Something to balk about

Thanks to the birth of my 1st child (James Thomas) on Friday, I was home today and able to (somewhat) watch the Sox game, and I couldn't believe what I saw. In the 2nd inning umpire "Cowboy" Joe West called a balk on Mark Buerhle on a pickoff move to first base. When Ozzie Guillen came out to ask West why he called it, West waved for Ozzie to return to the dugout. Now, anyone that's been around baseball for the past 6 years knows that Guillen has a bit of a temper. What the non-White Sox fan might not know is that Guillen and West have not always been the best of friends. So it was really no surprise to me that Guillen got the boot after ignoring West's request to not come onto the field.
That's not the surprise. What I couldn't believe was the 2nd balk West called against Buerhle leading to his ejection for what West perceived as being shown up when Buerhle threw his glove to the ground. Here's the kicker... on neither pick-off attempt did Mark Buerhle balk.
Today's game was yet another example of umpires egos being too big and them playing too large of a role in a game. Their job is to make the calls and, if need be, keep the peace. The fact that West was aggressively talking to Buerhle after the first balk call and his demeanor after both ejections made it seem like he was enjoying the spotlight being on him for those few minutes. He made his presence known in the game and could have potentially played a huge role in the outcome. The Sox were forced to go to their bullpen in the 3rd inning and burned through 4 relievers to finish up the game (which Bobby Jenks almost gave away). If Tony Pena hadn't had his best outing since coming over to the Sox last in a trade last season who knows what would have happened.
How many relievers the Sox had to use is not the issue. What went wrong is that another umpire found a way to become a larger part of the game than is required. If West felt Buerhle balked then fine, call the balk and let that be the end of it. Don't yell at Buerhle from the foul line and make a scene by jogging over to pick up the lineup cards Guillen threw in disgust. Do your job the right way by staying in the shadows and making the right calls.
In every profession egos need to be checked at the door... Apparently Joe West will keep balking at that notion.