Tonight’s game, Casey Fossum facing Kenji Johjima.
- Fossum throws a breaking pitch into the dirt that may (or may not) have hit Kenji’s foot.
- Kenji protests and starts to argue when the umpire doesn’t award him a base.
- His manager, Mike Hargrove, comes out to argue.
- The umpire signals to Fossum for the ball, presumably to look it over for evidence that it hit Johjima: scuffs, discoloration, etc.
- Fossum throws the ball over the catcher to the backstop, ensuring that it’s scuffed, discolored, and useless as evidence.
- No base is awarded to Johjima.
That’s a great heads-up play by Fossum there. Making the throw plausible meant he avoided being ejected on general principle, too.
5 comments ↓
What inning? I’d love to see how Fossum faked the throw on Mlb.tv. Thanks.
The second inning, I believe.
CLEVER!! I LIKE IT!!
Do any players or teams make a point of putting fresh shoe polish on before every game to make this kind of thing easier to prove when it happens, or would they rather not so it’s easier for them to lie about it when it doesn’t? And isn’t this another reason the A’s white shoes suck?
The umpire was at fault. He should have walked to the pitcher and had the pitcher hand him the ball.
Point Fossum.