Joe West put on another ump show and Kerry Wood hated it

Monday night’s almost-no-hitter from Chicago Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks ended with something you don’t really see. No, it’s not the home run from Jeremy Hazelbaker that ended the no-hitter in the bottom of the ninth, because no-hit bids have ended in weirder ways. (Armando Galarraga comes to mind.) Hendricks’ no-hitter ended with Cubs manager Joe Maddon being tossed from the game.

That’s weird, right? The umpire who tossed Maddon, none other than ump show master and Foghorn Leghorn impersonator Joe West, did what he does best: he made it all about him. As infielders were going to the mound to congratulate Hendricks (and to buy a little bit of time for Aroldis Chapman who was warming up in the bullpen), West tried to end it and send everyone back to their positions.

To be fair, it seems like they were trying to do casual visits to the mound instead of an official mound visit, which isn’t exactly kosher. But giving a pitcher and his infield crew a few extra seconds after the loss of a no-hitter isn’t unheard of. Joe West wasn’t having it though, which made Joe Maddon angry, so the battle of the Joes commenced.

Joe Maddon and Joe West in the battle of the angry Joes. (AP Photo)

They argued and yelled in each other’s faces, and West ejected Maddon. Ironically, West trying to stop the mound visits and speed up the game actually took longer than it would have if he’d just let things happen. That’s some quality umpiring.

Former Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood was watching the game, and he took to Twitter to share his intense displeasure with Joe West’s umpiring tactics. He went on a small retweeting binge, and here are a few select entries:

	Pete Pistone @PPistone
Oh look - Joe West cementing his rep as one of the worst umpires in baseball history 7:23 PM - 12 Sep 2016   Andy Masur @Andy_Masur1 Joe West needs to retire, 5 years ago. 7:24 PM - 12 Sep 2016

Wood sent these tweets to end his thoughts:

	Kerry Wood @KerryWood
I just don't want him in the post season. Enough of the #JoeShow twitter.com/leighcuda/stat… 7:54 PM - 12 Sep 2016   Kerry Wood @KerryWood Ok I'm done. We all know he sucks. Good night. 8:04 PM - 12 Sep 2016

Preach, Kerry. I think part of the problem that players (and fans) have with umpires is that the rules are arbitrarily enforced. West didn’t have to come down so hard on the Cubs, but he chose to. It was the bottom of the ninth inning and West had been standing there all night and probably wanted to go home. So he told Maddon that those congratulatory mound visits weren’t allowed, which is his prerogative. But with the argument the whole thing took so much more time than it would have if he’d just left it alone, and West has to know that. But Joe West never misses an opportunity to make a moment all about him, so perhaps we should have expected it.

Maybe after he retires we’ll get to hear him sing a country song about this whole ordeal. Actually, for the sake of our ears, let’s hope that doesn’t happen.