Ejected, not dejected

Indians bounce back from bizarre first inning

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Posted: Wednesday September 30, 1998 10:03 PM

Gooden (right) had to be restrained after he was ejected by home plate umpire Joe Brinkman in the first inning AP

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Mike Hargrove went nose-to-nose with umpire Joe Brinkman. Dwight Gooden had to be restrained from doing the same.

And one of the wildest first innings in postseason history was just beginning.

The inning between the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians in Game 2 of their first-round AL playoff series Wednesday took 37 minutes to complete.

It ended with Boston ahead 2-1 after a bizarre sequence that included 50 total pitches, three walks, two stolen bases, two passed balls, one hit batter, one error, one sacrifice fly and 45,229 fans in a frenzy.

"It's probably one of the weirdest things I've ever seen," Indians first baseman Jim Thome said after Cleveland beat Boston 9-5 to even the first-round AL playoff series at 1-1. "Our fans were cheering Mike and Doc [Gooden] and booing the ump at the same time. It was weird."

Boston leadoff hitter Darren Lewis walked on four pitches, the first three of which were close to the strike zone.

The fans booed louder with each call by home plate umpire Joe Brinkman, and Gooden came off the mound after ball three. Hargrove came out of the dugout and began a heated argument with Brinkman.

The umpire ejected the manager, who departed to a standing ovation.

Then came ball four to Lewis and a walk to John Valentin, triggering another chorus of boos.

Gooden struck out Mo Vaughn, the hero of Boston's 11-3 win Tuesday, but then Nomar Garciaparra lined a double high off the left-field wall. Lewis scored and Valentin was waved home. The relay throw from shortstop Omar Vizquel appeared to have him beat and catcher Sandy Alomar applied a sweeping tag.

Hargrove went nose-to-nose with umpire Joe Brinkman and was tossed after the first three pitches of the game AP

Brinkman called Valentin safe, but replays showed he was out.

"It wasn't even close," Alomar said.

Gooden went wild, and was quickly ejected by Brinkman.

"Sure, I wanted those early pitches," Gooden said. "After that call, I told him, 'Hey, let's get in the game.' I didn't know he tossed me."

Gooden tried to get to Brinkman, but was steered to the dugout. Once there, he fired his glove and hat toward home plate.

"I told him, 'Here's my glove and hat, you go play the game,'" Gooden said.

The bottom of the first was hardly uneventful.

Kenny Lofton drew a leadoff walk and stole second against knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Lofton advanced to third as Garciaparra made a backhanded stop of a grounder at short and threw out the speedy Vizquel at first. Lofton scored on a sacrifice fly by David Justice.

Manny Ramirez was hit by an errant knuckler, then went to second and third on consecutive passed balls by Jason Varitek, who struggled to corral two more sharp-breaking pitches.

Wakefield struck out Thome to finally end the inning.

"Hey, it's over and done with and we won," Alomar said. "That's all that counts."

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