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Get off the umps!

The men in blue aren't out there for target practice

Click here for more on this story

By John Donovan, CNNSI.com

	• Storylines • Series to See • All Thumbs • Heroes & Bums • Short Hops • Yogi-isms

Back in the good old days, when a bump was a bump and, ohhh yeah, it was going to cost you big-time, players and managers thought twice before taking on the men in blue.

We're not saying it's necessarily open season on umpires. But with all the bumping and grinding going on out on the diamond, the game is starting to look suspiciously X-rated. And it shouldn't.

Boston's Carl Everett, of course, and Atlanta's Bobby Cox are just the latest examples. But unless baseball can somehow put a clamp on it, there will be more.

What's the reason behind all this?

Well, umpires -- if you listen to the players and managers -- have become more belligerent. Players and managers, of course, don't want to put up with it. So you get the sometimes amusing nose-to-nose jawouts interspersed with the not-so-amusing near chest bumps and finger swipes and ... now a head-butt.

A right cross can't be far behind.

What can baseball do?

Well, remember when Pete Rose got smacked for 30 days for shoving around ump Dave Pallone back in '88? Less than 10 years later, back in September of 1996, Roberto Alomar got only five games -- and baseball officials delayed that -- for spitting in the face of ump John Hirschbeck. (Those two, by the way, have long since made up.)

The new czar of discipline in baseball, Frank Robinson, has shown that he's willing to throw the book at offenders. Clearly, longer suspensions and bigger fines should be the rule when players and umps, or manager and umps, collide.

It's the only answer, really, for a problem that should never have reached the point it has.

On to The Week at a Glance, which asks: Are the Yankees really making a move, or is this kind of a last-gasp death throe kind of thing?

The answer: Never, ever bet against a team that has all that money.

The Second Half It has started, which means the best time in baseball -- the September stretch run -- can't be far behind. Until then, who will stay hot and who will cool off? Are the Cardinals and White Sox headed to the postseason? How many players will get suspended in the next few months?
Blowups Bobby Cox, Carl Everett, the brawl in Denver the other night. Will these guys never learn? The Glance often wonders what would happen if we went nose-to-nose with our supervisors, or if we crawled across the desk to get at a co-worker. This is simple, really. This should not be acceptable.
The Wild NL West Four of the five teams are over .500, and all within 5 1/2 games of each other. As the second half heats up, this will be the most closely watched division in baseball. Or at least it should be.
David Cone As the Yankees start to show signs of coming around, one of their key starters is struggling big-time. Cone is 3-13 since his perfect game last season and may soon be kicked out of the rotation.
New York Mets at Atlanta Braves, July 21-23 Part of one of the best division rivalries in baseball for the past few years, the Mets come to Atlanta looking to make up some ground. They have six games in the last two weeks of the season to do that, too, but remember what happened last season when they waited that long.
Anaheim Angels at Oakland A's, July 21-23 The AL West is tightly contested this season, and these two teams have as good a shot as anyone. Plus, the Glance is all for the latest Sports Illustrated coverboy, Oakland's Jason Giambi.
Carl Everett . If we could give this guy a head-butt, we would. To say there is no excuse for this pea-brain is an understatement. To say he deserves five more games than what he gets also would be an understatement.
Frank Robinson . He did the job on the Dodgers earlier this season, did the job on Bobby Cox. He's shown his stuff, even if he gets overruled. Will this act as a deterrent? We'll see.
Rickey Henderson . This guy never seems to stop. For all his cockiness, he still is proving to be a solid player. You have to say that about someone with more hits than Babe Ruth.
Tim Raines . After battling back from Lupus, the former major leaguer is trying to make the Olympic team. Here's hoping we see The Rock in Sydney later this summer.
Hero -- Frank Thomas: All-Star Game? Who needs a stinking All-Star Game? A .467 start to the second half with two homers and a baseball-best 10 RBIs.
Bum -- Jim Edmonds: Just to show you All-Stars aren't always stars: The St. Louis All-Star started the second half 2-for-15 (.133) with a baseball-high nine strikeouts.
Hero -- Mike Piazza: Bean this, bub: A .438 batting average, four homers and six RBIs after the break.
Bum -- Warren Morris: The Pittsburgh second baseman turned a new leaf with an 0-for-13 start. Wrong leaf, Warren.
Hero -- Eric Davis: We always like it when a guy like St. Louis' Davis gets on a streak like this: 9-for-15 (.667).
Bum -- Derek Bell: The Mets' right fielder is streaky. A 1-for-17 (.059) second-half start isn't streaking the right way.
Mike Piazza, for those keeping track, is hitting .583 (7-for-12) with three homers and nine RBIs against Roger Clemens, lifetime.
Larry Walker hit a homer into the third deck of Coors Field on Monday, the fifth time he has done that. It was the 12th time a player has homered into the third deck.
Texas pinch-hitters were averaging .457 (21-for-46) with three homers and 12 RBIs through Saturday.
White Sox pitcher James Baldwin is 8-1 on the road, but only 4-3 at home.
Toronto's Carlos Delgado became the second-fastest player in Blue Jays history to reach 30 homers, in his 94th game. George Bell hit 30 in 93 games en route to a 47-homer season in 1987.
Our tribute to the banal banter of baseball "I'm not a violent person, but ... it really crossed my mind to go with my helmet and try to hit him and maybe knock an eyeball out or something." -- Colorado's Brian Hunter on Reds reliever Scott Sullivan, after a bench-clearing brawl.

Statistics are through Sunday's games unless otherwise noted.

The Baseball Week at a Glance appears every Tuesday.

 

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