Atlanta Braves enforced the code, but Kevin Gausman was ejected

The Atlanta Braves got their revenge on Jose Urena tonight without escalating the situation… except that an umpire didn’t get the memo.

The bottom of the second inning in tonight’s contest between the Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins could almost have been scripted down to the moment. All of the elements on the set were in place – at least among the major actors.

After yesterday’s game, the Braves optioned Shane Carle back to Gwinnett. Today we learned who joined the team on the flight to Miami: Touki Toussaint.

Early in the 6th inning on Friday, Fox broadcaster Joe Simpson talked about the time Toussaint had to consider his last outing for the major league club – which didn’t go so well – and made the bizarre observation: “Here he is pitching great when he didn’t have a clue he’d be pitching [tonight].”

Balderdash.

I submit that when Kevin Gausman started this game, he figured that he’d only be around for 3 innings max. I’ll further submit that the Braves brought up Toussaint specifically because they knew they’d need a pitcher who could go for a few innings.

Gausman knew it. Toussaint knew it. Brian Snitker knew it… heck, the entire team knew it.

In case you came in late…

It was August 15, 2018 when Marlins’ starting pitcher Jose Urena muscled up on the 1st pitch of that game (one of the fastest pitches he’s ever thrown) and drilled Ronald Acuna on the elbow… pretty much just for the ‘crime’ of being good at baseball.

The Marlins wisely made sure that Urena wouldn’t see the Braves again last season, but as we previewed, this was expected to be … interesting… tonight as Atlanta finally got a chance to face Urena again.

I can’t post the video thanks to MLB restrictions, but I can get you to their site so that you can see Friday night’s incident for yourself. Here’s that link.

The Response

Late in the Marvel movie ‘Infinity Wars’, Dr. Strange does his thing and examines the coming battle with Thanos. His prophetic senses looked at some 14 million possible scenarios and picked the one that seemed to have the best outcome (I don’t think that’s really a spoiler).

The Braves probably went through the scenarios for tonight as well. They appear to have selected one that seemed to be fairly reasonable… scare Urena, but don’t actually hit him. That would at least send the message “we remember what you did… don’t ever do that again”.

You can plausibly argue a couple of things about my thesis here:

Maybe Gausman was trying to knee-cap the guy. I don’t think so, but …
Gausman did have some extra “oomph” on the fateful fastball… 97 mph. Still, that’s not out of his normal character (it was the fastest pitch he’s thrown this season, but he finished 2018 throwing an average of 95.5 and maximum of 97).
After an uneventful 1st inning, Gausman seemed a bit distracted as Urena’s place in the order approached. He actually hit 3B Jon Berti 2 batters prior to that event to load the bases.

Unfortunately, home plate umpire Jeff Nelson could have handled it better.

The Injected Ejection

I admit having a soft spot for Nelson. I believe he’s the umpire who – during a Spring Training game in Florida around 1999 (ironically featuring these same 2 clubs) – crossed the field to hand a baseball to a very young redhead who happened to be my son.

Admittedly, he isn’t among the elite of the umpires, but normally Nelson is at least a lot less controversial than umpires like Joe West, Angel Hernandez, Laz Diaz, and a couple of others.

Tonight, he was likewise expecting “something” to happen and chose to quickly and immediately squash any possible extra-curricular activities like work boots smashing a Florida Palmetto Bug.

It was probably the most defensible action he could take… but still an over-reaction.

What could/should have been done was that Nelson should have summoned both managers to a point between the plate and the mound and invited Kevin Gausman to listen in… perhaps Urena as well.

At that point, he polls the crowd with this question: “Are we good here? Everybody satisfied? Are we done?”

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Assuming that he gets a positive response from everyone involved (if not, then anybody dissenting would be tossed), he should have then issued obligatory warnings to both benches and then the game could have continued.

The Braves got what they wanted out of the play… the necessary message was delivered; honor was upheld. The Marlins didn’t get one of their best players injured, so they had to be happy enough.

Unfortunately, Jeff Nelson didn’t think the kids on the playground could act as their own police force, so he was compelled – it seems – to be the chaperone… and sent Gausman to have a ‘timeout’.

Sure – the Braves knew this was a possibility… and in fact, it was probably assumed. As I suggest, that’s why Touki was in the house.

The Preview: Showdown in Miami. dark. Next

But the best revenge of all happened in the next couple of innings: the Braves chased Urena after 6 innings and 5 earned runs (with 3 walks and 2 homers)

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