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are cowboy joe west and ted lilly buddy-buddy?

was anyone else struck that in yesterday's dodgers-giants game, an ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast, the day after ted lilly was traded to the dodgers, that home plate umpire joe west waited till the top of the 2nd inning when casey blake came up to bat, took the bat out of blake's hands, and used it to show him that the lines of the batter's box were crooked?

coincidence? i think not, because earlier this year, after the dodgers faced lilly in chicago, blake called lilly out to the press for pitching from in front of the rubber. lilly had responded to the incident with the following:

Sometimes a batter will get in the box and he'll step out, and behind the box, and on the lines... I don't think he's trying to cheat. It might not be intentional.

is there a term for this type of lunacy? or are joe west and ted lilly just really good buddies? or does joe west have it out for casey blake?

yesterday joe morgan commented "if you [the hitter] were to draw 'this is where the pitch came,' then you would be thrown out," but i think that only scratches the surface of the meaning behind it - if i were casey blake, i would be relieved to have ted lilly on my team - because i would never again face him with joe west behind the plate.

fire joe west facebook group