WATCH: Yadier Molina ejected after arguing during live ball
Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was screaming at an umpire with the ball in play and was ejected -- soon followed by his manager -- Wednesday.
Here's something we don't see too often. After Miguel Montero clubbed a liner in the gap in Wrigley Field, Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina argued the entire time the ball was in play with home plate umpire Pat Hoberg and was subsequently ejected. Manager Mike Matheny soon followed.
The play in question came with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the sixth inning. Cubs catcher Montero took a 2-2 pitch that Molina and Matheny (and probably the rest of the Cardinals and their fans) believed was a strike. Here's the screen-grab from the MLB.com highlight you'll be seeing in a second:
Montero on a 3-2 count would eventually do this, putting the Cubs up 5-4:
Angles from the Cubs broadcast (see it here on MLB.com) show that Molina was arguing the entire time the Cubs were crossing the plate with three different runners (start at the 1:04 mark on that video). I guess that's the "Cardinal Way" we're always hearing about, right? Seriously, just imagine if someone like Yasiel Puig pulled this off?
As far as the strike zone that had the Cardinals broadcasters so furious is here, let's take a look. The red plots are strikes and the green plots are balls that were called against left-handers by Hoberg Wednesday (via the excellent brooksbaseball.net):
As far as against lefties -- as Montero is -- that looks pretty square with the rulebook (the hard square is the rulebook, the shaded lines represent a typical strike zone versus lefties as called by all MLB umpires).
Regardless, the Cardinals still came away with a victory, as Jhonny Peralta hit a two-run, go-ahead homer with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth.
