Called up

Thursday night was a big night for Jake Uhlenhopp who made his Major League debut in the Mets-Dodgers game. But not as a player.

Jake Uhlenhopp made his major league umpiring debut at age 32 and worked third base in place of James Hoye, who was ill. Uhlenhopp didn't get much advance notice, so he was already in full uniform when his flight from Arizona landed at LAX, according to an umpire's room attendant. The game started with a three-man crew, and Uhlenhopp made his entrance in the middle of the second inning -- 32 minutes after the first pitch.

Invisibility is key to an umpire's work. Their job is to observe carefully, make prudent calls (ha!) and stay out of the way. That being said, since I watch a lot of Rays and Mets games, the umpires that often work these games are becoming a little more familiar. For instance, Ted Barrett #65. One of the announcers mentioned that Barrett was working towards his Ph.D, which I found interesting so I looked up some more info on him. I learned that he's currently working towards a doctorate in Theology and often uses baseball as a point of reference in his ministry. On the field, he tries to apply a more Christian approach to his umpire duties, which he claims helps him keep him cool when managers are not. I saw him accidentally get hit in the face with a bat in one game. He smiled and shrugged it off. They call him the "Teddy Bear."

Also called up this week was Dale Thayer, a journeyman currently playing for Triple-A Durham. Maybe it's because of movies like Bull Durham or the character that Burt Lancaster plays in Field of Dreams, but there is something quite romantic about journeymen.