On Altuve: Honestly, I don't disagree with the ejection and I believe anyone else in the league would have been ejected too. Jose had already said his piece, Espada was arguing, Jose took a few steps away and came back to engage while taking part of his uniform off the field. I would expect an ejection to happen for all ball players in that situation.

The part that shows a lack of respect for Altuve is not showing a willingness to even check with the rest of the umpires to attempt to make sure the call is right.

Red Five said:

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McInnis said:

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Really bad bull to eject Altuve. That wasn't a judgement call and Jose was the only person in the stadium to know with 100% life and death certainty that the ball hit his foot. And his many years of good natured demeanor should have brought him some amount of latitude. The baseball gods can be a pretty fickle bunch but to have Kessinger in the game to make the final out, they were saying even they had had enough of these umps.

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I don't know how you would ever have a scenario where any player takes off a shoe and sock like that and he doesn't get ejected. It's 100% done to show up the umpire. He might have deserved it, but you're going to get run no matter what. It's like a player drawing a line in the dirt to show where the pitch was. Automatic ejection every time. I doubt Jose had any illusions about whether that was his last appearance in that game when he took his shoe off.

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the showing up the umpire thing is so grey though. I mean Machado threw his bat away and was walking to 1st base two times in a row and laughed at blue. That's showing up too. Umpires just have unlimited power in MLB and can choose what offends them too much and ring a guy up

Don't look now, but the goat got his wRC+ up to 130 and is on the cusp of his 10th 4 or more WAR seasons in a row (excluding the 2020 fake season).

Altuve has also climbed to #134 all time in fWAR. He just passed Robinson Cano, Ichiro Suzuki, & Buster Posey. Next up is Joey Votto, Tony Perez, Keith Hernandez, Andre Dawson, Bobby Abreu, & Jackie Robinson.

Anyone who says he's not a first-ballot HOFer can EAD.

9 minute extended interview with Manny Machado after the game. He was very cool about the Altuve protest, saying "He wouldn't lie" about the ball being fouled off his foot.

Manny gets a bad rap for some of his antics earlier in his career but I'm fan of his.

I got no problem with Manny and enjoy watching him play.

Hector Neris since rejoining the #Astros this season:

11 G | 2.53 ERA | 10.2 IP | 5 H | 2 BB | 9 K#Relentless pic.twitter.com/zDiZRY3ORD

— Astros Future (@AstrosFuture) September 18, 2024

Last night i was thinking to myself...This is a quintessential Hector Neris outing.

All over the place to load the bases then buckle down and find a way out. Gets the job done but goes about it the absolute hardest way possible.

Funny thing is that I do not think Altuve was trying to show up the umpire. He was explaining after the game that his thought process was similar to a hitter who gets hit on his hand with batting glove or arm under his sleeve and shows the umpire the red mark to confirm he got hit. I honestly believe this that Altuve was not trying to show anyone up, just trying to show the evidence to prove he got hit.

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Good morning to everyone but San Diego, #LetsGoPadres fans & the worst umpiring crew I’ve ever witnessed butcher a game in September. These guys actually got paid to sabotage the strike zone & the rule book more than a Diddy Freak Off party and Houston still won. #Relentless 🤘🏼🔥 pic.twitter.com/cwZh0pGVaK

— Adam Clanton (@adamclanton) September 18, 2024

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This one has me laughing more than any other one of these. Well done!

Eh...I don't know if I buy that.

You have to know if you take your cleat and sock off your gonna get tossed.

Kessinger said he grabbed his glove as soon as he saw Altuve untie his cleat.

In that situation I have no problem with it but I don't buy that he was innocently showing the umpire.

Mathguy64 said:

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As an add on today, the Rangers could officially get eliminated from the Division today. Their magic number is 2 for the West.

They have a magic number of 4 for the WC.

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Oh there is no doubt he was getting tossed. But it's the second time this season it's happened to him and I think he just lost his mind. I don't really blame him.

The bigger issue is (a) this idiot not asking for help and (b) the fact that this is somehow not reviewable. It's a factual event. You can see the ball hit his foot and chance direction. Get on the damn headset and let someone with a HD monitor see that and reverse the call.

Mathguy64 said:

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I fully expect a Jose Altuve shoeless bobble foot give away next season.

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Mathguy64 said:

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Oh there is no doubt he was getting tossed. But it's the second time this season it's happened to him and I think he just lost his mind. I don't really blame him.

The bigger issue is (a) this idiot not asking for help and (b) the fact that this is somehow not reviewable. It's a factual event. You can see the ball hit his foot and chance direction. Get on the damn headset and let someone with a HD monitor see that and reverse the call.

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Agree. All calls/plays on the field should be reviewable.

Ag_07 said:

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Eh...I don't know if I buy that.

You have to know if you take your cleat and sock off your gonna get tossed.

Kessinger said he grabbed his glove as soon as he saw Altuve untie his cleat.

In that situation I have no problem with it but I don't buy that he was innocently showing the umpire.

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Ok, that's actually badass by Kessinger.

Makes sense how he was able to come in and make that play - dude was locked in.

And why the F are umpires having to call NY for a rule interpretation?

Shouldn't the umps know the rules? That's their job.

That's even worse than missing a blatant call. At least there's judgement involved in missing a call.

The playoffs will be wild this year. We have basically been playing playoff teams since Baltimore. The matchups and intensity are there on both sides.

It also put the winning run on second.

Hahahahaha, 83% strike accuracy is so so bad.

Mathguy64 said:

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Oh there is no doubt he was getting tossed. But it's the second time this season it's happened to him and I think he just lost his mind. I don't really blame him.

The bigger issue is (a) this idiot not asking for help and (b) the fact that this is somehow not reviewable. It's a factual event. You can see the ball hit his foot and chance direction. Get on the damn headset and let someone with a HD monitor see that and reverse the call.

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I need to rewatch but did he really not ask any of the other umpires for their assistance, especially Brian O'Nora at 3B? That's exactly why you get them all together in a huddle with one other umpire acting as a bouncer to keep any players away so they can talk privately and candidly.

Miller: "So Brian, are you 100% sure it hit his foot from your vantage point?"
O'Nora: "Yeah, 100% it hit his foot."
Miller: "OK good enough for me, I had a tough angle on it."

See how f***ing easy that was?

We've all seen that MANY times and almost EVERY time the ump comes out of the huddle making the correct call. But not this jack ass, didn't even ask for help.

ETA - Just rewatched and NOPE, never asked for help. Altuve probably should have waited to take his shoe off or not at all but Espada was pleading for him to ask for help but he wouldn't. Very definition of an ego driven ump who should be fired this morning but hell, he probably will get commended by Mandfred.

Ag_07 said:

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Another overlooked AB from last night was Pressly vs Machado

That was a great battle with Pressly making some absolutely great pitches. During the AB you can see Manny kinda nodding his head smirking after he whiffed on some nasty pitches. Then when he K'd he tipped his hat walking out of the box as to say 'Alright...You got me. Well done'.

Just a great battle then game recognizing game.

I like this Padres team and these have been really good playoff vibe games. I'd hate to face these guys in the playoffs. After last night and with the pitching matchup on deck today should be a another great game.

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Well, it would be in the World Series, so I wouldn't hate it that much.

SIAP but this was very interesting thing to find out about the ump last night

Adam Clanton couldn't believe Brian O'Nora was behind the plate last night, but not for the reason you think... 😳 Listen to @adamclanton's full rant on our free @iHeartRadio app! #Astros @AdamJWexler pic.twitter.com/nhnNGYh4Uc

— SportsTalk 790 (@SportsTalk790) September 17, 2024