God, what a ****ing retarded rule

[realmofotalk]

Mattingly had gone to the mound to arrange the defense. As he turned to the dugout, Dodgers first baseman James Loney(notes) asked one more question about where he should play. By then, Mattingly had stepped on the infield grass.

Rule 8.06 of the Official Baseball Rules stipulates a trip to the mound begins when a manager or coach crosses the foul line and ends when he leaves the 18-foot dirt circle surrounding the pitcher’s rubber. Returning to the dirt constitutes a second trip, at which point the pitcher must be removed.

Mattingly stopped and walked back onto the dirt below the mound, giving further instructions to Loney as he went.

No, no, no!” Mattingly heard plate umpire Adrian Johnson shout. ”You can’t go back.”

By then, however, Mattingly had covered the two steps back onto the mound.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy came out of the first-base dugout, pointing.

”He can’t do that!” Bochy yelled.

As much as I hate Mattingly for getting called out by freaking Bruce Bochy for making that amateur mistake, to turn around and walk back onto the dirt counts as a second "mound visit"? Get the **** out of here.

[henks]

Actually, the ump was first to catch it. Bochy just made sure ol blue was paying attention.

That rule is pretty stupid. If the visit starts when the manager crosses the foul line, the visit should end when he crosses the foul line again.

[redsfan28]

Bruce Bochy is such a narc. Guess Donnie Baseball should learn that rule if he is to become a manager...

Apparently the rule is that Mattingly should have been ejected and Broxton shoulda finished pitching to the batter and then be removed from the game. That would have at least given Sherill a couple more minutes to warm up than he had.

[realmofotalk]

More salt to the wound.

Had the Dodgers protested the game, there is a chance the protest would have been upheld and the game replayed. But the league official said the Dodgers neglected to protest the game.

By the way, Clayton Kershaw was suspended five games for hitting Aaron Rowand. Kershaw plans to appeal.

Read more: SFGate: San Francisco Giants : The Splash : UPDATE; Umps erred and Broxton should have faced Torres

[browntown653]

Why wouldn't they protest? Sure, they never get overturned, but there's nothing to lose.

[Slyder]

Why wouldn't they protest? Sure, they never get overturned, but there's nothing to lose.

One "famous" protest did get overturned. Anyone care to guess what "famous" game this was? I'm trying to think of a veiled hint. Gaylord Perry was involved in post game events.

[realmofotalk]

Why wouldn't they protest? Sure, they never get overturned, but there's nothing to lose.

Because Mattingly didn't know he could. As evident by his mound visit blunder, Mattingly isn't exactly knee deep into the official rulebook. It's all because Joe Torre and bench coach and rulebook sage Bob Schaefer were thrown out of the game earlier.

[Kingdom]

How many managers and coaches truly know a lot about the rule book, especially obscure rules that rarely come into play such as.. this one?

[realmofotalk]

Well, Bruce Bochy for one. He pulled the same play against Grady Little in a Dodgers/Padres game in 2006. And Schaefer surely knows about it (he knew about an obscure rule that scored us a deciding run in a game vs Arizona last year) but unfortunately he got thrown out of the game.

Edit: DodgerBlue.com's account of the Schaefer play:

With runners on second and third and one out in the second inning on Sunday, Randy Wolf lined one back to Danny Haren, who caught it on the fly. Haren fired back to second base to double up Juan Pierre—but second baseman Felipe Lopez crossed over the base to tag Pierre. In the time it took him to do that, Andre Ethier—running from third base on contact—had crossed home plate. With the double play ending the inning, the Diamondbacks left the field—and no one in the stadium paid much attention to Ethier. That is, except Dodgers bench coach Bob Schaefer, who must study the rule book like Rainman. Schaefer quickly schooled Joe Torre, and Torre sold the umpire crew. The run counted, it was ultimately ruled, despite Ethier not tagging up on the line drive. It took me a good half hour to really understand what happened, and even now, I’m not sure I fully do. But I guess the essence of it is this: Ethier scored before the last out of the inning was recorded, and even though he didn’t tag up, the Diamondbacks failed to appeal Ethier leaving third early before they left the playing field—and apparently a team can’t retroactively appeal a play. I wonder if I can retroactively choose an easier sport to follow.

[GiantsFanatic]

As a casual baseball fan, I know about this rule, like it or not, rule is a rule, teams will take advantage of it, and thats what Bochy did!