To say John Farrell and the umpires didn’t see eye-to-eye Saturday night would be an understatement.
The Boston Red Sox manager was ejected in the seventh inning of his team’s game against the Los Angeles Angels for arguing with third base umpire Bill Miller over a balk called on Red Sox pitcher Fernando Abad. Farrell thought time was called before the balk, but Miller and his crew didn’t see it that way, and things got heated in a hurry.
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Farrell gave his side of the story after the game, but how did the umps see it? Miller was asked about the play by a pool reporter after Boston’s 6-3 loss.
“It started off that Abad had started and stopped before stepping off the back of the rubber,” Miller said. “The Red Sox’s argument was that time had been called by the home plate umpire before he balked. John came out and asked (home plate umpire) Ryan Blakney what he had, and Ryan told him that he had the balk before he called time.
“When he came to me and we discussed it, we got together as a crew and Ryan told us what he had. We went back to John and told him the balk happened before time was called. John didn’t accept that answer and he was quite adamant that time had been called first and therefore the balk should have been nullified.”
Miller’s explanation for tossing Farrell was pretty simple.
“After that he just decided to argue and poked me in the chest,” Miller said. “That’s why he was ejected.”
The replay clearly shows Blakney called time as Angels batter Kole Calhoun stepped out of the box. But in Miller’s view, Abad balked first.
“I’m not sure why the batter was stepping out,” Miller added. “The batter does not call time. The umpire calls time. I don’t think that has anything to do with the pitcher starting and stopping his motion — and that’s what we had on the field.”
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
