Maineac

"Very young inexperienced umpire with a very quick hook." Doesn't matter. F3 touched him, in my book that gets him the gate although it looked like U1 waited for the magic words on top of that before he pitched him.

I think the Red Sox will benefit from this more than he will. It was time for him to go.

I think Tom Hallion (the base umpire) was perfectly fine in doing what he did. He simply told the catcher he has to catch that pitch (to protect the umpire), and, as an MLB catcher, is certainly expected (by the umpire) to catch that pitch --- he's not accusing him of missing in on purpose. It looks like Hallion thinks the pitcher and catcher were not on the same page (signs), because he adds to the comment by pointing at the pitcher, which probably means "get together with your pitcher and make sure you have the signs correct." Hallion was not screaming at the catcher. He was just stating the obvious --- and protecting his partner. Agreed. Not accusing, more of a "you gotta be kidding me" thing. And Tracy, nevermind what he said to "your player," just get back in the dugout unless you're out here to ask how Fairchild is.

"Fortunate to have that wristband on, that had to help him a little bit." Really?

Yeah, even as a Sox fan his act has worn thin. Swing the bat is right.

Yep, only this one is probably worse because at least football helmets have a nose bumper built in there for just this reason. But stand by, some enterprising sporting goods company will be heading our way with a catcher's helmet with built in nose bumper. Sounds like a natural for Douglas.

I wonder if it was the other way around and you had complained about the coach if it would have been handled that quickly.... I agree with scrounge, why even have an assignor?

I think they would have to prove that the gum in Valentine's mouth in fact came from Darling. Awaiting DNA results.

If he acts like a big boy, a professional, he doesn't spike his helmet. If he doesn't spike his helmet, it then has zero chance of taking a left turn, a right turn, a rolling stop sign, speeding or hitting the umpire (or anyone else). For crying out loud.

The look on Valentine's face at about 1:33 pretty much sums up his tenure in Boston so far.

Don't care about the pitches; don't care if he "meant" to hit the umpire or not. What is the intent of the player throwing that helmet? He was angry, he lost control, he intentionally fired that bucket at the feet of the umpire for one reason: He "meant" to show him how mad he was about the last two calls and getting the gate. You do that, you do it knowing it could hit him. It did hit him. No way four games is enough. IMO, this is worse than the minor league manager flipping his helmet and hitting the umpire in the head. This was thrown hard.

I'd be embarassed to take that pitch with two strikes too. Most guys would shut up, maybe swear to (at) themselves for taking that pitch, then take it back to the dugout. Instead he went to the clubhouse and brought his manager with him. C'est la vie, happy Mother's Day....

Maybe I'm missing something. How was this an accident? Was he trying to hit the umpire somewhere other than in the head? Throw it on the field to make a statement, like throwing bats on the field from the dugout? What did he think was going to happen when he released that helmet? Yes, he came to check on the umpire after he hit him, but I read it as more of an "Oh sh**, I can't believe I really just did that" reaction than actually checking on the umpire. More of a "Boy am I in trouble now, please don't tattle on me" reaction.

I love that Dennis Eckersley didn't alibi for the pitcher or go after the umpires for being too technical.

My Honig's rig also has "the rattle." Picked up on it after I used it the first time. Annoying, but doesn't seem to have any effect structurally.

Love the talking head making this the umpire's fault. He "came out to say his piece...." Yep, and by doing that he was gone.

Best part of the whole thing was Laz Diaz telling Alex Rodriguez "Hey, nobody's talking to you!"

Congrats on your return. Up here north of Boston, "BAAHHHHK" is what you find on the outside of a tree. :)

This is a great point about "reconditioning." Douglas is huge into the football shoulder pad business, where they make TOP of the line pads. Reconditioning is a yearly event for most of their products. As a "football guy" and football coach, I look at the Douglas CP and see their shoulder pad caps, and on the "Douglas-Douglas" models their shoulder pad caps covered by their epaulets. The inside padding on the CP appears to be similar if not identical to the padding on the inside of their football shoulder pads. I think the reason they can be so responsive to their customers' CP needs is because they specialize in padding and already have the parts on hand and can customize relatively easily. Same goes for the T-hooks. The only other company I can think of that would be able to be this responsive would be Riddell, but they got out of the CP business. With the possible exception of Wilson, I don't think those other companies mentioned are able to be as responsive as Douglas because it's not really a specialty of theirs (shoulder pads and accessories). All of those other companies are involved in a wide variety of other sports and may not be equipped to make changes once the models are in production. I don't know any of this for a fact, by the way, but this is just the impression I've gotten over the years I've both coached football and umpired baseball. I've never owned a Douglas CP, but I've dealt with their shoulder pads. TOP quality. Pricey, but you get what you pay for.

My $0.02: 1) He gets the gate. Hopefully he'll learn this is not acceptable behavior. Not sure a warning would get that across. 2) Assuming it was audible only to the 3 of us, they both get told to knock it off. Early.

It catches a bullet by spreading out the force of the bullet. I understand what it does, but have you every talked with a police officer whos taken a bullett? They don't just stand there like Evans did. They go down, get knocked out, ...and are bruised HEAVILY. That said, .... I posted a video that explains what they've done.... HHhmmmmm It's true that catching a bullet causes one to go down and have heavy bruising (which still beats the hell out of the alternative). It's been described as "catching a sledgehammer in the chest." But in my opinion one thing to consider here is velocity. The baseballs Jim Evans took the hits from were traveling at 90 mph, or 132 feet per second. A 9 mm bullet, for example, leaves the muzzle at approximately 1200 feet per second, or roughly 820 mph if my math is correct. Another factor affecting the prototype's effectiveness may be the size of the projectile (larger projectile moving at a lower velocity). The smaller projectile (bullet) traveling at the much higher velocity transmits a lot more force through the Kevlar, resulting in more trauma/bruising, and possibly broken ribs. Another question I would have is about the angle of the hit. All the hits in the provided video explaining the theory of the protector are along the Y axis, or perpendicular. The force then gets spread out along the X and Z axes. But how many times have you taken a shot that is exactly perpendicular? Most are at an oblique angle. I wonder how this rig would handle those, although the second shot Jim Evans took in the video didn't seem to be a problem for him. Interesting to see if this can truly be protective enough and cost effective enough to make it feasible. As has already been mentioned, bullet-resistant Kevlar vests are not cheap.

I didn't think it was any one pitch inside that got him hot, I thought it was the three in a row that did it. That being said, he did act like Ramirez a few years ago when he started walking to the mound jawing at the pitcher. Bound to be a pushing and shoving match after that.

Read this column from the associated press: http://www.presshera...2011-07-08.html Always a good idea to quote the notably level-headed and unbiased Earl Weaver to bolster your article.

Bobby Valentine not knowing what he's talking about? Say it isn't so.... :rolleyes: