UMPIRE MADE WRONG CALL WITH GAGNE.

Byline: BRIAN DOHN

PHILADELPHIA - The directive went out to get rid of the fighting in baseball. Bat-wielding players charging at karate-kicking pitchers became a much-too-familiar sight, so ownership and commissioner Bud Selig acted by sending out a directive of no tolerance.

The veteran umpires, with their idiosyncrasies and interpretations of the rules, understood what that meant.

Younger umpires, conditioned to call balls and strikes in a robotic fashion and behave in a regimented manner, apparently didn't get the full message. Judgment and recognition of situations apparently were lost in the shuffling of papers and memos outlining the many directives being sent to umpires.

The losing of personalities and the transformation of umpires to robots is what triggered the embarrassing ejection of Dodgers closer Eric Gagne on Thursday in Cincinnati. Gagne was ejected by home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna with none out in the ninth inning after he hit Adam Dunn with a pitch in the right arm. It came on the pitch after he allowed a two-run homer to Aaron Boone.

The pressure put on umpires to quell any outburst by players, done through these directives, made it so Iassogna either couldn't process the information of the situation quickly enough, or is incapable of understanding the situation.

``We told the umpires they need to get engaged in pitchers potentially throwing at batters,'' said Ralph Nelson, vice president of umpiring for baseball. ``We stopped the brawls because we've been enforcing this. We've seen a lot of warnings, seen some ejections, but that rule puts a lot of discretion in the umpires' hands. The umpire's got to decide whether to eject or warn, and he has to also try to get inside a pitcher's head.

``(Iassogna), obviously, was unable to get inside a pitcher's head. If (umpire supervisor) Jim (McKean), if (crew chief) Gerry Davis was the home-plate umpire, they definitely would have reacted differently.

``That's one of the problems with this rule, it completely gives the discretion to the umpire. He can either (eject or warn). We talk about the consistency factor, but we're not just talking about balls and strikes.''

Nelson admitted Iassogna was wrong in ejecting Gagne and also said Iassogna knew it.

Learn from life's lessons is the message being portrayed, but that's not the right one. What baseball needs to do is look how the umpiring situation is handled.

Iassogna, while lauded for his consistency to call balls and strikes and his ability as a base umpire, made such an egregious mistake it's almost incomprehensible. How can anyone who saw more than one baseball game in their life think the pitch had intent?

So appalled was baseball that Nelson jumped on a train in New York and came to Veterans Stadium to meet with the Dodgers and general manager Dan Evans, who flew in from Los Angeles. But again, how can such a mistake be made?

Iassogna officially is listed as a Triple-A umpire, but he's umpired only a handful of games in the minor leagues. Instead, he fills in for injured or vacationing umpires.

``We think Dan Iassogna is an excellent talent with a lot of upside,'' Nelson said. ``I felt he didn't use the best of judgment on this play. I think he's thought that through now and he's convinced of it.

``It was a difficult call and his discretion was not as good as we would have liked. The thing that I have to stress is that we've gained ground to stop the fights on the field and stop the brawls. We were asked by ownership, the commission, by Sandy Alderson and the people I work for to stop it. And we did it not by reinventing the game, but by enforcing a rule that's been in the books for 15, 20 years.''