When Cito Gaston took Kevin Gregg out of last night's debacle in the SkyDome (or whatever the hell it is called now) Gregg showed that he had a lot of balls.
He went over and started jawing with umpire Angel Hernandez about a ball four call against John Jaso that walked in a run. Hernandez said "Go back to the dugout" a few times before tossing him. (I always found it odd when players who were already out of the game get tossed, but that is neither here nor there.)
Gregg also had a lot of balls during the inning. As in throwing balls out of the strike zone. The guy comes into a ball game that the Blue Jays need to win. A Blue Jays win would pull them to within 2 1/2 games of the division lead (and stay a game back of the Yankees for the Wild Card.)
Toronto held a 2 run lead... and what does he do? With one out, he walks Upton, who steals and goes to third on Gregg's bad throw. He walks Crawford. He walks Longoria.
It's safe to say that he didn't exactly have great control.
So Gregg might forgive Hernandez for not giving Gregg the benefit of the doubt on close calls.
In fact the one out he DID get was because Angel Hernandez didn't grant Carlos Pena time when he requested it.
So Jaso walked... making it FOUR WALKS in an inning for a closer. Then Zobrist doubled home three runs and the Rays took the lead.
But seriously, the ball that Gregg was complaining about, as Harold Reynolds pointed out on MLB Network, was a ball! It would have been a border line strike. Maybe a Jon Lester or an Andy Pettitte or Tim Lincecum would have got the call... but not a closer who already had logged 3 walks that inning.
Umps are human and sometimes the borderline calls go to reputations.
But here we are again with Kevin Gregg!
He torpedoed the Marlins pennant hopes in 2008.
He was a disaster for the Cubs in 2009.
And here he is blowing key ballgames for the Blue Jays in 2010.
This signing never made sense. I said it in February and I am saying it again now.
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