Bob Davidson Gonna Cost Manuel and Revere Some Scratch

Balkin’

. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

I just finished making my last “Bob Davidson is really, really old joke.” Man, that was fun.

Unfortunately, watching Balkin’ Bob Davidson screw up of multiple plays at second base last night once again reminded us of two things eternal truths about him: he LOVES drawing attention to himself, and he’s really REALLY old.

At 60, turning 61 in August, the old man blew a big call last night in the bottom of the 8th inning. With the game tied 2-2 and Ben Revere on first with nobody out, Michael Young hit a grounder to third that was, shockingly, a potential double play ball. As the force out was made at second, Revere slid into the bag head first.

It’s not often a player slides into second base trying to break up a double play head-first, but that’s what Revere did. Michael Young beat the throw to first, which would have given the Phils a runner on first with one out.

While not exactly a high leverage situation, it certainly would have been better than what ultimately happened.

Davidson, apparently crestfallen that no baseball announcer had said his name out loud for about 20 minutes, said Revere purposefully interfered with the pivot at second, and called Young out at first. It was a ruling so ridiculous and bizarre that the only explanation was either that Davidson is too old to know what he’s doing out there, or he was so desperate for attention he was looking for a way to insert himself into the game.

As the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Bob Brookover noted last night on Twitter, former Phils catcher Darren Daulton said Davidson was known for this kind of nonsense.

Davidson’s blown call at second led to some comments after the game that will certainly leave Charlie Manuel and Revere a little lighter in the wallet.

"“Clearly, I did not grab his leg,” Revere said. “I know [Davidson] was standing right there, he said he did see it, so I’m just like, man needs some glasses or something. He says, ‘Interference,’ I said, ‘What’d I do?’ He said, ‘You grabbed his leg,’ I was like, ‘How?’ He said, ‘You grabbed it,’ I was like, ‘My hand’s on the ground.’ I don’t know, it’s ridiculous. I enjoyed the fans getting after him too.”“Bob’s kinda getting a little old,” Charlie Manuel quipped. – quotes per CSN Philly’s Jim Salisbury"

So, Revere said Davidson needs glasses. And Charlie, sitting comfortably in his glass house whipping around some stones, correctly called Davidson “old.”

Yeah, it was a fun night at the old ball yard last night.

Of course, no matter how true the criticisms may be, MLB does not take kindly to managers and players picking on all those poor, horrible, incredibly inadequate umpires that are currently infesting Major League Baseball.

They also continue to resist the calls for robots to start judging the action on the field. It’s time for the robots, guys.

Look, the Industrial Revolution happened. The Computer Age is upon us. We no longer HAVE to rely on the HUMAN element to potentially ruin baseball games.

Nah, let’s NOT use more instant replay, baseball. These human beings are doing a WONDERFUL job being terrible all on their own.

Really looking forward to ordering a Big Mac extra-value meal from Davidson at my local McDonald’s next year.