Manager throws first base in protest, a breakdown

Trey Turner's at the plate, he's got some speed to his game, the Nationals are up two runs in the seventh inning against the Cubs. Turner's trying to get on, push another one across, maybe save the bullpen, maybe keep it going, maybe blow it out. He's got one and one count, fouls that one right back. This dude catches said, hey, where are those kids at? Anyone see those kids? No? Okay, I guess I'll just keep the ball for myself. Next pitch, high fastball, Turner chases, doesn't make contact, dropped third strike, runs down the line to beat the throw. Now you can see the umpire got himself in position, the home plate umpire. He's in position, checking out the base path. And Turner runs as straight as you can, but they call him out for interference. A lot of people watch these breakdowns that don't watch baseball regularly. This is a judgment call, so it's no hard yes or no, it's does the ump think he interfered? And the problem is the way that umps have been calling it, they just reward bad throws. So that's a bad throw, right? A good throw, since the first baseman set up over here, a good throw would come over here. Or if the first baseman wanted to set up on the inside, which would have been weird, then the throw comes over here. But because it's a bad throw and it hits Turner, they'll call him out for interference, even though he ran as straight as you can possibly run down the line to the back. Now you might be asking, well, there's a runner's lane over here, shouldn't he run in there? Well, the base is on this side, and that's what you're going to see his manager get really upset about. It's not the first time he's been called out for interference for running in a straight line. He goes, what? Okay, and just accepts it and walks off and says, that is so ridiculous, I'm not even going to argue. But Dave Martinez, his manager, he says, I'll argue. He says, what are you doing? This is how he ran, straight to the back. What do you want him to do? Umpire throws him out. He says, well, if you want him to run on that side, then take the goddamn base and put it there. If that's where you want him to run, really good kick. Now look at the joy he brought these fans. Look at this lady. Hey, look, look, honey, look, honey. Yes, yes, yes. This little kid. Oh my God. And then mom covers her face like, oh, this dude just straight pumped up. Hell yeah. First base toss. Always wanted to see one. Martinez is pissed. Now he said in his post game that the ump told Tim, I have to make that call. Yeah. All I heard was I had to make that call. And I just said, no, you don't. Yeah. The second part of the rule is a judgment call. I think, you know, my psychoanalysts is that the people that gravitate towards being umpires are rule followers. They're literalists. If the rule book says, you know, it's a judgment call. You don't have to make it, but you can make it. I don't think that adds up to their personality. I think they don't know what that means. I think they just say, no, I mean, I have to make that call. Ball hit him and he was running outside the lanes. What are we doing? Fix the rule. Put the bag like Davey saying on that side. If that's where you want him to run, because he just ran in a straight line. So I'm with Davey. I don't get it. It's just very easy for the umpire to not make that call. If he doesn't make that call, there's not a single person that's going to say, whoa, why didn't he call interference? Cause the human being with a brain knows it's not. And this guy's like pumped up. Yes. I will put the base back in its spot. This is my job. This is what I practice for. I'm finally going to show all the people, my knee routine, bam, bam, bam. You're gone. I'm gone. Base is back. I have done my job. That dude's probably so winded. I mean, this happened to Turner in the world series. So he's just on the railing probably thinking, yeah, this sucks. Hey, when this happens, I run in a straight line. They make a bad throw. I get punished for it. This breakdown is brought to you by the Chris Rose rotation. If you're a nationals fan, they just had Max Scherzer on for a full interview. Awesome to hear. You got to check it out. It's on the JM baseball YouTube channel or any podcast you want. There's a rotating cast of MLB players on the show. Scherzer was the guest this week. Give it a listen.