PHOENIX – Who knew Justin Upton’s first claim to fame in the big leagues would be more like a claim to infamy?
Upton, the first pick in the 2005 June draft, has future star written all over him. But Thursday night, he cost the Arizona Diamondbacks a possible seventh-inning rally in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
Well, he and a call by second-base umpire Larry Vanover that, given the debris that flew from the stands, the Chase Field crowd didn’t appreciate.
Upton was on first base and Chris Snyder was perched on second when Augie Ojeda hit a groundball to Garrett Atkins at third base. Atkins fired a strike to Kazuo Matsui at second, whereupon Upton’s hard slide prevented Matsui from attempting to turn a double play.
It was too hard a slide, said Vanover. Replays showed Upton slid inside the bag and threw a forearm at Matsui, prompting an interference call that sent Upton and Ojeda to the dugout and D-backs manager Bob Melvin out of it.
“Of course, my comment (to Vanover) was I was close enough to the bag and that’s what I’m supposed to do,” Upton said. “It’s a part of the game. … I was obviously surprised.”
Said D-backs first baseman Conor Jackson: “You don’t see too many of those called throughout the year, but that’s what he saw on the field, so that’s what’s going to stay on the field. You could sit here and say that was a rally killer or whatnot, but the truth was, there were a lot of opportunities other than that one.”
Upton was hit by pitcher Jeff Francis’ off-speed pitch to set up the interference call.
Upton walked slowly up the line, eyeing Francis as shortstop Troy Tulowitzki jogged in to calm his pitcher. Words were exchanged between Upton and Tulowitzki.
“I didn’t appreciate him staring down Jeff,” Tulowitzki said. “He should be happy he got to first base.”
Said Upton: “He’s the leader of that team, apparently, so he obviously had something to say. He told me it wasn’t intentional, and I said, ‘I know it wasn’t intentional.”‘
Footnotes. Game 2 starter and nine-year veteran Doug Davis, when asked if he could have imagined starting a game in the NLCS as a rookie, as Ubaldo Jimenez will: “I couldn’t imagine myself, no. When I was younger, just in regular games, I’d always try to overthrow and do too much.” … The loss marked the third time the D-backs lost the first game of a playoff series. They went on to lose each of the previous two – the 1999 NL division series to the Mets, and the 2002 division series to the Cardinals.
Rule on interference
SECTION 6.1
“While contact may occur between a fielder and runner during a tag attempt, a runner is not allowed to use his hands or arms to commit an obviously malicious or unsportsmanlike act – such as grabbing, tackling, intentionally slapping at the baseball, punching, kicking, flagrantly using his arms or forearms to commit an intentional act of interference unrelated to running the bases.”
