It was truly unfortunate to watch home plate umpire Vic Carrapazza try to take over that game. Umpires - like players - can't be expected to be perfect. They'll miss calls, that is a fact. The issue was that he baited a bunch of players, making a questionable calls and then staring them down in search of a reaction. I'm not sure what got Vic all fired up, but he woulda tossed the mascot if Ace happened to face his direction for too long. At that level, you've gotta put away your trigger finger, and give the players some leeway.
Edwin got gassed pretty quickly. As did Martin.
There is an appropriate way to handle a game like that, and it usually runs through working with the catcher to diffuse things. Players will respect you a lot more if you say "hey, you know what, I'm fighting it a little bit today" instead of trying to defend every missed call.
There is no place in the game for an umpire that truly tries to take over the game, as opposed to facilitating it, and that's exactly what Carrapazza did. He threw gas on the flames, and everyone in the ballpark knew he was ready to fire off faster than a 5:30 fireworks show on Canada Day. There needs to be greater accountability from the head of the umpiring committee, because that was embarrassing.
Here's hoping that tomorrow will bring a little better game management from the umpiring crew, and maybe we'll have a game where we can keep all of our stars in the game, where they belong.
