Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — A judge has ruled that the way the Chicago Police Department expanded its body camera program last year violated Illinois labor law.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Administrative Law Judge Anna Hamberg-Gal concluded that the city was obligated to bargain with the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police before expanding the use of the cameras last year. The judge issued a recommendation this week for the city to comply with state law by starting a dialogue with the union about safety and disciplinary matters surrounding the body camera expansion.
The state’s Labor Relations Board must sign off on the recommendation and the recommendation does not prevent officers from wearing the cameras issued in last year’s expansion. Nor does it reverse any disciplinary measures taken against officers based on footage from the cameras.
Thursday, January 4, 2018
DeRozan scores 35 points, Raptors beat Bulls 124-115
By ANDREW SELIGMAN
Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — All that DeMar DeRozan wanted to talk about was the lift Toronto’s bench provided. As for his recent scoring tear?
“I don’t think nothing of it,” he said.
DeRozan had 35 points, Delon Wright set career highs with 25 points and 13 rebounds, and the Raptors beat the Chicago Bulls 124-115 on Wednesday night.
DeRozan came up big again after scoring a franchise-record 52 points in a win over Milwaukee on New Year’s Day. He was particularly good in the third quarter this time, scoring 18 points after being held to nine in the first half. DeRozan also shot 5 of 8 on 3-pointers and converted all 10 free throws.
Wright had his first career double-double and hit four 3s to lead a big effort by the bench. He scored 12 in the second quarter and eight more points in the fourth to help Toronto pull away for its ninth win in 11 games.
Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry scored 16 apiece for Toronto. Fred VanVleet, from nearby Rockford, added 13 points, and the Raptors’ reserves outscored Chicago’s 54-39.
“They’ve been great for us all year,” DeRozan said. “We come out slacking. The bench always picks us up, and vice versa. Tonight, the bench did what they’ve been doing all year, got the energy going. We fed off that, and got back in the game.”
He’ll get no argument from coach Dwane Casey.
“The bench really saved us tonight,” he said. “They gave us energy. We just couldn’t get our mojo going with the first unit, but Delon came in and had a career high. I really liked the way he was going after rebounds. His overall game sustained us.”
Justin Holiday led Chicago with 26 points, and Lauri Markkanen added 22 points and 12 rebounds. Nikola Mirotic scored 20, but the Bulls dropped their third straight.
The Bulls looked sharp early on, with a 10-point lead after the first quarter. But they couldn’t sustain their edge on defense and were impatient on offense — particularly the second unit.
“We were coming out and jacking up contested shots with zero or one pass,” coach Fred Hoiberg said. “And you can’t have that. So again, that second unit’s been pretty darn good for us. Tonight, we struggled with it.”
PULLING AWAY
Chicago was leading 92-90 early in the fourth when Toronto went on a 16-2 run. Lowry hit a 3 to make it 106-94 with 6:39 remaining, and the Raptors remained in control the rest of the way.
LAVINE UPDATE
The Bulls hope to decide on a return date for G Zach LaVine early next week.
LaVine will travel with the team to games at Dallas and Indiana on Friday and Saturday. Hoiberg said the two-time slam dunk champion will meet with doctors, trainers, management and coaches after the Bulls return home.
LaVine averaged 18.9 points in 47 games for Minnesota last season before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The Bulls acquired him along with Kris Dunn and Markkanen in the trade that sent Jimmy Butler to the Timberwolves.
TIP-INS
Raptors: Toronto had dropped six straight at Chicago. ... The Raptors were 19 of 19 at the foul line. ... Wright hit 10 of 15 shots.
Bulls: Markkanen has led the Bulls in rebounding 13 times and has eight double-doubles. He is averaging 21 points over his last four games. ... C Robin Lopez had 12 points and a career-high six assists. ... Mirotic has scored 20 or more in eight of his 15 games.
UP NEXT
Raptors: Visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.
Bulls: Visit the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.
Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — All that DeMar DeRozan wanted to talk about was the lift Toronto’s bench provided. As for his recent scoring tear?
“I don’t think nothing of it,” he said.
DeRozan had 35 points, Delon Wright set career highs with 25 points and 13 rebounds, and the Raptors beat the Chicago Bulls 124-115 on Wednesday night.
DeRozan came up big again after scoring a franchise-record 52 points in a win over Milwaukee on New Year’s Day. He was particularly good in the third quarter this time, scoring 18 points after being held to nine in the first half. DeRozan also shot 5 of 8 on 3-pointers and converted all 10 free throws.
Wright had his first career double-double and hit four 3s to lead a big effort by the bench. He scored 12 in the second quarter and eight more points in the fourth to help Toronto pull away for its ninth win in 11 games.
Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry scored 16 apiece for Toronto. Fred VanVleet, from nearby Rockford, added 13 points, and the Raptors’ reserves outscored Chicago’s 54-39.
“They’ve been great for us all year,” DeRozan said. “We come out slacking. The bench always picks us up, and vice versa. Tonight, the bench did what they’ve been doing all year, got the energy going. We fed off that, and got back in the game.”
He’ll get no argument from coach Dwane Casey.
“The bench really saved us tonight,” he said. “They gave us energy. We just couldn’t get our mojo going with the first unit, but Delon came in and had a career high. I really liked the way he was going after rebounds. His overall game sustained us.”
Justin Holiday led Chicago with 26 points, and Lauri Markkanen added 22 points and 12 rebounds. Nikola Mirotic scored 20, but the Bulls dropped their third straight.
The Bulls looked sharp early on, with a 10-point lead after the first quarter. But they couldn’t sustain their edge on defense and were impatient on offense — particularly the second unit.
“We were coming out and jacking up contested shots with zero or one pass,” coach Fred Hoiberg said. “And you can’t have that. So again, that second unit’s been pretty darn good for us. Tonight, we struggled with it.”
PULLING AWAY
Chicago was leading 92-90 early in the fourth when Toronto went on a 16-2 run. Lowry hit a 3 to make it 106-94 with 6:39 remaining, and the Raptors remained in control the rest of the way.
LAVINE UPDATE
The Bulls hope to decide on a return date for G Zach LaVine early next week.
LaVine will travel with the team to games at Dallas and Indiana on Friday and Saturday. Hoiberg said the two-time slam dunk champion will meet with doctors, trainers, management and coaches after the Bulls return home.
LaVine averaged 18.9 points in 47 games for Minnesota last season before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The Bulls acquired him along with Kris Dunn and Markkanen in the trade that sent Jimmy Butler to the Timberwolves.
TIP-INS
Raptors: Toronto had dropped six straight at Chicago. ... The Raptors were 19 of 19 at the foul line. ... Wright hit 10 of 15 shots.
Bulls: Markkanen has led the Bulls in rebounding 13 times and has eight double-doubles. He is averaging 21 points over his last four games. ... C Robin Lopez had 12 points and a career-high six assists. ... Mirotic has scored 20 or more in eight of his 15 games.
UP NEXT
Raptors: Visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.
Bulls: Visit the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.
Sharp breaks tie in third, Blackhawks beat Rangers 5-2
By SCOTT CHARLES
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) – Jeff Glass is starting to get comfortable in goal for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Glass, the 32-year old rookie who bounced around the hockey world before finally reaching the NHL last month, made 23 saves to lead Chicago to a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
"This is my chance right now," Glass said after securing his second career NHL victory. "We played a strong game as a unit, I just did my part. It was a lot of fun out there."
Patrick Sharp broke a tie early in the third period as the Blackhawks concluded a six-game trip. Nick Schmaltz, Vinnie Hinostroza, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane also scored
"Contributing offensively is to be expected from every line," Sharp said. "We're more than capable of doing it but more than anything, I thought we played real stingy tonight and didn't give up a whole lot so that was one of the keys tonight."
Nick Holden and Mika Zibanejad scored for New York in the Rangers' second regulation loss at home since Nov. 28.
New York struggled to get through the neutral zone most of the evening and only converted one power play chance on six opportunities in their first game back since the Winter Classic at Citi Field.
"I saw one team playing hockey and the other chasing the whole night," Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh said. "It's really disappointing. We know we are coming off a big emotional win and a big stage but we're almost at the halfway point of the season where we need to start playing with some consistency and we didn't give ourselves a chance there. They were able to do whatever they wanted. We didn't finish checks, slow them down, their speed. They had time and space and we left our goalie out to dry."
Glass, a well-traveled hockey veteran has played on six Kontinental Hockey League teams and three American Hockey League teams before being called up on Dec. 27 when Corey Crawford was placed on injured reserve.
"I think Glasser came in and gave us a little jolt of personality and energy," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. "After coming out of three tough games going into the break, coming out of it not the way you want to be playing on the road. We'll go back home, we showed a lot better of an effort. I liked the response, the way we finished up the trip."
Sharp, a three-time Cup winner with Chicago who returned this season after spending the previous two years in Dallas, scored at 2:24 of the third when his wrist shot sailed past goalie Henrik Lundqvist's glove.
"I saw a lot of good things, a lot of the speed in the game," Joel Quenneville said. "We got to a lot of pucks first. We did a lot of good things, we were more disciplined than we've been in maybe any other game. We found a way to kill some big penalties."
Hinostroza opened the scoring with 3:51 left in the first period. After an offensive zone faceoff win, Toews retrieved a loose puck in the corner and slipped a backhand pass to Hinostroza.
The Rangers tied it two minutes later when Nick Holden fired a slap shot from the right point past Glass.
Chicago took a 2-1 lead midway through the second when Nick Schmaltz converted a breakaway. Rangers defenseman, Marc Staal, inadvertently put the puck in his own net before knocking the net off the moorings.
Zibanejad tied it on a one-timer with 7:28 to go in the period.
"They were better," Lundqvist said after his 30 save performance. "They started the game better, they had more jump. It felt like a lot of their chances came from odd-man rushes, hard to defend. They have a lot of patient players."
NOTES:
New York scratched defenseman Steven Kampfer and forward Vinni Lettieri. ... Chicago scratched defensemen Michal Kempny and Jan Rutta, and forward Richard Panik.
UP NEXT:
Rangers: At Arizona on Saturday night.
Blackhawks: Host Vegas on Friday night.
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) – Jeff Glass is starting to get comfortable in goal for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Glass, the 32-year old rookie who bounced around the hockey world before finally reaching the NHL last month, made 23 saves to lead Chicago to a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
"This is my chance right now," Glass said after securing his second career NHL victory. "We played a strong game as a unit, I just did my part. It was a lot of fun out there."
Patrick Sharp broke a tie early in the third period as the Blackhawks concluded a six-game trip. Nick Schmaltz, Vinnie Hinostroza, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane also scored
"Contributing offensively is to be expected from every line," Sharp said. "We're more than capable of doing it but more than anything, I thought we played real stingy tonight and didn't give up a whole lot so that was one of the keys tonight."
Nick Holden and Mika Zibanejad scored for New York in the Rangers' second regulation loss at home since Nov. 28.
New York struggled to get through the neutral zone most of the evening and only converted one power play chance on six opportunities in their first game back since the Winter Classic at Citi Field.
"I saw one team playing hockey and the other chasing the whole night," Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh said. "It's really disappointing. We know we are coming off a big emotional win and a big stage but we're almost at the halfway point of the season where we need to start playing with some consistency and we didn't give ourselves a chance there. They were able to do whatever they wanted. We didn't finish checks, slow them down, their speed. They had time and space and we left our goalie out to dry."
Glass, a well-traveled hockey veteran has played on six Kontinental Hockey League teams and three American Hockey League teams before being called up on Dec. 27 when Corey Crawford was placed on injured reserve.
"I think Glasser came in and gave us a little jolt of personality and energy," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. "After coming out of three tough games going into the break, coming out of it not the way you want to be playing on the road. We'll go back home, we showed a lot better of an effort. I liked the response, the way we finished up the trip."
Sharp, a three-time Cup winner with Chicago who returned this season after spending the previous two years in Dallas, scored at 2:24 of the third when his wrist shot sailed past goalie Henrik Lundqvist's glove.
"I saw a lot of good things, a lot of the speed in the game," Joel Quenneville said. "We got to a lot of pucks first. We did a lot of good things, we were more disciplined than we've been in maybe any other game. We found a way to kill some big penalties."
Hinostroza opened the scoring with 3:51 left in the first period. After an offensive zone faceoff win, Toews retrieved a loose puck in the corner and slipped a backhand pass to Hinostroza.
The Rangers tied it two minutes later when Nick Holden fired a slap shot from the right point past Glass.
Chicago took a 2-1 lead midway through the second when Nick Schmaltz converted a breakaway. Rangers defenseman, Marc Staal, inadvertently put the puck in his own net before knocking the net off the moorings.
Zibanejad tied it on a one-timer with 7:28 to go in the period.
"They were better," Lundqvist said after his 30 save performance. "They started the game better, they had more jump. It felt like a lot of their chances came from odd-man rushes, hard to defend. They have a lot of patient players."
NOTES:
New York scratched defenseman Steven Kampfer and forward Vinni Lettieri. ... Chicago scratched defensemen Michal Kempny and Jan Rutta, and forward Richard Panik.
UP NEXT:
Rangers: At Arizona on Saturday night.
Blackhawks: Host Vegas on Friday night.
Monday, November 6, 2017
Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford named NHL's Second Star of the Week
The NHL announced today that Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford was named the league's First Star for the week ending Nov. 5.
Crawford went 2-1-0 with a 0.68 goals-against average, .979 save percentage and two shutouts to lead the Blackhawks (7-6-2, 16 points) to a pair of wins. He opened the week with consecutive shutouts, making 35 saves in a 3-0 triumph against the Philadelphia Flyers Nov. 1 and 24 stops in a 2-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild Nov. 4. It marked the fifth time Crawford has registered consecutive shutouts in his NHL career (394 GP) and first such instance since Dec. 11-13, 2015. He then finished the week with 33 saves in a 2-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens Nov. 5. The 32-year-old Montreal native owns a 7-5-0 record in 13 appearances this season, pacing the NHL with a 1.77 goals-against average, .945 save percentage and two shutouts (tied).
Islanders forward Josh Bailey was named the Second Star, while Sharks goaltender Martin Jones was named the Third Star.
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Blackhawks face Canadiens in Original Six matchup
TV: NBC Sports Chicago - Pat Foley (play-by-play), Steve Konroyd (analyst)
RADIO: WGN 720 AM - John Wiedeman (play-by-play); Troy Murray (analyst)
ONLINE: NBCSportsChicago.com and the NBC Sports app
Tonight, the Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens will meet for the last time this season.
The Blackhawks topped Montreal, 3-1 on Oct. 10 at Bell Centre. Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat scored his first career NHL goal in the win while Brandon Saad and Artem Anisimov also added markers. Corey Crawford stopped 41 shots for Chicago and the Montreal native improved to 8-0-2 with a 1.49 save percentage and .954 GAA in 10 career games vs. the Canadiens.
Last season, Chicago swept the series, winning both games. Chicago is 10-0-2 vs. Montreal since the 2009-10 season.
Tonight marks the 565th all-time meeting between these two teams in a series that began on Dec. 22, 1926 (3-1 vs. MTL).
THE KILLERS
The Blackhawks stand sixth in the NHL, killing 83.9 percent of their penalties this season ... Chicago has killed off each of its last nine penalties going back three games.
CROW-M-G
Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford is coming off consecutive shutouts ... Crawford has stopped all 59 shots he faced over the last two games ... Crawford is 8-0-2 with a 1.49 save percentage and .954 GAA in 10 career games vs. Montreal ... Crawford is one of three NHL goaltenders this season with two shutouts.
SUNDAY FUNDAY
Tonight, the Blackhawks will play their first of 11 Sunday games this season ... Sunday is the only day of the week the team has yet to play on this season ... Sunday trails only Thursday (17) and Saturday (20) for the day of the week in which the Blackhawks play the most games ... Nine of those 11 Sunday games come at home for Chicago.
FACETIME
The Blackhawks stand 10th in the NHL in faceoff wins with 459 this season ... The team has won 50.7% of faceoffs through 14 games ... Jonathan Toews shares third in the NHL with 180 faceoff wins and his faceoff win percentage of 57.3% is tied for sixth in the NHL among players with 200 or more faceoffs this season.
BLACKHAWKS FOR LIFE
Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith are two of the longest tenured Blackhawks defensemen and are moving up the charts ... Seabrook (937 GP) needs just one game played to tie Doug Wilson (938 GP) for second on the all-time franchise list for games played by a defensemen ... Keith is at 927 games played and will tie Wilson with 11 games played ... Seabrook (6th) and Keith (7th) also trail Wilson (5th) on the franchise overall games-played list.
CHICAGO BLOCKHAWKS
The Blackhawks are 11th in the NHL in blocked shots with 203 ... Brent Seabrook paces the club with 32 this season ... On Wednesday vs. PHI, Seabrook recorded a season-high six blocked shots, his 15th career game of six or more blocks.
EMBRACING THE HITS
The Blackhawks have 275 hits through 14 games, an average of 19.6 per game ... Last season, the team finished last in the NHL in hits with 1178 (14.4 per game) ... John Hayden is tied for eighth in the NHL this season with 42 hits.
TIME IS ON HIS SIDE
Duncan Keith has led the Blackhawks in TOI each season since the 2004-05 campaign ... That marks the longest such streak for a player with the same team in the NHL ... He is averaging a team-best 25:24 per game this season.
RATED ROOKIE
The Blackhawks opened the season with four rookies on their roster: DeBrincat, Rutta, John Hayden and Anton Forsberg ... Hayden and Forsberg are still considered NHL rookies despite having made their NHL debut in previous seasons.
CLIMBING TO THE TOP
Patrick Kane currently ranks sixth in Blackhawks franchise history in three statistical categories including points (766), goals (290) and assists (475) ... He needs just 13 points to tie Doug Wilson for fifth on the all-time franchise list ... He needs just eight goals to tie Dennis Hull for fifth on the all-time franchise list.
BLACKHAWKS UPCOMING SCHEDULE (all times CT)
• Thur., Nov. 9 at PHI at 6 p.m. (NBCSCH, NBCSportsChicago.com, NBC Sports app, WGN Radio)
• Sat., Nov. 11 at CAR at 6 p.m. (WGN TV, WGN Radio)
• Sun., Nov. 12 vs. NJD at 6 p.m. (NBCSCH, NBCSportsChicago.com, NBC Sports app, WGN Radio)
• Wed., Nov. 15 vs. NYR at 7 p.m. (NBCSN, NBCSportsChicago.com, NBC Sports app, WGN Radio, Univision America, WRTO AM 1200)
• Saturday, Nov. 18 at PIT at 6 p.m. (WGN TV, WGN Radio)
Friday, October 20, 2017
Hernandez belts 3 HRs; Dodgers win NL pennant
CHICAGO -- By the time Enrique Hernandez stepped to the plate in the ninth inning on Thursday night, Game 5 of the National League Championship Series was already a blur.
By the time the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated in a champagne-soaked room after clinching their first pennant since 1988, Hernandez -- who had sparked an 11-1 victory over the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs with three home runs -- was still foggy on the details on how the Dodgers had arrived in their celebratory moment.
Hernandez, whose three homers included a grand slam, drove in seven runs, providing Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw with more than enough offensive support to land Los Angeles in the World Series for the first time in 29 years.
"It's unbelievable," Hernandez said. "It's amazing."
Los Angeles closed out the NL Championship Series in five games. The Dodgers will face either the New York Yankees or Houston Astros in the World Series, with Game 1 scheduled for Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.
Staked to an early comfortable lead, Kershaw (1-0) allowed one run, three hits and a walk while striking out five in six innings.
Hernandez capped the scoring in the ninth inning with a two-run blast as the Los Angeles left fielder tied a league championship series record with his seven RBIs.
"Tonight was his night to shine, and Clayton started the night and throwing a gem," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "For him to start and pitch the way he did, and for (Hernandez) to have a huge night -- three homers tonight -- just providing so much energy for us, and we fed off that tonight."
The Dodgers scored first for the first time in the series and jumped out to a 9-0 lead after three innings. Hernandez followed up his second-inning solo home run with a grand slam in the third after the Dodgers loaded the bases off Cubs starter Jose Quintana with four straight hits.
After Quintana was lifted in the third, reliever Hector Rondon struck out Logan Forsythe for the first out of the inning. Hernandez then lifted his second homer of the night into the basket above the right field wall to break the game open.
Justin Turner, who was named NLCS co-most valuable player along with Chris Taylor, also had an RBI single in the inning.
"It's a different guy every single night," Turner said of the multiple contributions the Dodgers got offensively. "Literally, (it's) a different guy in the lineup making that big swing."
Quintana surrendered six runs on six hits in two-plus innings. He walked one and fanned one as the Cubs' season ended in the NLCS for the second time in three years.
"We started out with a target on our back last year...but we were able to go through the whole thing," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "(We) got the World Series under our belt. (We) came back this year and (were) met with some kind of mental adversity is the best way I could describe it. It's baseball adversity.
"I thought we did a great job of overcoming."
The Dodgers padded their lead in the fourth on Forsythe's two-run double off John Lackey.
Kris Bryant finally got the Cubs on the board in the fourth inning when he homered after Kershaw had held Chicago without a hit for 3 1/3 innings.
By then, the Dodgers had built too great of a cushion and never relented until closer Kenley Jansen closed out the win in the ninth with the Dodgers leading by 10 runs. A short time later, the Dodgers celebrated their World Series return after winning for the seventh time in eight games in the postseason.
"We have four more wins to go," Kershaw said. "But we've heard 1988 for so long in L.A., it feels good to say that we're getting to go to the World Series in 2017."
NOTES: Dodgers 3B Justin Turner extended his postseason streak of reaching safely to eight games with a RBI single in the second inning. Turner reached safely in 23 of his past 24 postseason games since Oct. 9, 2015. ... Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw earned his sixth career postseason victory, which tied Burt Hooton for the most in franchise history. ... Cubs president Theo Epstein defended manager Joe Maddon, who was taking heat for some of his decision-making in managing the bullpen during the NLCS. "It's not manager against manager," Epstein said before Thursday's game. "That stuff just gets under the microscope so much this time of year. It's (about) players performing." ... Former Cubs catcher David Ross, who was a member of the 2016 World Series championship team, threw out the ceremonial first pitch Thursday.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Cubs’ Maddon tossed again in NLCS; ump admits he missed call
By JIM LITKE
Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — Cubs manager Joe Maddon turned out to be right. Even the umpire said so, later.
Maddon’s prize? He got ejected for the second time in the NL Championship Series.
At least he’ll get one more day in the dugout. Chicago reliever Wade Davis struck out Curtis Granderson on the next pitch after the disputed call and the Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 Wednesday night in Game 4 to avoid a sweep.
Maddon lost his argument in the eighth inning over what was originally ruled a swinging strikeout of Granderson. That call was changed to a foul tip after Granderson objected and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts asked the umpires to confer on the field.
Under Major League Baseball rules, the play was not subject to video review.
“After looking at it (on replay afterward), I was dead wrong,” plate umpire Jim Wolf said. “I talked myself into the whole thing.”
Maddon said afterward, “If Granderson hit the next pitch out, I might come running out of the clubhouse in my jockstrap. It was really that bad.”
Wolf — the brother of former big league pitcher Randy Wolf — said afterward he heard “two distinct, separate sounds” on the pitch, believing the first to be the pitch bouncing in the dirt and the second being the pop of the catcher’s mitt. After Roberts appealed and Wolf gathered his crew, he was told by his fellow umps “that the ball did not bounce — it did hit the ground but it did not bounce.”
“I basically talked myself into ‘he did foul tip it,’” Wolf said.
Maddon didn’t buy the “two sounds” explanation at the moment and roared at several members of the crew. He wasn’t buying it afterward, either.
“I’m not going to sit here and bang on umpires. I love a lot of guys on this crew. I’ve know them a long time. But that can’t happen,” he said.
“The process was horrible. ... You have 40-some thousand people, it’s late in the game. The other sound could have come from some lady screaming in the first row.”
Maddon was ejected in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium after a call at home plate was overturned because of the slide rule. He basically acknowledged he was trying to get himself tossed this time around.
After poking more holes in the “two sounds” explanation, he said, “There is no way, no way I’m not getting ejected at that point. I’ve got make my point. Just being honest,” he added.
Crew chief Mike Winters confirmed Maddon had something to say “to everybody, because at that point, the process didn’t matter to him. It just mattered that it didn’t go his way.
“We were trying to calm him down and we tried not to eject him, but he made that impossible,” he said.
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