Jerry Meals’ Family Being Harassed

When Jerry Meals blew the call at the end of the Braves-Pirates game a few nights ago, I don’t think he figured that there would be some fans that would take their outrage a bit too far. Yes, he blew the call, but hell, he’s only human. I’m still bitter over the blown call in the 1985 World Series, but I’ve never let my fandom get in the way of human error. What is happening to Meals and his family is absurd.

According to Meals’ daughter the family has received threats and harassing phone calls. This is a bit much. Jim Joyce didn’t catch this much flack for ruining Armando Galarraga’s perfect game.

A source who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation told  ESPN.com’s Amy K. Nelson that Major League Baseball’s security division is investigating apparent threats made against the family. Among them were calls made to the family and people showing up at the Meals’ home. The exact nature of the threats is still unknown.

MLB Vice President of Baseball Operations, Joe Torre, delivered a lenghty apology. 

“Unfortunately, it appears that the call was missed, as Jerry Meals acknowledged after the game. Many swipe tags are not applied to the runner with solid contact, but the tag was applied and the game should have remained tied. I have spoken with Jerry, who is a hard-working, respected umpire, and no one feels worse than him. We know that this is not a product of a lack of effort.



“Having been the beneficiary of calls like this and having been on the other end in my experience as a player and as a manager, I have felt that this has always been a part of our game. As a member of the Commissioner’s Special Committee for On-Field Matters, I have heard many discussions on umpiring and technology over the past two years, including both the pros and the cons of expanding replay. However, most in the game recognize that the human element always will be part of baseball and instant replay can never replace all judgment calls by umpires. Obviously, a play like this is going to spark a lot of conversation, and we will continue to consider all viewpoints in our ongoing discussions regarding officiating in baseball.


“We expect the best from our umpires, and an umpire would tell you he expects the best of himself. We have to continue to strive for accuracy, consistency and professionalism day in and day out.”


Listen up Pirates fans. Everyone makes mistakes. I understand this is the closest you’ve been to a pennant race in the last 20 years or so. Get over it. If anything you guys should be bitching about MLB not having a replay system that can make a proper call on a close play. I understand that it could possibly cost you in the standings at the end of the year, but it’s not that serious. It’s BS and 99% of them probably couldn’t referee a checker match.

    

Absolutely Heartless

This story is just out and out horrible. Except for the part about the police catching the person behind the crime.

Pittsburgh police arrested a 17 year old boy for robbing an usher after an extra innings Pirates game. Whe you read that part you figure it’s your normal everyday robbery. But the victim in the crime was robbed after he pulled his car over while suffering a heart attack.

Police aren’t identifying the suspect because of his age. They said Tuesday he approached the car and pulled out 58-year-old driver Michael Schacht, who had been slumped over and in distress. They say he stole the man’s wallet and drove off in his car, leaving him on the ground.

That’s just foul, no pun intended. The suspect doesn’t qualify to be charged as an adult, but he deserves whatever punishment is doled out to him.

Quote Of The Week: Jeff Passan

Here’s part of Yahoo’s Jeff Passan’s take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. Not really a quote but it’s still kind of funny.

Pirates in haiku

We yearn for the days
When our players did cocaine
At least they were good

Start The Firing And Speculation

Now that the MLB regular season is over its time to start the offseason speculation and get the firing squads ready.

The New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, and Pittsburgh Pirates wasted no time in giving their managers their walking papers. The Mets went for the double and also fired GM Omar Minaya. That rumor had been in the hopper for quite awhile. The Mets have been a bunch of overpaid underachievers for the last three seasons. Not much has gone right since losing Game 7 in the 2006 NLCS. That isn’t what the top brass in Queens were looking for when they acquired the likes of Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay, Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez. Now the stories will start flying about who replaces Jerry Manuel and Minaya. I hear former Mets manager Bobby Valentine is on the list as well as former Mets second baseman Wally Backman.

The Brewers decided not to pick up the option on Ken Macha for the 2011 season. This came after two losing seasons after they made the playoffs in 2008. I guess this was bound to happen since they did fire Ned Yost with 12 games left in the 2008 season. There also were rumblings that he wasn’t connecting with his players which is the reason why he was canned in Oakland. I guess Dale Sveum and Willie Randolph are on the list as of now.

Which brings me to the Pittsburgh Pirates. They fired John Russell after he compiled an astounding 299 losses in three seasons. The Pirates have been on this slippery slope for a while. Trading away young proven players for minor league prospects. Amazingly GM Neal Huntington was retained, since he’s made some poor trades and questionable moves himself.  His saving grace is that this pattern had been going on long before he or Russell got into town.  Russell’s stoic demeanor, reluctance to argue most calls and peculiar strategy—such as letting a pitcher bat with runners in scoring position while the Pirates trailed by five runs—made him unpopular among fans. Russell’s first team in 2008 was competitive until midseason, when the franchise—eager to stockpile a talent-bereft farm system—began dealing away or cutting productive players such as Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Freddy Sanchez Jack Wilson Nate McLouth Adam LaRoche, Matt Capps, John Grabow, Tom Gorzelanny, Ian Snell, Sean Burnett and Nyjer Morgan. Also traded was 2010 major league home run leader Jose Bautista during a two-year roster purge. Russell was a surprise hire by the Pirates, especially after he was fired from being the third base coach by previous management. He was hired by Huntington and team prez Frank Coonelly because he had a reputation of being a patient, adept developer of young talent. I guess the Pirates were wrong about that. This franchise is a big mess and shows no signs of getting better anytime soon. They have identified no candidates (surprise) and I can’t think of anyone that would take that job without a lifetime contract since they’ll essentially be starting from rubble.

The pierogi lives on

The pieorgi racer (think Milwaukee Brewers sausage races) from the Pittsburgh Pirates games has been rehired because the Pirates organization failed to use “internal corporate procedure”.I get a kick out of this because in addition to losing baseball games,they can’t even fire a pierogi racer properly. 

Management needs more to do

The Pittsburgh Pirates fired one of the pierogi mascot racers for criticizing the the contract extensions given to GM Neal Huntington and manager John Russell on his Facebook page. Andrew Kurtz,the perpetrator of said crime, was already under suspicion because of a violation of team rules. I wonder what those rules were. The 24 year old Kurtz was back on his feet though,given a job by the Washington(Pa.) Wild Things,an independent minor league team, as one of the racing hot dogs.Management,especially in the Pirates organization need to do better things with their time, like scouting better players for example, instead of worrying about what the racing pierogis are doing in their off time.