MLB SUSPENDS UMPIRE WEST

Joe West, the major leagues’ senior umpire, has been suspended for three days for comments he made about Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre. In a USA TODAY Sports column published June 20 timed to coincide with the umpire’s 5,000th regular-season game, West said “it’s got to be Adrian Beltre” when asked who was the biggest complainer in the major leagues. The World Umpires Association said Tuesday that West was serving the first game of the suspension. It said Major League Baseball told the union in an Aug. 3 letter the discipline created an “appearance of lack of impartiality.”