E164-5 - Cardinals Miles Mikolas & Oliver Marmol Ejected After Cubs Ian Happ Hurts Willson Contreras 

Cards fan here You are 100% correct. The two throws in justified the ejection...though perhaps a warning could have been issued after the first one. Still no excuse. But "sending a message" about a careless accident is apparently more important than "winning a game."

Excellent breakdown by CloseCallSports.

Outstanding breakdown

Nice recap!

I love your analysis of this very detailed I subbed

I've never seen so much umpire hate over what is clearly the correct decision to eject.

I came here to see the prior "near misses" that no other channel has shown, which of course justifies the umpires action. Insightful commentary and terrific presentation!

Their ass was in the jackpot. And right call btw.

2:22 something especially cool about that particular ejection (the motion)

Hap was class throughout He apologized to Contreras, took a heater near his head, then gets hit on the backside with the very next pitch with no harsh words or stare down or bat flip. To the Cards' announcers that's professionalism.

Another great vid and explanation. Thanks Lindsay :-)

Glad he was ejected. Grow up they made up and it was an accident but what he was doing was fuckin childish

The St. Louis broadcasters are as awful as they say the umpires are.

Happ and Contreras are former teammates, and they hugged it out and he apologized. that should've been it, but no lets chuck 94 at his face in the name of "sportsmanship"

Love to see broadcasters reject sportsmanship and demand violence in the name of "baseball."

Ump call was correct. Sad thing is, knowing that Happ and Contreras were teammates for years, and Contreras even hugged him. I think the intentional hbp was just stupid.

I'm glad you included the part where the announcers say it's gonna get worse because of the umpire's decision to eject, when in fact, that seems to have prevented any further incidents in the game.

I am a Cardinals fan, and I agree with your analysis.

Good video! Very informative, and a good critique of the StL announcers.

The more I watch these, the more I'm amazed that people paid to be part of the sport don't know the rules.

That is the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Happ and Conteras were good. There was no need for "justice". The pitcher deserved to get tossed.

I'm a Braves fan and Chip Caray is a hypocritical joke. Back when we had the history with the Marlins hitting Acuna, Chip seethed every single time that Acuna was hit that the Marlins pitcher needed to be run. But when it is the pitcher for the team he works for, he adopts an absurd level of righteous indignation. Should Mikolas have been tossed? Yes! You can't have it both ways, Chip. Pick one side and stay with it.

Holy Cow. The biggest problem with this video is how inane the broadcasters were. The umpires handled this PERFECTLY.

If it is on purpose, it is aggravated assault, is it not?

I don't like what you did there, go ahead and take first base.

He deserved to be ejected, and the announcer should watch what he says, younger kids who watch and play the game, they might think this is ok, what’s going to happen if and when they remove the umpire from behind the plate and use AI ?

Man, this is something else. Can't believe that the Cardinals announcers are asking for blood on Happ. It was an accident. He apologized to Contreras and moved on. This was handled by the umpires with ease before it got out of hand.

I’m a Cardinals fan and saw it live. Chip and Brad were so unbelievably out of line on the broadcast. Embarrassing. And of course, reactions were even worse on Twitter.

This was clearly intentional. I totally agree with you CCS. Happ's foot was a tad on the line, in which he didn't know, it was an accident, and Happ showed Sportsmanship, which was the right thing to do. Then Miles Mikolas threw a 94 MPH heater to his head-neck area, he missed, but what if that hit Happ? Happ would've been in the hospital, and clearly ball 4 was intentional. Dude didn't even look AT the strike zone and went ahead and proceeded to throw towards Ian Happ. A pro should do better than that. I know that a pro pitcher can throw wicked balls, but that's usually in the late innings, not early in the first. Happ showed remorse for accidentally hitting Contreras (Because it was unintentional, and it's very hard to control a swing when it goes right behind your back) So, when the Cardinals' announcer said: "That was intentional" Bro doesn't even know 💀 Umpires ejecting Miles Mikolas and Oliver Marmol was the correct thing to do. Umpires did their jobs correctly.

They made the right call.

Oli got tossed for a different reason. All was good, he went to dugout. Then during commercial the 1st base ump went to the dugout to talk with Flaherty, who was pissed about the ejection. Oli came to his defense and then got tossed.

5:05 Nice comeback!! 🤣🤣

Happ knew this was coming and he looks accepting.

Right call. Pitcher is a jerk.

Thanks for Posting the full atbat. The pitch up and in adds context.

Lindsay, did you see the Cards manager after the catcher hugged Happ? The manager tapped Happ on the butt, almost a “it’s ok, it wasn’t intentional”.

This is ridiculous, don’t understand anyone saying that Ian Happ took it and kept his mouth shut, as if he deserves to have a ball thrown at him. Why is ever ok to intentionally throw a ball at someone? Because the batter accidentally followed through too far and hit the catcher? Oh well, these things happen, don’t be a scum bag and throw at the guy now. Play on with the game and stop being children about this.

ugh these old school announcers with outdated opinions.

Thanks Lindsay for the clarification on the Pitcher/Manager hbp ejection rule. I was wondering about it after the Perdomo ejection video when Sheldon was tossed after the fact. So was wondering what the rule was when a manager gets tossed along with the pitcher so now I know it can be before a warning as well.

All I can think of is "Asses in Jackpots"

This isn't the first Cardinals announcers have acted like this.

Wait are people actually mad that mikolas got ejected?

Announcers annoy me - they think they know EVERYTHING when they barely know anything - "read the game" I heard one announcer say. Yeah, they did exactly that and ejected the pitcher to avoid the bean ball game. Ignorant comments by announcers.

No question should be thrown out .

"I'm all for player safety" yet he wants no consequences for the pitcher who threw near his head and missed then beaned him with 94 mph. Clown broadcasters.

umpire could have issued a warning after the first pitch. he did not. could have issued a warning after the second pitch. he should have. issue should have been resolved among the players. umpires took over and made it about them. what cardinal announcer said was CORRECT. pitcher did it the right way. medium speed pitch low below the waste. in this lady’s example the pitch was up above the shoulders. entirely different situation. will say that after the past card cub series in chicago the call by the umpires should have been expected.

Cards announcers are ridiculous lol

This is the best umpiring I have seen all year imo. Who in the world can defend the Cardinals after you clearly throw at a guy for making an accident?

If I was the cardinals manager I wouldn't even go and defend him, I'd be like eh he asked to be ejected

I dont get it. In hockey you accidentally tap someones head with your stick its a penalty but In baseball you can hit people in the head with a bat and no consequence. I know its an accident but that doesnt make the hit any less dangerous. Maybe we need to make a new rule if catchers keep getting hit on backswings

Don’t hit my catcher with the bat then

If you take a shot, you best not miss.

They should throw out the announcer!

Only Mikolas was in the wrong here. Happ accidentally hit Contreras, apologizes, and Mikolas decides to deal some extra punishment. Umpires follow rules, procedures, and policies put in place by 'baseball' itself, and the announcers sound like some huge indiscretion has occurred. I'm in the wrong profession.

Giving out warnings instead of ejecting Micholas would’ve only made the situation worse. Umps did the right thing.

I can see why the Braves moved on from Chip Carrey. He's quite horrible

Man, these broadcasters must be salty that the Cardinals are actually in last place for once

Wonder what Bob Gibson would have done.

i can't believe the casters reacted the way they did.

I agree. He had one chance to make the statement and missed. You move on at that point, he chose to throw at him a second time and paid the price.

I'd love to have been a fly on the glove of that pitcher when he was talking to the replacement catcher. I'm glad that part of the clip was posted. I _have_ to wonder if he was telling the catcher that he's going to hit the guy.

As soon as I heard "Have a feel..." from the ESPN vid, I made a beeline for CCS. Theses announcers... 🤬... lol Linds, You need to have a podcast with theses announcers and chew them out. I'd PAY to see it!!

Chip Carry should be suspended for calling the umpires “awful”

I can't believe professional broadcasters are condoning the baseball equivalent of road rage.

I doubt Contreras would want his pitcher to hit Ian they were teamates for 5 years and at the trade dead line last year Contreras and Happ hugged since it was there last home game together

"I'm all for player safety..." No, you fucking aren't.

St. Louis pitcher went rogue and cost his team a game. You can’t do that to your bullpen.

Glad im not crazy for thinking the broadcasters and pitcher were the crazy ones

The pitchers mustache tho, he thinks we're in 1996

I am curious, why wasnt Marmol wearing a jersey?

Umpire yanked Mikilas out of the game with the shepherds hook, Cubs made him pay severely and lost the game and New York sent him to the cooler for five games (coldcocked him with the brass knuckle in a metaphoric sense)

The St Louis Cardinal tv broadcasters assessment is ridiculous.

That may be the most obvious example of a pitcher throwing at a batter in the history of baseball.....you can practically see him aiming after he missed with the first attempt??? AND, Happ clearly knew it too.....easy, easy, easy ejection....and beyond stupid by the Cards' pitcher

This toxic mindset of throwing 90+ mph baseballs at opposing players to "get back" at them is one of the only lasting stains on this game from a bygone era. Also disgusting by the Cardinals announcers to try to justify throwing at a guy by saying Mikolas did it "the right way". There is no right way to intentionally throw a baseball at an opponent for something clearly as accidental as Happ's backswing.

So, in other words, the idiot Cardinals in the dugout and booth are fine with it if he gets ejected for beaning someone on the head but not okay with it if he gets plunked in the ass. After he missed his head, FFS.

Umpires did the right thing, St. Louis broadcasters aren’t happy because their team is not doing well. Bottom line is you don’t do the right thing you end up finding yourself with a bench clearing brawl.

Of course the broadcasters know everything. Right?

I had no idea the Cards announcers were so atrocious.... and praising a pitcher who just screwed his team for perhaps the whole series because it was "the right way"?? So gross

I'm surprised anyone would be surprised at either the HBP or the ejection (especially after the miss). It's not something that "baseball requires," but I get the idea that a pitcher wants to "protect" his catcher. He just shouldn't be surprised if that results in getting tossed.

Then Mikolas taunts the bench? He should be suspended in addition to the early hook. Obviously Willy was cool with Happ. I agree with JD. Mikolas wanted a day off. The Cardinal announcers are tone-deaf. Sore losers. They're not used to be in the cellar.

Miles Mikolas became suspension number eight

Will the pitcher be suspended just like the Pirates pitcher?

This was completely uncalled for for this type of accident. They’re friends, they hugged, it’s over. Just straight bizarre and stupid

Honestly I just saw this as the pitcher being completely childish. Happ hitting Contreras was very clearly an accident. What fucking message was there to send besides, "I'm an asshole and a man-child"

Mikolas got HOSED figuratively and literally if one of the Cubs grabbed a high pressure hose and sprayed him and knocked out the expelled pitcher

Let’s see… they accidentally hurt my player so I’ll give them a free base and get booted in the 1st.

I understand the importance of the unwritten rules of baseball but Happ hit Contreras by accident. I don’t think retaliation was necessary in this situation. I think the umps probably made the right call.

He was also suspended for 5 games, which is excessive. I understand the backswing was unintentional but could also be seen as reckless. If everyone swings that way more catchers are going to be knocked out, period. Umpire can use judgment there and issue a warning at least.

Mikolas said he had Contreras' back, but he let down all the other backs of the players on his team... stupid!!!

It’s crazy the Mikolas thought this needed retribution, Happ and Contrares are former teammates and friends… I think hurting his friend alone was enough punishment…

I grew up on 90s baseball. That broadcaster was embarrassing. Batters get injured from being hit with pitches all the time. It's not a hypothetical that it's dangerous. There's no sport in the world that allows you to intentionally injure your opponent, including fight sports. At least in hockey, when someone takes a run at someone to "send a message", they have the decency to just head to the penalty box (or the locker room) without being a baby about it.

Mikolas gets five games, Marmol gets one. And it's far past time they remove the option, especially since a suspension is automatic for the manager in this situation -- you deem the pitcher threw, pitcher and manager go, automatically.

Carey of course i meant

The commentators sound out of touch when they don't see the second intentional pitch as a reason to eject the pitcher. The Umps made it worse by taking so long to do it, they look indecisive and leave room for speculation.

"If you're gonna hit em thats where you hit em. Did the job the right way" Watttt

On the Cubs radio broadcast, they were extremely confused as to why Mikolas threw at Happ. I was driving at the time and wasn’t really paying attention until Coomer nonchalantly said Mikolas had been tossed, but he and Pat Hughes seemed to have not really registered the first pitch up and in; they were discussing Contreras’s injury as he’s a former Cub. It never even occurred to them that the Cardinals needed to “settle the score” or whatever. I may be a Cubs fan, but I’ve never thought of the Cardinals as a team that felt the need to enforce the “unwritten rules” a la the Pirates.

cards...1st class announcers...

Thanks for calling out the bad St. Louis broadcasters. Chip Carey, former Braves homer bringing his same bias to his new team.

I felt the same way. He gets him on the 1st inside pitch, cool. Warnings and move on. Instead, he went back for seconds. At that point, it's time to call it a night. As the baseball gods protect the game, Happ scored the run and the Cubs never looked back and Mikolas was tagged with the loss.

the announcers still after all these years still dont have a clue