Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner latest ump show victim

One could understand if Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner had a bit of a short fuse on Wednesday. His start against the Marlins began at 12:40 in the afternoon, and being used to a much later start time, as well as the west coast schedule, that would be ridiculously early. Chances are, this would be a caffeine heavy day.

It turned out that Bumgarner’s day was not nearly as long as he would have expected. He was victimized by yet another ump show, as he was ejected by first base umpire Dan Bellino before needing to be physically held back.

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner had valid gripe

What precipitated this ejection? The inane hand check between innings to ensure pitchers are not using foreign substances. While Marlins starter Elieser Hernandez was barely given a look, Bumgarner underwent far more scrutiny after his inning of work.

It is understandable that Bumgarner would say something. It is also understandable that, if he did not receive a satisfactory answer, he would be annoyed. But there is one thing that he forgot – the fans pay to come to the ballpark to see the umpires, not the players. Fortunately, Bellino was ready to disabuse Bumgarner of the notion that his presence was needed at all.

One would imagine that, if Bumgarner was using foreign substances, he would have done a lot better than to allow a homer to Jon Berti. After all, Berti had all of 12 homers in parts of five seasons entering Wednesday’s contest. That did not matter to Bellino, who had to examine Bumgarner’s hand as though they were a potential forgery of a priceless item.

It is what we tuning in to watch. We want to see those self-important umpires take over the game, ensuring that the rules, at least as they interpreted them, are followed to the letter. If anyone dares to step out of line, or do something as innocent as question why their hand inspection is taking that much longer, then they can get an early trip to the showers.

Madison Bumgarner had a valid gripe about his inspection. That led to the Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher getting an early exit in Wednesday’s game.