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Ump Joe West grabs Papelbon's jersey after ejecting Pap for grabbing self

Did closer Jonathan Papelbon grab himself in the ninth inning Sunday afternoon in order make an obscene gesture toward booing Philadelphia Phillies fans, or was he merely adjusting his jockstrap and/or protective cup, as ballplayers do, because his equipment had gotten out of alignment?

Is Major League Baseball going to punish umpire Joe West for putting his hands on Papelbon, and grabbing his jersey in order to move him out of the way, after Papelbon confronted West because of the ejection?

MLB won't have a fun time sorting all of it out. If only Papelbon could have pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, instead of blowing the save in a 5-4 loss to the Miami Marlins. After allowing four runs, Papelbon walked off the mound and, about midway to the Phillies dugout, grabbed his groin.

 

 

West, the second-base umpire, saw this from behind and assumed the worst, coming over to the dugout to tell Papelbon he was ejected. Papelbon jumped onto the field and got in West's face, apparently bumping the bill of West's cap with his head. Papelbon also put out his arms to block West's way, appearing to demand an explanation.

Not wanting to deal with him anymore, West made the unusual move of putting his hands on Papelbon, grabbing him by the jersey collar and moving him to the side.

After the game, Papelbon denied he was being obscene. Via the Twitter of reporter Kevin Cooney of the Bucks County Times:

(AP)
(AP)

 

 

West obviously saw it differently:

 

And what about the contact between West and Papelbon?

 

"He started it" is probably not going to work as far as West staying out of trouble for grabbing Papelbon, if MLB has integrity about the matter.

Given Papelbon's reputation for being crude and outrageous from time to time, it was not unreasonable for West to assume Papelbon was being obscene. And he's not the only person to make the assumption. This is the beginning of Associated Press's account of the game, by Christopher A. Vito:

"The Phillies closer made a lewd gesture to fans..."

Vito doesn't say Papelbon "appeared" to make a lewd gesture, or even that he was ejected for making a lewd gesture, which is what West said happened.

West, too, has a reputation for calling attention to himself, holding grudges and having a short fuse. It's possible he jumped to conclusions about Papelbon.

Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg doesn't add much here, but says he didn't know what West was talking about when he ejected Papelbon.

 

Sandberg seems neither upset that one of his players might have been obscene to his own fans, or that an umpire is unjustly accusing the player for being obscene.

It's also reasonable to assume, that if the pitcher were not named Papelbon, and the umpire were not named West, the pitcher wouldn't have been ejected for grabbing himself.

More MLB coverage at Yahoo Sports: 

 

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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rdbrown@yahoo-inc.com and follow him on Twitter!

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