Umpire admits Maddon was right
Cubs manager ejected for arguing strikeout reversal.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon turned out to be right. Even the umpire said so, later.
Maddon’s prize? He got ejected for the second time in the NL Championship Series.
At least he’ll get one more day in the dugout. Chicago reliever Wade Davis struck out Curtis Granderson on the next pitch after the disputed call and the Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 Wednesday night in Game 4 to avoid a sweep.
Maddon lost his argument in the eighth inning over what was originally ruled a swinging strikeout of Granderson. That call was changed to a foul tip after Granderson objected and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts asked the umpires to confer on the field.
Under Major League Baseball rules, the play was not subject to video review.
“After looking at it (on replay afterward), I was dead wrong,” plate umpire Jim Wolf said. “I talked myself into the whole thing.”
Maddon said afterward, “If Granderson hit the next pitch out, I might come running out of the clubhouse in my jockstrap. It was really that bad.”
Wolf said afterward he heard “two distinct, separate sounds” on the pitch, believing the first to be the pitch bouncing in the dirt and the second being the pop of the catcher’s mitt. After Roberts appealed and Wolf gathered his crew, he was told by his fellow umps “that the ball did not bounce — it did hit the ground but it did not bounce.”
“I basically talked myself into ‘he did foul tip it,’” Wolf said.
Maddon didn’t buy the “two sounds” explanation at the moment and roared at several members of the crew. He wasn’t buying it afterward, either.
“I’m not going to sit here and bang on umpires. I love a lot of guys on this crew. I’ve know them a long time. But that can’t happen,” he said.
“The process was horrible. ... You have 40-some thousand people, it’s late in the game. The other sound could have come from some lady screaming in the first row.”
Maddon was ejected in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium after a call at home plate was overturned because of the slide rule.
Tigers: Ron Gardenhire was hired as manager, bringing the longtime Twins skipper back to the AL Central to take over a significant rebuilding process.
The Tigers announced the move Friday, saying Gardenhire has agreed to a threeyear contract.
Gardenhire replaces Brad Ausmus, who was let go after four seasons as Detroit’s manager. The Tigers went 64-98 this season, finishing tied for the worst record in the majors.
The 59-year-old Gardenhire was the bench coach this season for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He managed the Twins from 2002-14, going 1,0681,039. He’s one of 10 managers to win at least 1,000 games with one team.
The Twins won the division six times in Gardenhire’s first nine seasons, and he was voted AL Manager of the Year in 2010.
Indians: All-Star outfielder Michael Brantley had surgery to repair a right ankle injury that limited him in the playoffs.
The team said Brantley will need at least four months to recover.