- AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
- White Sox manager Robin Ventura kicks up a fuss in San Francisco yesterday about an overturned call at home plate.
I haven’t seen Robin Ventura this angry since he charged Nolan Ryan 21 years ago.
That’s when 7.13 entered the game. Baseball adopted the rule over the winter to cut down on collisions at the plate. It stipulates that a runner who goes out of his way to knock over a catcher will be called out. But unless the catcher has the ball, he “cannot block the pathway of the runner as he is attempting to score.”
When Ventura was done kicking, Culbreth booted him from the game. That spared the Sox skipper from directly witnessing the rest of the inning. For although 7.13 cracked the door for the Giants, reliever Ronald Belisario shoved it open the rest of the way. Belisario this season has blocked the pathway of few runners attempting to score. He was summoned to replace starter Jose Quintana with the game still tied at one. Seven pitches and three singles later, he departed with the Giants up 5-1.
