I don't know what it is that turns umpire Phil Cuzzi such a sanctimonious jerk while he's on a baseball field.  Maybe his shoes are too tight or he feels like he's under appreciated.  Maybe he likes watching himself run players and managers on Sportscenter. Maybe since he's from Jersey, he imagines himself as Tony Soprano and he likes to "rub out the managers." Last night in New York, Cuzzi again showed why it is imperative that MLB rein in it's umpires, especially Cuzzi.

In the first inning, after a check swing by Derrick Jeter, Cuzzi stopped the game, stepped toward the White Sox dugout and started heatedly bantering with White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.  In my book, an umpire should NEVER stop the game nor engage a player or manager in the dugout.  Back in the day, this was called "having rabbit ears." And Phil Cuzzi is the Bugs Bunny of today's umpires.

Cuzzi continued bantering until Guillen emerged from the dugout and then Cuzzi ran him.  Even the Yankee announcers, Michael Kay, Joe Girardi and Al Leiter made mention of the fact that Cuzzi is "a bit of a hothead."  So, what we have here is an umpire who baits a manager into getting himself ejected.  That is wrong.

Later in the game, Cuzzi ran mild mannered Paul Konerko after a third strike call.

This isn't the first time Cuzzi has thrown somebody out.  You may recall the fourth game of the 2005 NL Championship series when Cuzzi ran both Cardinals Center fielder Jim Edmonds and Manager Tony LaRussa.
All Edmonds did was ask where a pitch was. There was also Cuzzi's famous September 2003 ejection of Roy Halladay when Cuzzi,who had warned both teams prior to the game, suspected Halladay was throwing too close for comfort.  The only thing was he did not eject then Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca, which accoring to the rules, he was obligated to do.

Cuzzi was primed for a NL job in the early 90's and worked as a vacation fill-in.  But then he was sent back down to AAA and eventually, fired in 1994.  Cuzzi believes that NL supervisor Ed Vargo was the guy that put the kibosh  on him and  I wonder if Vargo saw some of the tendencies that we see in him today.  If not for a chance meeting with NL president Leonard Coleman in 1996, Cuzzi may still be a bellhop at a hotel.

I'm not sure about you, but the willingness of umpires to engage with players and managers is a problem with baseball.  Umpires should NEVER follow players or managers back to the dugout, continue an argument instead of walking away or otherwise make things worse,  Officials of any sport are there to keep order, not make chaos.

After the game last night, Guillen fumed about how he believes Cuzzi disrespects players and managers. "I remember they suspended me for four days and sent me to anger management. Well, I hope the league watched this game and see how this man was reacting to me and the player and take a real look at it and see what they can do about it.

"From 1985 to now, I don't see any umpire (disrespect) players and managers the way that guy does. That's something you don't tolerate as a manager. I see this guy do it over and over. It's time for someone to step it up.

The league will fine Ozzie and maybe suspend him for not leaving the field in a timely manner while Phil Cuzzi will continue to bait other managers and players into the same thing.  Please Bud, in between steroid denials, have a talk with the boys in blue.  Nobody goes to the game to watch the umpires.

Lightning Round

• 
  It's a good thing Ozzie got kicked out as Jose Contreras got lit up like the Manhattan skyline.  As did Charlie Hager.  And then, there was Gavin Floyd.  If the Sox ever let Floyd go, the Yankees will gladly hire him a batting practice pitcher.
  
• Back to Contreras for just a second.  Prior to the series, Guillen said that he had spoken with Contreras who had been working with pitching coach Don Cooper on the side trying to straighten some things out.  Contreras was excited about the changes and was looking forward to this start.  It may be time to shut him down for awhile.  Perhaps some "shoulder stiffness" or "elbow inflammation" might be in order here.
  
• What a great game last night between the Mets and Brewers.  Thirteen innings won by a Jeff Jenkins walk off home run.   The Brewers could have won it in the eighth, but a bad call by home plate umpire Brian Gorman on a foul tip third strike (the ball bounced and the replay clearly shows it.) may have sent the game into extra frames.  It's a good thing too, because the Cubs and cardinals had already won.  And yes, I said Cardinals.
• This may be the most useless promotion I have ever heard of.
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• As with Josh Hancock, once the obvious details were made public, the image of Rod beck will be forever tarnished.
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• If you are going to throw a water balloon through the window of a passing car as a prank, here's two friendly pieces of advice: 1) Make sure you don't play tight end for a big time college football program and 2) make sure the other car is not being driven by an off duty cop.
• Joe Theismann still has a bellyache.
• Dave Trembley has done a nice job with the Orioles.  Hopefully, he'll get to keep the gig after this year as well.  It's nice to see good people get rewarded for a job well done.
• Sports Media Watch is reporting that Gary Bettman has unzipped ESPN and hit his knees in an effort to get the NHL back on the four letter network.
• It looks like I'm not the only one critical of ESPN's NASCAR coverage.