Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon was ejected Wednesday night for a second time in four National League Championship Series games. It again was due to an overturned call, though the instance in Game 4 was not due to replay review intervening.
Instead, home-plate umpire Jim Wolf had his initial call of a Curtis Granderson strikeout overturned after a protest from Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and ensuing conversation with the umpiring crew.
“It was not a good explanation,” Maddon said of the overturned call. “Listen, I’m all about the umpires, first of all. I’m not going to sit here and bang on umpires, and I love a lot of guys on this crew. I’ve known them for a long time. But that can’t happen. The process was horrible.”
“The explanation was eventually — eventually it turned into hearing two sounds. Not one of them saw a foul tip or heard — thought it was a foul tip. It was based on two sounds, which I totally cannot agree with that process whatsoever.”
Immediately after offering at the pitch, that short-hopped in the dirt and into Willson Contreras’ glove, Granderson immediately motioned that he believed it was a foul tip. Wolf motioned a strikeout but Granderson remained at the plate.
“Where I’m at in the dugout, it’s hard to — you can’t hear it, number one,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Jim Wolf, the home plate umpire, couldn’t hear it as well. So we asked for a little help.
“It was a close one. Curtis in the replay, really hard to see. But Curtis said he tipped it, and I think Coop over there, one of those umpires, they got together, and in our eyes I think that they made the right call. But ultimately it didn’t affect the game.”
Cubs closer Wade Davis, attempting to convert a six-out save, struck out Granderson on the next pitch for the second out of the eighth inning. Irate as Maddon was, it would’ve multiplied tenfold if Granderson had come up with a hit.
To have that changed and if Granderson hits the next pitch out, I might come running out of the clubhouse in my jockstrap,” Maddon joked.
“I mean, I was upset. Listen, this is an elimination game, man. This isn’t June 23rd, this is an elimination game. Again, with all due respect to the umpires, and as Ricky Bobby once said, once you’ve said with all due respect,’ you can say whatever you want.”
