St. Louis Cardinals manager Oli Marmol was not a fan of the strike zone during Saturday's game against the Chicago Cubs, and he let the umpire know about it.
On a nearly daily occurrence, MLB managers are not happy with the performance of the umpires, especially those standing behind home plate. One manager who was ejected quite a bit this year is none other than Oli Marmol of the St. Louis Cardinals, who was tossed from three games this season.
Well, that number has now increased to four.
In the top of the sixth inning of the Cardinals' game against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday, home plate umpire Cory Blaser called a low pitch by Daniel Palencia on third baseman Nolan Arenado a strike. There was a commotion coming from Marmol from the Cardinals dugout, and Blaser didn't like what he heard. So, he tossed Marmol from the game. But, the St. Louis skipper walked onto the field to get his money's worth.
Cardinals: Oli Marmol ejected for arguing at home plate umpire
If you are a lipreader, you could probably see the not suitable for work words flying from Marmol.
Before the game, Marmol said, via MLB.com's John Denton, that his displeasure towards the umpires in this series had only grown since Friday over some questionable calls. In that game, the Cardinals lost that game 4-3.
Arenado was facing a bases-loaded situation with the game tied 5-5 and two outs on the board when he took the first pitch that Marmol argued about. One pitch later, Palencia threw a wild pitch past Yan Gomes, allowing Lars Nootbaar to score from third base to give St. Louis a 6-5 lead.
Despite the go-ahead run scoring, Arenado would ground out to end the inning.
This season had not gone the way the Cardinals had expected. Instead of contending for the NL Central and potentially a World Series, the team is instead preparing to sell at the Aug. 1 trade deadline for the first time in a long time. Entering the game, the Cardinals held a 44-54 record, sitting in fourth place in the division entering Saturday's game.
The last thing that Marmol wanted to see in what has been a less-than-ideal season was a questionable call from the umpires. The manager saw enough after the pitch to Arenado and decided to let the home plate umpire know he didn't appreciate the call.