Umpire Joe West and his crew are under the microscope again? Tampa Bay Rays Carlos Pena tried to call a time out before strike three, but home plate umpire Angel Hernandez did not grant it.  Here’s the video:

The Rays said the timeout was declined in an effort by Hernandez to speed up the game. Crew chief Joe West said Hernandez was absolute right in not granting the time out.

Rays manager Joe Maddon was eventually ejected. Maddon said he was “kind of annoyed” that the timeout was not permitted and blamed the efforts to quicken the game.

“I’m all for supporting league policy but when it comes to speed-up rules in those kind of situations I think than can basically be thrown in the trash can,” Maddon said. “It’s inappropriate. There’s no such thing as a speed-up rule at that moment in the game, that was my argument.’’

Added Pena:  “(Hernandez)’s a good umpire, I just thought he made a bad decision there. He could have made a better decision, especially in that situation.”

Information from Marc Topkin of The St. Petersburg Times was used in this article.