Postgame: Royals’ starter ejected, said umpire “was after me personally”

  Royals pitcher Mike Montgomery was ejected for arguing about balls and strikes on Friday, crew chief Sam Holbrook said. But Montgomery would take exception to that — it wasn’t the calls that made him mad, it was home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez’s intent.

  “I felt like he was after me personally, and the team,” Montgomery said after a fifth-inning argument with Gonzalez wound up costing him his first career ejection. “He had a bad day. What really just [made me mad] was, he was intentionally trying to screw me over.”

  Montgomery, a five-year veteran who was traded from the Cubs to Kansas City in July, had been complaining about Gonzalez’s strike zone for much of the game, but it boiled over when Mitch Garver led off the fifth inning with a home run. Gonzalez called a couple of low curveballs that might have nicked the strike zone balls, and Garver eventually worked the count to 3-2 by fouling off a fastball. He was was lying in wait for the next one.

  “He threw me a fastball, and I was extremely late. I think that kind of played into my hand,” Garver said. “So then I was sitting dead red, right down the middle, and got it.”

So, if we do go to robot umpires, how long before the pitchers start getting paranoid about them too?

I was a bird-flipping Little League menace—and it’s time to come clean

Fun story about a guy wanting to apologize to an umpire decades later for his behavior as a little league player

The Pursuit of the Elusive Umpire Perfect Game - The Ringer

This is good stuff.

Carig: In lashing out at Manny Machado, umpires’ union reveals itself to be tone deaf – The Athletic

#Disappointed #LeadByExample #NotAppreciated #Violence #TemperTantrum #Inaction #NotTolerated #MakeanExampleof #OneGameSuspension #RepeatOffender #Nonsense #MLBUA @MLB @Padres @Buster_ESPN pic.twitter.com/pkcW5O1SnB

— Major League Baseball Umpires Association (@MLBUA) June 18, 2019

More stuff.

Breaking: MLB has suspended #Padres 3B Manny Machado for one game for "aggressively arguing" and making contact with umpire Bill Welke in Colorado on Saturday. Machado will appeal the ruling. pic.twitter.com/ncksG4r8F7

— Troy Hirsch (@troyhirschfox5) June 17, 2019

Frustration with MLB umpires growing again after series of heated confrontations

It seems every season there’s a point where frustration with umpires starts to boil over.

We might have already reached that point this season following a series of heated confrontations that culminated with members of the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants calling out the umpiring crew from their series.

Specifically, Nationals manager Davey Martinez said he felt disrespected by Wednesday’s home plate umpire Tony Randazzo after disagreeing with his strike zone.

So, how long before the managers end up screaming at robots?