i knew just when i clicked on that slate article that they'd lead in with this awful intro about a heralded record about to be broken like they were talking about barry bonds and then "surprise" the reader with the fact it's about something else. i wish someone would fire a rosin bag at tim murphy.
We must remember that, for the most part, Cox's ejections are in support of one of his players. He sees one of his guys getting hot and close to ejection himself and here comes Bobby. Grab his player, push him away from the ump, and start screaming. Cox gets the thumb and the player stays in the game That's part of the job. There is one big problem. It's ugly and I hesitate to bring it up, but, dammit it needs to be said. Bobby Cox has lost a step. When he tied the record the player (I was watching but have completely forgotten who it was) was clearly arguing balls and strikes and was going to get tossed any second. Bobby came lumbering up out of the dugout and waddled toward the plate in a gait reminiscent of Danny DeVito as The Penguin. The player had been ejected a good 5 seconds before Bobby even got close to the action. Yeah, maybe he saved the guy a suspension and fine, but that didn't help the team in that game. I beleive the time has come for Bobby Cox to admit he has gotten too old for this part of the game. He needs to designate someone to handle this part of his duties. Maybe the bench coach or the next day's starter could do it. Hell, why not the bat boy? I'd pay to see that. Some 14-year-old given permission to throw a fit would be highly entertaining. It just needs to be someone who can run 50 feet in less than 2 minutes flat.
by the way (because i didn't see it in either article) the research for the ejection stats was started by the late Doug Pappas. i remember reading somewhere recently that Pappas had said with continued research more ejections may turn up for McGraw.
I believe with enough digging you could find more angry incidents for any Irishman. I miss Doug Pappas, which is a damned stupid thing to say about someone you didn't know.
Cox has been ejected but never rejected
