Beltre's ejection more proof that umpires just don't get it

Adrian Beltre had already recorded three hits Wednesday night, bringing him within four of the illustrious 3,000 mark, when he popped out of the dugout to get ready for his eighth-inning at-bat at Globe Life Park.

One of baseball's most delightful players and a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, Beltre took a few routine hacks near the on-deck circle, but stood closer to behind home plate.

That's when umpire Gerry Davis intervened, instructing Beltre to shift into the on-deck circle. But Beltre moved the on-deck circle instead.

For that, Beltre was ejected - seriously. In the eighth inning of a 22-10 blowout, with a universally beloved legend about to go for career hit No. 2,997 in front of his hometown fans, the second-base umpire decided to ruin it for everybody because he couldn't take a joke. Well, an unintended joke, according to Beltre.

"I wasn't being funny," Beltre told MLB.com's Sam Butler. "He told me to stand on the mat so I pulled the mat where I was and stand on it. I actually did what he told me. I was listening."

Classic Adrian. Of course, the four-time All-Star is way too smart not to know his antics were downright hysterical, but also that they'd run afoul of Davis.

Losing by a dozen runs probably didn't help his mood, but Rangers manager Jeff Banister was supremely cheesed about the incident following the game.

"Look, the man's chasing 3,000, our fans stuck around to see that last at-bat, they didn't get to see it," Banister said. "Very unfortunate. Don't know why it needed to be engaged, don't understand it. This is a man that's chasing history, opportunity to get another at-bat in front of our fans."

In a sense, though, those who opted to hang around did witness history. They got to see the #UmpShow to end all #UmpShows, a display of self-importance that launched a thousand tweets. Joe West, CB Bucknor, and Vic Carapazza have made extremely boneheaded decisions, but none more tone-deaf than Davis' call Wednesday, illustrating once again that umpires just don't get it.

Because they're accountable to no one for anything, umpires continue to pull stunts like this, abusing their unchecked power because, well, they can. And just like with a botched strike call, Davis won't get so much as a talking-to for ejecting a star player from a blowout game for a harmless gag.

That ain't right.

In a league struggling to attract young fans, an umpire's default reaction to the slightest affront, real or perceived, can't be an ejection. And while you can't put, "Be chill, dudes" into the umpiring handbook, that doesn't absolve them from trying to get better on their own; from trying to cultivate a less combative approach that might just keep the players - the foundation of the entire league, and the guys who keep umpires employed - on the field.

Automation is coming for us all. Sooner or later, the economy is going to be almost entirely robot-powered and Major League Baseball umpires will likely be one of the next group of professionals displaced.

"The technology of calling balls and strikes without a human being involved has continued to improve," after all, as commissioner Rob Manfred said in October. And while he "(doesn't) believe we are there yet," it's clear human umpires are going to be extinct in the very near future.

In the interim, umpires have to get better. Not at calling balls and strikes - that's a tough gig, man - but at recognizing their roles as stagehands, not actors, on the diamond, and, as such, suppressing the urge to eject any player who breathes at them the wrong way.

Especially Adrian Beltre. Never eject Adrian Beltre.

(That, you can put in the handbook.)