Did Ted Lilly deserve the ejection? Was it intentional?

Question

ESPN Sunday night baseball and your starting pitcher gets tossed in the fist because Ted Lilly went high and inside to the shoulder of Renteria. No warning by the Ump. The Ump's explanation to Lou Pinella was that he knew that Lilly was going to hit him. WHAT? you might have a guess, but you dont know unless you actually hear it from Lilly's mouth. And if u knew how come it wasn't immediate. They walked to the mound before he even decided. Im not a cubs fan but for crying out loud let them play baseball. The Ump was miked up on ESPN and wanted some attention is what I think so he can watch hiself all over the morning sports news.

Answer 1

No and No. There should be a warning before an ejection.

Answer 2

That was a truly inexcusable series of events from last nights umpires. Lilly should not have been ejected plain and simple. If Renteria doesn't put his hands up like a little girl, that ball doesn't even hit him. And to then complain that it hit him in the chin??? It only hit you in the chin because you deflected it there dumf***. So, Lilly gets tossed on a play that, although probably was intentional, it was not flagrant and it has been going on in baseball for decades...then a few moments later, Renteria takes a very obvious swing at the second baseman, and the umps stand idly by. It is like the old saying, sometimes reality is stranger than fiction...you couldn't make something like that up.

MLB should do the right thing and suspend and fine Wolf. I made an observation in the very beginning of the season that the umpires were terrible all over MLB and last night was just the capper. MLB needs to make an example of these guys and not let them take away the integrity of the game. Of course, that is a pipe dream. MLB could care less about the integrity of the game. To MLB, as long as butts are in seats, the game is going fine. They could start swinging canoe paddles at beach balls, and as long as butts are in seats, ole Bud will tell us how great the game is doing.

Answer 3

I thought that was a dumb ejection, he was very quick to jump the gun. Lilly struck out both batters he faced before this
but did hit renteria in the shoulder with a fastball.Umpire thought it was intentional and tossed him.He (the ump) was reacting to what was happening in the series .First game soriano hits 3 homers and up 9-1 hits a single and tries to get a double.Atlanta thought he was trying to show him up so next game first pitch hit in the same spot by Tim Hudson, both teams were warned ,so if the cubs did want to retaliate they couldnt.So when lilly hit renteria the ump thought it was intentional and threw him out, but what happened to edgar when he stole 2nd and gave the cubs player an elbow to the face ,no ejecion . I think he should have got tossed as well..

Answer 4

I think it was intentional because the chain of events apparently leads to it and I also think the previous game where they lead off the game by hitting Soriano was intentional as well
but Lilly did a smarter job by hitting the 3rd guy and not the lead-off guy which can make things tougher
but the ejection was a little crazy because at first it was a warning and them bam its an ejection
plus I think Renteria should have been ejected too because of what he did on the next play... that was also obviously intentional

Answer 5

I thought that was a dumb ejection, he was very quick to jump the gun. Lilly struck out both batters he faced before this and I don't see any reason he'd just hit a batter on purpose. I think this is the league responding to Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals' incident from last week, just showing that they'll have no tolerance for events like these. Lilly caught a bad break, that's all, which is too bad because he was starting for my fantasy team last night and I could've used more innings out of him. I agree with you on this, unwarranted ejection.

Have you been to RootZoo.com yet? Ask this question there, it's a brand new community just for sports fans, and you'll get some great responses from other baseball nuts and win free prizes just for earning the same types of points you earn here. Check it out and set up a free screenname there, you'll love it.

Answer 6

That was a complete joke. That ump obviously had/has something against the Cubs or favors the Braves. Take your pick, either way it was bogus. Besides, every good ball player knows that you don't get your paybacks the next night, you wait until the next SERIES later in the season.

Answer 7

This is why the same umpiring crew should work the entire series between teams. If there is "bad blood" from earlier in the series, or for that matter from an earlier series in the season, the umpiring crew is already well aware of it and can take such corrective action immediately.
I did not watch this incident, but from what I've read, that seems to be what happened here.

Answer 8

the main problem was that Lilly struck out the first 2 batters, he wasant just going to get wild on the next pitch (likely what the moron behind the plate thought).

it was probably on purpose though and i have no problem with it, they hit one of the cubs star players, we should be able to retalite and hit one of theirs. this is how it has always been done. You hit ours, we hit yours and its done with. but now the umps want to play God and do stupid things like throw players out.

the big problem now is the cubs wasted their entire bullpen and that will effect every game for about a week because of some ump with a power trip

Answer 9

i look at it this way. Soriano Hits 3 homers, Next night he gets hit by a pitch now Lilly comes in high and tight with one and gets ejected. ok at the start of the game both teams could have gotten a warning but they didn`t , now that gives the cubs pitcher a chance to hit someone and then a brawl breaks out. Pinella was complaining but he should have spoken to his team about being careful.

Answer 10

Ya umpires noadays tick me off. They think people pay 50 dollars to come watch them push players and managers around. That ejection of Lilly was ridiculous....lets home Lilly can rebound against San Diego today.