No longer will Joe Torre sit idly by as his official scorers are publicly ridiculed and questioned. Major League Baseball's executive vice president of baseball operations took David Ortiz to task for comments he made regarding a ruling during Wednesday's game between the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins.
MLB Public Relations tweeted out Torre's statement:
Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe indicates Ortiz had no comment on the situation:
The incident in question involved a grounder to first base, which Joe Mauer booted. The scorer ruled the play an error, much to Ortiz's dismay. Immediately after he reached first, he let the scorer know exactly how he felt, per Joon Lee of SB Nation's Over The Monster:
You can see the play below and decide for yourself whether it was a hit or an error. A case could be made for either ruling.
Following the game, Ortiz didn't let the issue die. He said that he "thought people were supposed to have your back at home, and it never happens," per ESPNBoston.com.
"It's always like that," Ortiz added. "I've been here for more than a decade and the scorekeepers here are always horrible. This is home, man."
This isn't the first time in 2014 that the designated hitter has taken exception to a scorer's decision. Back in May, MLB changed the fly ball that fell in between Rougned Odor and Alex Rios from an error to a hit—but that came after an initial protest from Ortiz. That was the same game in which Yu Darvish was chasing a no-hitter.
You can understand why Ortiz would fight for every hit he can get, especially during a month in which he's hitting .188. However, next time he's upset with a ruling, he should probably keep it behind closed doors rather than issuing a public rebuke.
Ortiz has already done enough in his career, anyway. A few percentage points here and there aren't going to change things too much.
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