave-ho quickly as well.

Understand the frustration?

Absolutely. This came in extra innings with the winning run on first. Furthermore, Porter’s strike zone all game was inconsistent on low pitches, so even though he got the call right, the teams were frustrated. His zone during the rest of the game messed up his credibility.

Was the ejection justified?

This looked really bad. Piscotty said one sentence. Unless he made an ethnic slur of some type, this is tough to justify. Melvin also hardly said anything before Porter ran him. Even though his ejection of Semien the night before was fully justified, this entire situation made Porter look like he had an itchy trigger finger. Umpires are taught at an early age that people are there to watch the players play ball – not to watch them call the game. There are a few umpires in the majors who seem to forget that. (Not naming names!)

Entertainment Rating

Zero Weavers. There was nothing entertaining about this quick trigger.

Ejection Leaderboard

After 10 weeks, here are the leaders. Fight-related ejections are not counted toward the leaderboard.

Individual: Four-way tie – Chicago White Sox manager Rick Renteria, San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy, Detroit Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire, and Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell (three each)
Team (excluding fights): Cincinnati Reds (six)
Umpire (excluding fights): Mike Estabrook (six)

 

Look for Week 11 on Thursday, June 13th.

Evan Thompson played baseball as a youth and teenager. He also umpired between 1995 and 2004 and has coached at the high school level.

Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images

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