http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9262019/fieldin-culbreth-suspended-2-games-pitching-change-rule-misapplied-los-angeles-angels-houston-astros-game

Major League Baseball suspended umpire Fieldin Culbreth two games and fined him an unspecified amount for allowing Houston Astros manager Bo Porter to switch relievers in the middle of an inning Thursday against the Los Angeles Angels.

"The rule covering pitching changes was not applied correctly by the umpiring crew," MLB said in a statement.

The problem came a day after Angel Hernandez and his crew in Cleveland failed to reverse a clear home run after looking at a video review. MLB vice president Joe Torre said the umpires made an "improper call."

It's recently been a rough run for umps. Crew chief Tom Hallion was fined earlier this month after getting into a verbal spat with Tampa Bay pitcher David Price.

The latest trouble in Houston occurred in the seventh inning Thursday at Minute Maid Park. And while baseball does have video replay for some hard-to-tell calls -- and has talked for a couple of years about expanding its scope -- there was no mistaking what umpires saw.

With two outs and the Astros ahead 5-3, Houston reliever Wesley Wright came in from the bullpen and threw several warm-up pitches from the mound. Porter, a first-year manager, then ran onto the field to stop him and brought in another reliever, Hector Ambriz.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia argued, correctly contending Wright was required to pitch to at least one batter. But the umpires permitted Ambriz to stay in and Scioscia put the game under protest -- which became moot when the Angels rallied to win 6-5.

Pinch hitter Luis Jimenez was on deck when Wright entered. Once Ambriz took over, Scott Cousins came up as a pinch hitter.

"Technically, Wesley came in to face the batter that was scheduled to hit, but he pinch hit for the batter that was scheduled to hit, which my understanding of the rule means you can now bring in another pitcher to face the pinch hitter," Porter said.

Culbreth, who was the crew chief, provided little clarification after the game.

"The only thing I can tell you is that all matters concerning protests are handled through the league office," he said.

MLB acted Friday, saying Culbreth was responsible for "the misapplication of Official Baseball Rule 3.05(b)," which states:

"If the pitcher is replaced, the substitute pitcher shall pitch to the batter then at bat, or any substitute batter, until such batter is put out or reaches first base, or until the offensive team is put out, unless the substitute pitcher sustains injury or illness which, in the umpire-in-chief's judgment, incapacitates him for further play as a pitcher."

A day earlier, a mistake in Cleveland caused a lot of commotion.

Adam Rosales and the Athletics were certain he had hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning against the Indians. Three umpires went to a video review and instead upheld the original call on the field that the ball didn't clear the left-field wall.

Oakland manager Bob Melvin was ejected and was later contacted by MLB officials.

The mistake drew attention all over the majors. Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said he had never seen an obvious miss despite replay.

"This is the first one where there definitely is a line drawn where you go, 'Wow,'" he said.

Publicly fining, suspending an umpire/referee for making mistakes. Not suspending a coach or fining a coach for complaining of refs or getting thrown out of a game for excessively arguing an obviously egregious call. Instead you call the coach and, apparently, must have been a bit apologetic.

I think these things are the proper way to handle officials who can be bad to the point of incompetent. They have a union to protect them. They get paid by the league. They should be held publicly responsible for their actions as much as any team official, coach or player is. No less.

But David Stern for some reasons coddles his refs.

Any logical non-conspiracy theory explanations why?

If you do not have an answer for the above question, then go ahead, let's here the conspiracy theories. They are fun too!!