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Baseball must fire Bob Davidson. It has no choice. Not after Tuesday night’s NL Central clash between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee’s Miller Park.

Davidson, in the middle of a game where he and his crew ejected a manager, a coach, and a player, decided to complete the superfecta by ejecting a fan.

There was only one problem: the fan never interfered with the playing field. Nowhere in the Major League Baseball rulebook does an umpire have the power to eject a fan who never enters the playing field.

According to the official MLB Rule Book under rule 9.02(e), “each umpire has authority at his discretion to eject from the playing field any spectator or other person not authorized to be on the playing field.”
Rule 1.04 specifies that the playing field is, as would be assumed, just the field of play, the 400 or so feet to center field, the foul territory, and everything else in between.

Nowhere in the MLB rule book is an umpire given the authority to eject a fan from the stands, unless, of course, he enters the field of play.

So when Davidson stopped the game in the seventh inning and turned to the stands to eject Sean Ottow, 44, of Waukesha, Wis., Davidson was showing a blatant disregard to the rules of Major League Baseball.

Or, even worse, Davidson displayed a lack of knowledge of the rulebook.

In either instance, his display should be intolerable.

Davidson already has a long history of controversial calls including a fair-foul call that cost the Florida Marlins a walk-off victory against the Philadelphia Phillies in August, but he had never shown a blatant disregard for the rules.

Up until now, his errors were no different than those of other high-ranking umpires like Jim Joyce and Don Denkinger.

Sure, in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, Davidson ignored the rule that states that an umpire cannot overturn another umpire’s call without being asked by that umpire for input, but in fairness to him the baseball rule book also stated that Davidson, not the second base umpire, had precedence to decide if a runner tagging up from third had left the bag after the catch. Davidson was only ignoring an invalid ruling by that umpire.

But over their careers, Joyce and Denkinger never went this far. Never did they eject a fan from the stands for jeering a player.

After Davidson issued the order ejecting Ottow from the stadium, he signaled for an usher to escort Ottow out of his seat. The usher guided Ottow up and out from the stands behind home plates. While leaving, Ottow made a v-shape with his arms and the rest of the Brewers fans cheered him.
Ottow was booked and charged with disorderly conduct.

Ottow told the Associated Press that he had been jeering Cardinals’ catcher Yadier Molina for some time, but insisted that he never swore. If he swore, then certainly he could have been thrown out of the game and booked for disorderly conduct.

But in no situation could he have been thrown out of the game by Davidson. Not if Davidson chose to follow the rule book.

Now, there are situations where umpires are given discretion to determine what is fair regarding fan behavior.

If a fan reaches over into the field of play and interferes with a live ball, the crew chief has the right to eject the fan. While the rule book technically only gives him the authority to eject the spectator from the playing field itself, security understands that in essence the fan has been ejected from the game and he or she will be escorted out of the stadium.

Just the same, if a spectator (hereafter referred to as an idiot to save space) jumps onto the field of play just because he wants to take some girl to the prom, the umpire has the right to ask a police officer to run the idiot down and taze him and make sure he never attends another baseball game the rest of his life.

Idiocy on the playing field can be ejected.

But nowhere in the MLB rulebook is an umpire given the authority to eject a fan from the stadium, and especially not to signal an usher to escort him out.

Yet on a power trip as revolting as when Joey Crawford ejected Tim Duncan for laughing, Davidson decided to rewrite 140 years of precedent and eject a fan from the game.

And there is only one right course of action MLB can possibly take: it must immediately relieve Bob Davidson of his duties. Anything less can only be interpreted as a statement that umpires don’t have to follow the rules.

In my life, I never thought I would see an ejection more nonsensical than the one my lacrosse coach received during my senior year of high school. In the fourth quarter, the umpire ejected the coach for shouting at his team for a line change. Nobody thought the referee could be serious.

But somehow, Davidson was able to top that.

If baseball wants to keep whatever semblance of credibility it has left after years of Bud Selig tweaking the rule book at his whim, it must fire Bob Davidson immediately. It must show that it will not tolerate umpires blatantly ignoring the rule book at the expense of the fans who allow MLB to be as profitable as it is. If Davidson is allowed into Miller Park tonight for the final game of the three-game series between the Cardinals and Brewers, it will be a slap in the face to every single fan of baseball.

Will he be there? Of course. I’m not stupid. Davidson has about as much chance of being fired or even suspended as I do of becoming the next manager of the New York Yankees.

But it doesn’t change the fact that he needs to be dismissed. He must be dismissed.

Anything less and baseball might as well throw out the rule book and start over.

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For Brandon Phillips, firing up your team should probably not involve getting teams into fights.

Phillips, easily one of the best players and leaders for the Cincinnati Reds, may be the reason why the St. Louis Cardinals swept their recent series, ending today with the Cards winning 6-1.

Yesterday’s scrum proved to be a major boost for both teams. For Cincy, it showed that they have a fire, which will keep them in the NL Central race with perennial contenders from the Gateway to the West. For the Redbirds, it showed that firing up a proven team can backfire, especially when given the chance to send a message on the road.

What Phillips said was not wrong, albeit strongly opinionated. The problem lies within the person he started it with, catcher Yadier Molina.

Molina is arguably the best defensive catcher of the last decade, and has been a force while taking his place behind home plate. On top of that, Molina is the receiver for one of the best trios of starting pitchers in the 2010 season. That trio includes Adam Wainwright, Chis Carpenter, and the budding Jaime Garcia.

Molina is a leader in his respective clubhouse, just like Phillips, but Phillips can only do so much after getting the fire started. Molina is a part of every pitch in any game that he is catching. If he wants to make sure you never hit a pitch, he can do that with the talent he has throwing to him. If he wants you hit, he has the power that will make sure you get hit.

Molina can occasionally hit the ball, too. His fired up solo shot in yesterday’s victory is proof that Phillips got someone fired up.

The race in the NL Central will be one of the best in baseball as the season reaches its stretch run. The brawl on Tuesday and the sweep of the Reds by the Cards will also have an effect on the next few days and series. The players for both clubs will not forget what happened during the past three games, and it appears the Cardinals have responded in a more positive fashion than the Reds have.

Do not be surprised if Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto misses a start in the next coming days, as Cardinals catcher Jason LaRue has been put on the disabled list with concussion-like symptoms and bruised ribs, courtesy of Cueto’s best attempt to kick like a swimmer in the air.

Both teams have Thursday off before big series. The Cardinals return home for a visit with the rival Chicago Cubs, and Cincy welcomes Josh Johnson and the Florida Marlins to the Queen City.

Hopefully for the Reds, Brandon Phillips likes the Flying Fish more than the Redbirds, who flew out of Cincinnati with the sweep, and sole possession of first place in the NL Central.

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Emotions got the best of both the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.

Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips made comments a few days earlier about the Cards that didn’t sit well with St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina.

Before the bottom of the first inning, the pair got into a heated argument and the benches cleared.

Managers Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker got involved. So did starting pitchers and former allies.

With a playoff chase on the line and bad blood, this rivalry won’t be going away anytime soon.

Here are five reasons why St. Louis and Cincinnati just made the race atop the NL Central division that much more interesting.

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The doctors call it a UCLR (ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction). Baseball players and fans call it Tommy John surgery—named after the pitcher who was the first to have the surgery in 1974. Fans of the Cardinals call it the surgery that saved former left-handed reliever Ken Dayley’s career, and also gave him spotlight from the way he recovered from it. Dayley recovered in an astonishing seven months where most pitchers take up to 14 months recovering from the operation. 

Ken Dayley was a left-handed reliever who used a snappy curve and fastball to become the Cardinals’ top left-handed reliever during his tenure with the team. He recovered from Tommy John surgery in 1986 to win a personal-best nine games in ’87.

In 1989, he set career highs with 71 appearances and 12 saves. He was particularly effective in the postseason, tossing 10 scoreless innings in two League Championship Series and allowing just one run in 10 2/3 World Series innings, including a relief win in Game 2 of the 1985 Fall Classic.

In short, Dayley was key cog in the Cardinals’ bullpen during his stint with the team.

Dayley is also the only known player to recover so quickly from the operation, but he shares the secret to his success in this article. 

As Dayley puts it in a New York Times article from 1989, “Dr. Frank Jobe told me to do what my arm would allow me to do, and I was proceeding at that pace (in reference to a 12-month recovery).

“But then on Dec. 19, 1986, the Cardinals told me they weren’t going to offer me a contract. Probably out of personal pride, which I shouldn’t have let get in the way, I said I’m going to do what I have to do.

“Without a contract, I was free to do what I wanted to do. I had been playing racquetball right-handed and I started playing left-handed. I started throwing before I was supposed to. If I was going to get a contract from somebody, I had to show I could pitch again.”

Former Cardinals reliever Rick Horton stated in a recent Cardinals telecast, “He was incredible. He came back in seven months and threw harder with more control, which is almost unheard of after seven months. Usually pitchers take close to two years to regain solid control of their pitches, but Dayley had better break and control after a short time, which is almost unheard of.”

Dayley’s speedy recovery has provoked major league ball players to question if they can return in such a short time, but doctors have advised not to rush the process. 

Rick Horton added, “The doctors made him sound as if he were a medical miracle.”

It would be something to marvel at if players such as Chris Carpenter, Billy Wagner, A.J. Burnett, Brian Wilson, and others to had comeback from their injuries in such a short time like Daly, but due to their situations they did not.

Perhaps Dayley is the medical miracle that he was made out to be, and he is an interesting story to revisit during a new era of products of the Tommy John surgery.

Maybe in the future a player will recover quickly like Dayley out of the same necessity, but until then, Ken Dayley is still the only Tommy John-produced medical miracle.  

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After nearly wasting Jeff Suppan’s first effective outing of the year, the St. Louis Cardinals needed a late rally and an admirable performance from rookie Allen Craig on his 26th birthday to move back into first place in the National League’s Central division.

After leaving seven men on through the first seven frames and trailing by four, the Cardinals finally struck in the eighth, when Craig, who was filling in for star first baseman Albert Pujols, doubled home both Brendan Ryan and Jon Jay. Two batters later, Randy Winn’s two-out single brought home Craig to make the score 4-3.

With two out and one on in the ninth, Albert Pujols stepped up as a pinch-hitter. After running the count full, Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton got the three-time MVP to ground out to short.

After Cardinals’ fireman Ryan Franklin locked down Los Angeles in the top of the ninth, the Cardinals rallied for the win in the bottom of the inning.

It started with Yadier Molina’s pinch-hit single, which came on a sixth-pitch slider out of the zone from Broxton. Then shortstop Brendan Ryan, not known for his offense, sacrificed Molina over to second. Felipe Lopez, who got the start at third base, flew out to right, bringing the Cardinals down to their final out.

Jon Jay, who has impressed St. Louis with his hitting abilities, showed good plate discipline by running the count full and then coaxing out a free pass.

Allen Craig then singled to center, tying the game at 4-4 and bringing sweet swinging left fielder Matt Holliday to the plate. At this point, Holliday had left four men on base. It was his single to deep right that scored Molina from second and won the game for the Cardinals, giving them their first four-game sweep of Los Angeles since taking consecutive doubleheaders July 7-8, 1987.

Ryan Franklin received the win, and combined with Cincinnati’s loss at the hands of Colorado, the Cardinals moved back into the top spot in the NL Central standings. Broxton threw 44 pitches in his first loss of the season.

Suppan pitches six innings of one-run ball, allowing five hits and walking one to receive his first quality start of the year, but not did not factor in the decision.

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Strong Start By Carpenter

As Chris Carpenter breezed through the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup on Thursday night, all of Cardinal Nation gave a deep sigh of relief while they celebrated the 7-1 victory.  

The St. Louis right-hander had not been sharp since getting hit on his pitching arm by a line drive in late June, but the veteran was efficient and in command for eight innings, only surrendering four hits and an Andre Ethier solo home run.  Carpenter struck out six and has apparently corrected the mechanical flaws that had plagued his starts earlier in July, as he did not walk a Dodger.

Carpenter was able to locate his curve, something that he had been unable to do in his last two starts.  He had allowed 11 earned runs and 18 hits with four walks in only nine innings during the July funk, leading to fears among Cardinal fans that the former Cy Young winner was injured.  But the team insisted he was fine, and pitching coach Dave Duncan said just before the All-Star break that Carpenter’s issues were in his delivery, specifically the way he was landing on his left leg.

So one great fear of the second half is eliminated right away.  Carpenter was masterful, crisp, and efficient, getting out of innings with very few pitches.  And that was important on a typical St. Louis July night rampant with heat and humidity.  

Carpenter only threw 101 pitches in his eight innings but wasn’t asked to do more in the muggy conditions, giving way to Mitchell Boggs, who finished the game with no drama.

Offense Does Its Part

Another positive development was the Cardinal offense.  Dodger lefty Clayton Kershaw has bedeviled the Redbirds in the past, but he wasn’t sharp tonight and St. Louis took advantage.  Albert Pujols had three hits and Yadier Molina and Aaron Miles each added two to the team total of 12.  The offense was able to string hits together and put runs on the scoreboard in four different innings.

In the first game of the second half of the season, the lineup showed patience and discipline at the plate.  The batters allowed a wild Kershaw to work himself into trouble, and they took advantage of his mistakes.  They went with pitches to the opposite field and made productive uses of their at-bats, getting runners advanced when they made outs.

Shortstop Brendan Ryan’s problems have not gone away, though.  Ryan got the start but did not get a hit.  After taking the collar in his four at-bats, Ryan’s average has dropped to .190 on the season.

The Cardinals recalled Allen Craig from Memphis to replace outfielder Nick Stavinoha, who was placed on the 15-day DL with a shoulder sprain.  Craig had two RBI and hit the ball hard, but he did not record a hit, and he has only one hit hit in 21 Major League at-bats.  He was replaced in the sixth inning by another rookie, Jon Jay, who extended his 12-game hit streak with an RBI double in the seventh.  Jay continues to be a spark to the lineup, as he is now hitting .386 on the season.

With Cincinnati having the day off, St. Louis is only one-half game out of first.  With Carpenter back to being himself and the offense looking like it should, Cardinal fans are feeling a bit better about the team and the second half of the season.

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Unless you’re new to Major League Baseball, you know the American League has been unbeatable against the National League in the All-Star Game for the last 13 years.

Excluding the 2002 contest that ended in a tie and featured the infamous Bud Selig shrug, the Junior Circuit has won every game since being shutout in 1996.

Obviously, a 12-game winning streak that spans over a decade has a litany of explanations. For example, the AL has been quite a bit stronger at times during the run and Lady Luck has played her role as she always does on the diamond.

However, for at least the last several years, there’s been a blatant and irritating deficiency with the assortment of Senior Circuit talent. It’s opened the Midsummer Classic with a distinct disadvantage.

One that can be traced back to the voters—including the fans, players, and managers.

While the American League has suited up for the early July exhibition with its strongest roster of available athletes (give or take a couple on the fringe), the National League has been taking the field with a mixture of richly deserving stars and guys who rode the coattails of misplaced popularity to the honor.

Either the hometown fans in a large market ignorantly and blindly stuff the ballot box or the players/managers give a pseudo-lifetime achievement nod to a recognizable name. One way or another, glaring omissions are common-place and the team is weaker as a result.

The situation is no different in 2010.

The errors almost jump out at you:

—The San Francisco Giants’ Tim Lincecum hasn’t even been the best pitcher on his own team, yet he’s going to Anaheim and Matt Cain gets a long weekend.

—Or what about the St. Louis Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter getting the call over teammate Jaime Garcia or the San Diego Padres’ Mat Latos?

—The Friars are the Show’s biggest surprise, they’re tied for the NL’s best record with the Atlanta Braves, and have the same number of All Stars (one) as the putrid Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Arizona Diamondbacks. The Milwaukee Brewers, who are eight games under .500, have three.

Meanwhile, the Braves have five.

—One of those Bravos is a utility infielder with a painfully empty .311 average in only 164 AB. For some reason, though, Omar Infante beat out the Cincinnati Reds’ Joey Votto’s .312 BA and league-leading .984 OPS (over 200 points better than Infante’s).

Got that? A decent singles hitter who doesn’t play every day beat out arguably the NL’s Most Valuable Player for the first half.

Of course, the Philadelphia Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel—who’ll skipper the All-Star club for a second consecutive year—sees a ton of Atlanta. Apparently, Infante has played in enough of those games to impress one key set of eyes.

The list of self-inflicted wounds could go on and on—no Ryan Zimmerman, no Aubrey Huff, no Josh Willingham, etc.

But an exhaustive and tedious look at all the snubs isn’t necessary because there’s one in particular that demonstrates the ill-fated phenomenon to a perfect tee.

Athletic injustice, thy name is Miguel Olivo.

The Colorado Rockie hasn’t just been the best catcher in the Senior Circuit, but he’s been the best one in all of baseball. If you don’t believe me, take a quick look (minimum of 200 PA):

—His .308 BA, 5 3B, .540 SLG, .905 OPS, and 3.0 WAR lead all MLB catchers.

—His 39 RBI are tied for second.

—His 11 HR and 37 R are tied for third.

—His 4 SB are fourth.

—His .365 OBP is fifth.

If you narrow the contenders to the relevant field (NL backstops), Olivo leads the way in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base-plus-slugging percentage, runs batted in, home runs (tied with the New York Mets’ Rod Barajas), and triples.

Pump your brakes; there are two sides to the ball, you say?

Fine, Miguel has also been the best defensive catcher in all of baseball and the margin’s even clearer over here.

To give you an idea of exactly how suffocating a weapon the 31-year-old has been, you have to go beyond his .993 fielding percentage. You have to look at his 20 runners caught stealing against only 19 successful swipes, good for a 51.3 percent success rate.

It’s not often you stumble across a rifle arm that nabs more would-be thieves than it suffers, but the more staggering observation is the company it keeps with that lofty caught stealing statistic.

Olivo’s 20 CS is good for second in the Majors behind the 22 belonging to Jason Kendall of the Kansas City Royals.

In stark contrast to Colorado’s sparkler, Kendall has a meager 25.0 percent success rate courtesy of 66 thefts allowed. Only Yadier Molina’s 47.4 percent clip (18 CS against 20 SB) can hang with Olivo and the Redbird will start the All Star Game simply for his defense i.e. it’s his only contribution and it’s still not better than Miguel’s.

That’s really where this charade becomes perversely laughable.

Neither All-Star rep that “earned” the selection over Olivo—neither the Braves’ Brian McCann nor Molina—can beat the rightful starter in anything except doubles and on-base percentage (in McCann’s case).

St. Louis Cardinal fans should be flat-out embarrassed by their counterproductive idiocy, masquerading as bias.

Their team stands a very good chance of actually making the World Series where home-field advantage could be a huge asset. In other words, it ultimately might not be just an exhibition for the Cards and their faithful.

Yet, they voted their guy to start the game despite offensive metrics that rank dead last almost across the board. What is supposed to be an intelligent baseball city just delivered a .231 hitter with a .616 OPS to the All-Star Game, trying to justify it by pointing out he’s a defensive specialist.

Trouble is, he’s the second-best defender at the position and can’t hold a candle to the lumber swung by the real defensive leader.

Sadly, the fanatics under the Gateway Arch are just the latest example of National League stupidity.

Which is why the Senior Circuit is already trailing the American League, for a 14th straight year.

And the All-Star Game hasn’t even started.

**Click hear to learn more about the Paralyzed Veterans of America**

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There are certain players in baseball who have been fantasy studs over the first month and a half of the season that would help any team. At the same time, there are players who have overperformed and are bound to come back to life.

In this list, I will point to five players who have been fantasy stars so far and helped your team win that are not going to be able to hold up this level of production throughout the season. I will also list five players who’s skills at the plate or on the mound does not transition well to the fantasy game. They may be decent fantasy players, but they are better assets to their actual team than your fantasy roster.

Basically, I am listing five players who have been great in fantasy that I would not want on my favorite team. And in contrast, I am listing five players who I would love to have on my favorite team but I would not be upset if they didn’t wind up on my fantasy team.

Enjoy!

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