So, as it turns out, Brett Lawrie was suspended for his actions on Tuesday night. He threw his helmet on the ground after a called strike 3, and the helmet bounced and hit the home plate umpire Bill Miller. Lawrie claims that he didn't mean to hit the ump, and that his helmet just took a bad bounce. If that's true or not, it doesn't really matter. You should know that throwing anything anywhere near an umpire will not end well for you. He's suspended four games, but the games won't start until after the Jays play in New York City—where the commissioners office is—when he can appeal the suspension. Personally, I think he should just man up and serve his time. You made a mistake, just get it over with. It's better to serve the suspension now (even if it's against a good Yankees team) than later on in the season, when the Jays could be contending for a playoff spot and not having Lawrie in the lineup could really hurt.
What I'm most upset about is not Brett Lawrie being suspended, or even that it possibly cost the Jays the game last night. No, what angers me the most is that the umpire will likely get away scot-free, and at worst will maybe hear something like "adjust your strike zone" from the commish. And that might not even happen. In fact, it probably won't, and Bud Selig probably doesn't even care. Umpires need to face consequences when they make such horrible calls, and they need to admit when they make a mistake that late in a game that potentially cost us a win. Jim Joyce is what all umpires should be like. He cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game, but he apologized and admitted he was wrong. All umps should do that. As you can see in the PitchFX image below, Bill Miller clearly made a horrible call. None of the pitches he called strikes were even close to being in the zone.
There is no excuse for such poor umpiring, and is very unprofessional. If only umpires could get suspended and face fines for calls like this, then the world would be a better place.
