Blue Jays fans have their last scrap with Joe West

As I said near the beginning of this, I’m quite sure I’m going to forget a very memorable moment between Joe West and the Blue Jays. That said, as I was sifting through what the internet had readily available, I couldn’t help but laugh at one story that involved the two parties, and naturally we were going to come across the name of Angel Hernandez as well at some point.

Back in 2010 the Jays were playing the Rays in a tight game. After letting Hernandez know what he thought of the strike zone, then closer Kevin Gregg was tossed from the game by the plate umpire, and Gaston quickly followed. That part had nothing to do with Joe West, but I thought you’d all appreciate a little side note anecdote that involved ol’ Angel.

The part that involved West came a little bit later in the game. Carlos Pena, who played for the Rays at the time, struck out on a pitch where he had asked Hernandez to grant him time before the pitcher started his delivery. Because of some fairly new pace of play rules that had been implemented, Hernandez denied Pena’s request and the at-bat ended in a strikeout on that pitch. Rays manager Joe Maddon was understandably upset about how things had played out, and when Hernandez mentioned pace of play in his explanation, that set the Rays’ skipper right off.

The funny part is that Maddon then went down to Joe West at third base and let him have it. Apparently West had been a big supporter of the pace of play rules, and Maddon went as far as to say the situation was West’s fault, even though he’d had nothing to do with the call itself. This recap of the whole thing from Yahoo is definitely worth a read, and I can’t help but chuckle when thinking about the surprise from West at being blamed in that situation.

Please feel free to share your favourite stories that involved Joe West in the comments, and I hope you’ve had a chuckle or two as we’ve taken a stroll down memory lane. All the best to ya, Country Joe.