Monday, April 13, 1998
Baseball recap
By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Staff
"Going … going … gone!"
No, that’s not the way ESPN’s Chris Berman would announce the
highlight of an Eric Valent home run, but rather the description of
UCLA head coach Gary Adams’ ejection in Friday’s 15-7 UCLA win.
The mild-mannered but often emotional Adams took an early trip
to the clubhouse after home plate umpire Kevin Daugherty did not
take kindly the criticism coming from the Bruin dugout.
Adams first asked, "What was that?" and before he knew it
Daugherty had taken his mask off and was barking back. Adams was
contesting a pitch that appeared to be a strike, but Daugherty had
called it a ball.
Without the use of any obscenity, Adams continued his argument
from the dugout. After a few more verbal exchanges, Daugherty had
heard enough.
Adams was headed to the clubhouse.
With the Bruins clinging onto a 9-6 lead in the sixth inning,
the Bruins were clearly frustrated at the inconsistent strike zone.
That is when Adams finally made his comment.
"(UCLA pitching coach) Tim Leary said it best when he said ‘Our
pitchers don’t throw enough strikes, so when they do throw strikes
we want them to get credit for them,’" Adams said. "So that’s why
we snapped."
Bruin senior right fielder Eric Byrnes, who led off the game
with his fifth homer of the season, concurred with Adams –
especially because he was the victim of a questionable strike three
call late in the game.
"It’s frustrating as a baseball player because what happens is
as you get into the third hour of a game like this the umpires I
think get a little tired, they want to go home and they start to
call pitches they normally wouldn’t call," Byrnes said. "We still
have to go out there and play the same game. Just because it’s
getting late and we’re all getting tired doesn’t mean that they can
start ringing up everybody on calls that they normally wouldn’t be
calling strikes."
Byrnes complained to the umpire by saying how if it’s not a
hittable pitch, then it’s not a strike.
Adams, Byrnes and every other baseball player ask only one thing
from umpires – consistency.
On Friday, though, the only constant was the questioning of
Daugherty’s performance behind the plate.