Dodgers Give It Thumb Down

The Dodgers were furious Thursday long before Ken Griffey Jr.’s two-run, walk-off home run capped a 6-4, 13-inning victory for the Cincinnati Reds that left both teams perplexed about an umpire’s judgment.

Griffey sent a 2-and-2 pitch from Omar Daal into the second deck in right field with one out and Austin Kearns at first, ending a 4-hour 38-minute game highlighted by the ninth-inning ejections of Manager Jim Tracy and All-Star closer Eric Gagne after umpire Dan Iassogna’s stunning call.

Iassogna tossed Gagne when he hit Adam Dunn with a fastball on his right elbow after a two-run homer by Aaron Boone, the previous batter, had cut the Dodgers’ lead to 4-2. The turn of events set off the shocked Dodgers and stirred renewed interest in what remained of a crowd of 27,950 at Cinergy Field. Iassogna did not issue a warning, and there were no incidents that preceded Dunn being hit.

Gagne raced from the mound to confront Iassogna once he realized he was out of the game, shouting in his face that he would not intentionally try to hit a batter in that situation, bringing the potential tying run to the plate. Catcher Chad Kreuter continued the argument while Tracy raced from the dugout in an attempt to prevent Gagne from bumping Iassogna and making the situation worse, but Tracy had difficulty restraining the burly pitcher and needed the help of players and coaches.

“I’m just wondering where he was the whole game,” said Gagne, who took out his frustration on equipment in the dugout after his first ejection. “It’s the ninth inning; it’s not really a good time to put the potential tying run at the plate. It’s a no-brainer. It’s just a bad call. A home run would tie the game. I’m the closer, I’m not supposed to do that. It’s a joke.

“Everybody in the world knew that was unintentional. I have no idea what he was thinking. Big game like this, you’ve got to have your head in the game. It looks like it was his first game or something. I know [the commissioner’s office] has people who [evaluate] those umpires, so maybe they’ll do something about it.”

Even Dunn said Gagne didn’t intentionally hit him.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “The situation ... he wouldn’t want to hit me. That was one of those where it’s the umpire’s [call], whether he feels if it’s intentional or not, and he feels it was intentional.”

Iassogna stood his ground.

“One of the things Major League Baseball has put an emphasis on is situations that involve pitchers intentionally throwing at batters,” said Iassogna, listed as a triple-A umpire with major league experience in an umpire media guide distributed by the commissioner’s office.

“A particular emphasis comes after a home run, and we had a home run that cut the lead in half. Then Gagne threw a fastball high, head high, over the shoulders, shoulder high, right at Dunn, who was the next batter [on] the next pitch right after a home run. So I immediately ejected him.”

Tracy quickly followed Gagne out of the game after Iassogna repeatedly insisted Gagne was going after Dunn despite the situation. The ejections stunned the Dodgers in a game they figured was close to completion with one of the major leagues’ most dominant relievers still working with a two-run cushion.

The Reds tied the score, 4-4, on Jason La Rue’s two-out, two-run double to left against Giovanni Carrara, who followed Paul Quantrill and Jesse Orosco to the mound, and that’s the way things remained until Griffey connected against Daal (8-6), the seventh Dodger pitcher, giving Scott Williamson (3-3), the sixth Cincinnati pitcher, the victory.

The Reds (56-51) took two of three in the series from the Dodgers (60-48), who dropped to 4-5 on a season-high, 13-game trip. They now must reshuffle their rotation beginning a four-game series tonight against the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium, and also are working with a tired bullpen.

Although Gagne insisted he did not bump Iassogna, TV replays indicated he appeared to make incidental contact during the heated exchange. Iassogna said he would not report that he was bumped to the league office.

But the Dodgers were still concerned Gagne might face disciplinary action for a call they said was way off base.

“I don’t know what to say, really, other than the fact, in my opinion, that was the grossest error in judgment in quite possibly the history of the game,” Tracy said.

“It’s a shame that you have to lose a game like that. We get to be held accountable for that decision, and to me that is just very unfair. Anybody who watches that, and looks upon that that has a feel for the game of baseball, I really think that would be their take on it. There’s nothing else to say.”

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*--* Inoffensive A look at the worst run-producers in the National League: Runs Runs PG 12. Chicago 456 4.3 13. Dodgers 464 4.3 14. Milwaukee 443 4.1 15. San Diego 427 4.0 16. Pittsburgh 415 3.8

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