Brett Lawrie Situation a Sign That Stubborn Umpiring Needs to Go

Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie is probably going away for a while.

If you're just now joining us, Lawrie is in hot water for the way he reacted when he was called out on strikes in the bottom of the ninth inning in the Blue Jays' eventual loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. He was extremely upset at home plate umpire Bill Miller, and he made the mistake of Gronk-spiking his helmet in Miller's general direction after Miller had tossed him from the game.

Lawrie's helmet bounced up and ricocheted off Miller's right hip (B/R has a GIF for your viewing pleasure). That's an object thrown by a player hitting an umpire, and that's a big no-no.

Lawrie is bound to be suspended—maybe even for as long as 10 games. Whenever MLB makes its decision, he'll have to take it and like it because he earned it.

UPDATE: Per MLB's Public Relations Twitter account, Lawrie has been suspended for four games and fined an undisclosed amount for his "aggressive actions" toward Miller.

There's more to this story, however. Lawrie can't be excused for spiking his helmet, but you'll have to excuse me for not blaming Lawrie for getting upset. He had every right to be upset with Miller.

You have to look at the big picture, and to do that you have to head over to MLB.com to check out the full video highlight of the events that led to Lawrie's ejection.

As you'll see, Lawrie thought he had ball four not once, but twice. He started heading for first base when a 3-1 pitch went wide, and he started heading to first when a 3-2 pitch went wide and high.

Miller called both pitches strikes, and he made both calls when Lawrie was already out of the batter's box.

Provided you watch enough baseball, you know as well as I do that this nonsense happens a lot—way too often, in fact. At this point, any player who leaves the box early on a presumed ball four may as well be asking the umpire to call the pitch a strike.

You can blame the hitters for having the audacity to assume they're going to get the call they want, but umpires deserve the lion's share of the blame. When a hitter leaves the box early, too many umpires feel like they're being shown up, and too many of them respond by showing the hitter who's in charge.

Instead of being silent arbitrators, umpires turn into mere egotists in these moments. Instead of being fair, they're being stubborn.

Miller's antics on Tuesday night in Toronto represent a perfect example.

The 3-1 pitch he called a strike was clearly outside, and the 3-2 pitch he called a strike was clearly high and outside. Lawrie should have had a walk not once, but twice, and Miller decided not to give it to him because Lawrie showed him up.

Or maybe Lawrie was heading to first base because he was trusting Miller to do his job. Miller obviously didn't perceive things that way, and he kick-started a chain of events that led to Lawrie's ejection and his ill-advised helmet spike.

In the process, it's fair to say that Miller cost the Blue Jays a chance to win or at least tie the game. The score was 4-3, and the Jays would have had a runner on first with one out. That scenario didn't come to life because Miller decided to teach a 22-year-old kid a lesson. 

It was as if he was saying: "It's not about you, kid. It's about me."

Here's the thing about umpires: It should never be about them. Ever. You know a crew of umpires is doing a good job when you can't even tell they're there. The best umpires are ninjas, capable of going invisible and staying invisible.

Yes, bad calls are going to happen. What's inexcusable are bad calls that happen because an umpire suddenly decides to have agenda. This is something that should never happen, but it does anyway.

I realize that umpires are just as human as the players they're trying to police day after day, but everyone is better off if they put their emotions aside and act more like robots. Only then can they be objective, and only then can they be fair.

Miller wasn't fair to Lawrie, and any umpire that calls a ball a strike simply because a hitter left the box early is guilty of the same crime. In these moments, they're not doing their job. They've gone rogue.

Situations like these can be avoided, but only if umpires understand this: Nobody is coming out to the ballpark to see you work. Shut up, do your job and don't cause any trouble.

If umpires can find it in themselves to abide by these simple guidelines, players will keep their hats on. Helmets too.