Giant Ego Diminishes Braves Chance For Win (aka Hohn's a bum!)

No, the ego I'm referring to is not the ego of any Braves player. Last night in the 8th inning of the Braves-Marlins game in Miami, the Braves were down 6-3. Chipper Jones was standing on first (having been walked on 4 pitches), and Brian McCann was batting. This was a golden opportunity for the Braves to come within a run of the "Fightin' Fish". The first pitch to McCann was a ball. That's five straight balls pitched in a row. The second pitch was a foot outside...and called a strike. A strike? Brian obviously wasn't pleased with the call and muttered something to himself...never once looking back and addressing Bill Hohn, the home plate umpire. Hohn didn't like what he was hearing and removed his mask and stared McCann down for a few seconds. When it was obvious McCann wasn't going to take the bait, Hohn put his mask back on and settled back in behind the catcher.
The next pitch was even farther outside, and thankfully, it was called a ball. We are now at a 2-1 count. Finally, with that 2-1 count, the pitcher threw a bona fide strike. McCann then grounded into a 4-6-3 double-play.

You may think to yourself, "Well, that negates the bad strike call". To that, I would say you are mistaken. If the second pitch would have been called a ball (as it was), then McCann would have had a 3-0 count, and he would not have been swinging at the pitch that ultimately yielded the double-play.

McCann walked back into to the dugout and exclaimed to Bobby Cox, "It was this far outside!", holding his hands about a foot apart. Hohn apparently heard it...and didn't like it.

Rather than ignore the conversation that he wasn't a part of, Hohn took it upon himself to call time out, approach the dugout and lure someone out for a fight.

Bobby Cox, being the player-protector that he is, came out on behalf of McCann. He didn't yell. He didn't get in the face of the umpire. He simply told the umpire to "Just go call the game" (among other things that I couldn't decipher). In my opinion, Hohn had decided before he walked to the dugout that he was going to eject somebody. There were a few more things said, but again, nothing was yelled.

As Cox retreated back to the dugout, Hohn pulled his line-up cards out of his shirt pocket. This is an odd move. There was no reason to pull the line-up cards out. Referring to the cards is only necessary for substitutions and ejections. No one had been substituted, though. And at this point, no one had been ejected. Bobby Cox questioned the move, pointed at the cards, and immediately, Hohn ejected Cox. (This is Cox's world record 147th ejection).

End of story, right? Oh no.

As the Braves took the field before the bottom half of the inning, McCann was warming up behind the plate, as Hohn walked by. McCann asked Hohn "Can you at least admit you missed the call?".

This was apparently a bad move, as McCann was immediately ejected. Again, McCann wasn't beligerent. He wasn't yelling in the umpire's face. He technically wasn't really even arguing. He was just looking for some vindication...some closure...some satisfaction in knowing that the umpire can at least admit a mistake. No such luck, as McCann joined Cox in the bowels of LandShark stadium.

End of story, right? Oh no.

The 6-3 score held through the bottom of the 8th and the top of the 9th, thus solidifying the Marlins victory. The third out in the 9th inning was a Nate McLouth strike out. As McLouth tipped the ball into the catchers mitt for the third strike, the Marlins catcher then turned around and offered a little fist bump to Bill Hohn. Hohn returned the fist bump.

Completely unprofessional.

Hohn's a bum.